's Ferry had been arduous in the extreme. Men who had taken
part in the forced marches of the Valley campaign declared that the
march from Frederick to Harper's Ferry surpassed all their former
experiences. In three-and-a-half days they had covered over sixty
miles, crossing two mountain ranges, and fording the Potomac. The
weather had been intensely hot, and the dust was terrible. Nor had
the investment of Harper's Ferry been a period of repose. They had
been under arms during the night which preceded the surrender,
awaiting the signal to assault within a few hundred yards of the
enemy's sentries. As soon as the terms of capitulation were arranged
they had been hurried back to the bivouac, had cooked two days'
rations, and shortly after midnight had marched to the Potomac,
seventeen miles away. This night march, coming on the top of their
previous exertions, had taxed the strength of many beyond endurance.
The majority were badly shod. Many were not shod at all. They were
ill-fed, and men ill-fed are on the highroad to hospital. There were
stragglers, then, from every company in the command. Even the
Stonewall Brigade, though it had still preserved its five regiments,
was reduced to 300 muskets; and the other brigades of Jackson's
division were but little stronger. Walker's division, too, although
less hardly used in the campaign than the Valley troops, had
diminished under the strain of the night march, and mustered no more
than 3500 officers and men at Sharpsburg. Thus the masses of troops
which McClellan conceived were hidden in rear of D.H. Hill and
Longstreet amounted in reality to some 10,000 effective soldiers.

It was fortunate, indeed, that in their exhausted condition there was
no immediate occasion for their services on September 16. The shadows
grew longer, but yet the Federals made no move; even the fire of the
artillery died away, and the men slept quietly in the woods to north
and west of the little town. Meanwhile, in an old house, one of the
few which had any pretensions to comfort in Sharpsburg, the generals
met in council. Staff officers strolled to and fro over the broad
brick pavement; the horses stood lazily under the trees which shaded
the dusty road; and within, Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet pored long
and earnestly over the map of Maryland during the bright September
afternoon. But before the glow of a lovely sunset had faded from the
sky the artillery once more opened on the ridge above, and re