er Arms! Right Face! Right Shoulder Shift Arms!" and at a
quickstep the brigade moved towards the field.

After passing long trains of ambulances and ammunition wagons, the boys
were saluted as they passed through the little town of Keetysville by
exhortations from the wounded, who crowded every house, and forgot their
wounds in their enthusiasm. "Fellows, you've got 'em! Give 'em h--l!"
yelled an artillery sergeant, for whom a flesh wound in the arm was
being dressed at the window by a kind-hearted looking country woman.
"Give it to 'em!" "They're fast!" "This good lady knows every foot of
the ground, and says so." The good lady smiled assent, and was saluted
with cheer upon cheer. Dead horses, a few unburied men, marks of shot in
the buildings, now told of immediate proximity to the field. A short
distance further, and the Division was drawn up in line of battle,
behind one of the singular ridges that mark this memorable ground.
Fragments of shells, haversacks, knapsacks, and the like, told how hotly
the ground had been contested on the previous day. The order to load
was quickly obeyed, and the troops, with the remainder of the Fifth
Corps in their immediate neighborhood, stood to arms.

A large number of officers lined the crest of the ridge, and thither,
with leave, the Colonel and Lieut.-Colonel of the 210th repaired. The
scene that met their view was grand beyond description. Another somewhat
higher and more uniform ridge, running almost parallel to the ridge or
rather connected series of ridges on one of which the officers stood,
was the strong position held by the rebels on the previous day. Between
the ridges flowed the sluggish Antietam, dammed up for milling purposes.
Beyond, on the crest of the hill, gradually giving way, were the rebel
skirmishers; our own were as gradually creeping up the slope. The
skirmishers were well deployed upon both sides; and the parallel flashes
and continuous rattle of their rifles gave an interest to the scene,
ineffaceable in the minds of spectators.

"Do you hear that shell, you can see the smoke just this side of
Sharpsburg on our left," said the Colonel, addressing his companion.
"There it bursts," and a puff of white smoke expanded itself in the air
fifty yards above one of our batteries posted on a ridge on the left.
Two pieces gave quick reply. "Officers, to your posts," shouted an
aide-de-camp, and forthwith the officers galloped to their respective
commands.

"Boys