uits--Energy at the
north--At rest--Want of clothing--Stuart's raid--Delays--Clear
Spring--General Brooks.

Among the delightful and fertile valleys which beautify the State of
Maryland, none is more charming than the one through which the Antietam
winds its tortuous course. Looking from some elevation down upon its
green fields, where herds of sleek cattle graze, its yellow harvests
glowing and ripening in the September sun; its undulating meadows and
richly laden orchards; its comfortable farm houses, some standing out
boldly upon eminences, which rise here and there, others half hidden by
vines or fruit trees; the ranges of hills, rising on either side of the
stream, diversified by charming vales or deep gullies; the turnpikes
winding along the sides of the hills and through the valleys; the lovely
stream itself, now flowing smoothly over its dark bed and anon tumbling
noisily in rapids over a stony bottom, winding here far up to one range
of hills and then turning back to kiss the base of the other; the whole
scene is one of surpassing beauty, upon which the eye rests with
untiring delight. Who would have selected this lovely valley as the
scene of one of the most bloody struggles ever recorded? Who, looking
down from some height of land on the morning of the 13th of September,
would have dreamed that those stacks of grain, which dotted the fields
here and there, would soon become the only protection from the heat of
the sun and the storm of battle, to thousands of wounded, bleeding men?
or, that from those lovely groves of oak and maple, now reposing like
spots of beauty upon the landscape, were to belch forth fire and smoke,
carrying destruction to thousands? Yet, here on these smiling fields,
and among these delightful groves, one of the grand battles which should
decide the march of events in the history, not only of our own country
but of the world, was to be fought. These green pastures were to be
stained with blood, and these peaceful groves marred and torn by shot
and shell.

Driven from the towns along the Potomac, from Frederick, from
Hagerstown, and from Boonsboro; and forced from the strong passes in the
South Mountains, the detached portions of the rebel army were
concentrated along the banks of the Antietam creek, in the vicinity of
the little town of Sharpsburgh. Hither Jackson and Longstreet, Hill and
Stuart, with their hosts, had gathered to offer combined resistance to
the Union army; b