The
Union General rode a magnificent black horse, was carefully dressed in
shining immaculate uniform--gloves, boots and sword spotless. The
Confederate General sat carelessly on his little shaggy sorrel, dusty,
travel-stained and carelessly dressed.
The curiosity of the Union army which had surrendered was keen to see
the famous fighter. The entire twelve thousand prisoners of war lined
the road as Jackson silently rode by.
A voice from the crowd expressed the universal feeling as they gazed:
"Boys, he ain't much for looks, but, by God, if we'd had him we
wouldn't have been caught in this trap!"
The first shock of Lee's and McClellan's armies was at South Mountain,
where the desperate effort was made to break through and save Harper's
Ferry. The attempt failed, though the Union forces won the fight. Lee
lost twenty-seven hundred men, killed and wounded and prisoners, and the
Federal general, twenty-one hundred.
Lee withdrew to Sharpsburg on the banks of the Antietam to meet
Jackson's victorious division sweeping toward him from Harper's Ferry.
On the first day the Confederate commander made a display of force only,
awaiting the alignment of Jackson's troops. His men were so poorly shod
and clothed they could not be brought into line of battle. When the
fateful day of September 17th, 1862, dawned, still and clear and
beautiful over the hills of Maryland, more than twenty thousand of Lee's
men had fallen by the roadside barefooted and exhausted.
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