Outnumbered Southerners watched the Northern Ninth Corps climb the hills toward them:
"The first thing we saw appear was the gilt eagle that surmounted the pole, then the top of the flag, next the flutter of the stars and stripes itself, slowly mounting, up it rose, then their hats cam in sight, still rising the faces emerged, next a range of curious eyes appeared, then such a hurrah as only the Yankee troops could give broke the stillness and they surged against us."
"Hastily emptying our muskets into their lines, we fled back through the cornfield. Oh, how I ran."
Genera Lee saw a column of marching men moving up southwest of town:
"It is A.P. Hill from Harpers Ferry."
Northern observers saw the marching column, and they signaled General Burnside, commanding Ninth Corps:
"Look out well on your left; the enemy are moving a strong force in that direction."
The 16th Connecticut was the regiment on the Union left. They had been in the army three weeks:
"A terrible volley was fired into us. In a moment we were riddled with shot. Orders were given which were not understood. Neither the line-officers nor the men had any knowledge of regimental movements."
Hill's light division rolled up the last Union attack. Ninth Corps retreated to Antietam Creek. The battle was over.
(captions)
(lower left) All day long the Southern commander, General Robert E. Lee, had taken troops from south of town to stave off defeat at Dunker Church and Sunken Road. Now the Union Ninth Corps looked down at the town and the Army of Northern Virginia faced destruction. Combat artist Edwin Forbes sketched the 9th New York Regiment (Hawkins' Zouaves) in their distinctive uniforms at this climatic moment.
(top center) Major General A. P. Hill, C.S.A.
(bottom center) Hill's light division left Harpers Ferry at 7:30 a.m. that morning. They marched 17 miles in 8 hours — many fell by the road exhausted. They forded the Potomac River, climbed up Miller's Sawmill Road, and came onto the battlefield shortly before 4 p.m.
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