Existing comment:
"A Thrilling Spectacle":
Second Corps, with 15,000 soldiers, was the largest corps in the Union Army of the Potomac. Its lead division went into the West Woods alone. The other two divisions strayed to the south and passed in front of this point, marching from left to right [on their way to the Sunken Road].
Confederate Colonel John B. Gordon watched them:
"The men in blue formed in my front, an assaulting column four lines deep. The front line came to a 'charge bayonets,' the other lines to a 'right shoulder shift.' The brave Union commander, superbly mounted, placed himself in front, while his band in the rear cheered them with martial music. It was a thrilling spectacle. The banners above them had apparently never been discolored by the smoke and dust of battle. Their gleaming bayonets flashed like burnished silver in the sunlight."
Antietam was the first battle for the 132nd Pennsylvania Regiment.
"An occasional shell whizzed by or over, reminding us that we were rapidly approaching the 'debatable ground.' The compressed lip and set teeth showed that nerve and resolution had been summoned to the discharge of duty."
Then a shell smashed through some beehives on the Roulette farm. Shells and bullets and now angry bees were too much for the rookies. The officers had their hands full getting the regiment formed and moving again. |