rom the Federal authorities, the theory having
obtained at Washington that he had had it in his power, by renewing
the battle, to cut Lee to pieces. Of the probability of such a
result the reader will form his own judgment. The ground for such a
conclusion seems slight. The loss and disorganization were, it would
seem, even greater on the Federal than on the Confederate side, and
Lee would have probably been better able to sustain an attack than
General McClellan to make it. It will be seen that General Meade
afterward, under circumstances more favorable still, declined to
attack Lee at Williamsport. If one of the two commanders be greatly
censured, the other must be also, and the world will be always apt
to conclude that they knew what could be effected better than the
civilians.

But General McClellan did make an attempt to "crush Lee," such as the
authorities at Washington desired, and its result may possibly throw
light on the point in discussion.

On the night of the 19th, Lee having crossed the Potomac on the night
of the 18th, General McClellan sent a considerable force across the
river near Shepherdstown, which drove off the Confederate artillery
there, and at daylight formed line of battle on the south bank,
protected by their cannon north of the river. Of the brief but bloody
engagement which followed--an incident of the war little dwelt upon in
the histories--General A.P. Hill, who was sent by Lee to repulse the
enemy, gives an animated account. "The Federal artillery, to the
number of seventy pieces," he says, "lined the opposite heights, and
their infantry was strongly posted on the crest of the Virginia hills.
When he advanced with his division, he was met by the most tremendous
fire of artillery he ever saw," but the men continued to move on
without wavering, and the attack resulted in the complete rout of the
enemy, who were "driven pell-mell into the river," the current of
which was "blue with floating bodies." General Hill chronicles this
incident in terms of unwonted eloquence, and declares that, by the
account of the enemy themselves, they lost "three thousand men killed
and drowned from one brigade," which appears to be an exaggeration.
His own loss was, in killed and wounded, two hundred and sixty-one.

This repulse was decisive, and General McClellan made no further
attempt to pursue the adversary, who, standing at bay on the soil of
Virginia, was still more formidable than he had been on the s