truggle was long and bloody. The men
stood like duelists, firing and receiving the fire at fifty or a
hundred paces. Crawford lost 1000 men without gaining a foot of
ground; but Gordon turned the scale, and Hood's brigades were
gradually forced back through the corn-field to the Dunkard Church. A
great gap had now opened in Jackson's line. Jones' division, its
flank uncovered by Hood's retreat, found itself compelled to seek a
new position. D.H. Hill's brigades, in the same plight, gave ground
towards Sharpsburg; and Greene, following in pursuit, actually
crossed the turnpike, and penetrated the West Wood; but neither
Hooker nor Mansfield were able to support him, and unassisted he
could make no progress.

(MAP of Approximate positions of the Troops during the attacks of
Hooker and Mansfield on the Confederate left, at the Battle of
Sharpsburg.)

9 A.M.

At this moment, as if by common consent, the firing ceased on this
flank of the battle; and as McClellan's Second Army Corps, led by
Sumner, advanced to sustain the First and Twelfth, we may stand by
Jackson near the Dunkard Church, and survey the field after four
hours' fighting.

Assailed in front by superior numbers, and enfiladed by the batteries
beyond the Antietam, the Confederate left had everywhere given back.
The East Wood was in possession of the enemy. Their right occupied
the Miller House; their centre, supported by many batteries, stood
across the corn-field; while the left, thrust forward, was actually
established on the edge of the West Wood, some five hundred yards to
northward of the church. But if Jackson had yielded ground, he had
exacted a fearful price. The space between the woods was a veritable
slaughter-pen, reeking under the hot September sun, where the blue
uniforms lay thicker than the grey. The First Army Corps had been cut
to pieces. It had been beaten in fair fight by Jackson's two
divisions, counting at the outset less than half its numbers, and
aided only by the cavalry. It had lost in killed and wounded over 100
officers and 2400 men. Hooker himself had been struck down, and as
far as the Antietam the field was covered with his stragglers. The
Twelfth Corps had suffered hardly less severely; and Mansfield
himself, an old man and a gallant soldier, was dying of his wounds.
His batteries indeed remained in action, pouring shot and shell on
the West Wood and the Dunkard Church; but his infantry, reduced by
more than 1500 rifles, coul