d do no more than hold their ground.

Nor was the exhaustion of the enemy the only advantage which the
Confederates had gained by the slaughter of 4000 men. The position to
which Jackson had retired was more favourable than that from which he
had been driven. The line, no longer presenting a weak angle, was
almost straight, and no part of the front was open to enfilade.
Stuart and his artillery, withdrawn to a more favourable position,
secured the left. D.H. Hill on the right, though part of his force
had given way, still held the Roulette House and the sunken road, and
the troops in the West Wood were well protected from the Northern
batteries. The one weak point was the gap occupied by Greene's
Federals, which lay between Grigsby's regiments in the northern angle
of the West Wood and Hood's division at the Dunkard Church. The
enemy, however, showed no signs of making good his opportunity;
Early's brigade was close at hand, and Lee had promised further
reinforcements.

A glance southward showed that there was no reason for despair. Over
all the field lay the heavy smoke of a great artillery battle. From
near the Dunkard Church to the bluff overhanging the Antietam, a
distance of two miles, battery on battery was in line. Here were
Longstreet's artillery under Stephen Lee, together with the
six-and-twenty guns of Cutts' reserve battalion, forty-eight guns in
all; the divisional batteries of D.H. Hill, and the Washington
artillery of New Orleans,* (* Both D.H. Hill and the Washington
artillery had sixteen guns each.) and in addition to these eighty
guns others were in action above the Burnside Bridge. An array even
more formidable crowned the opposite crest; but although the
Confederate batteries, opposed by larger numbers and heavier metal,
had suffered terribly, both in men and in materiel, yet the infantry,
the main strength of the defence, was still intact.* (* "Our
artillery," says General D.H. Hill, "could not cope with the superior
weight, calibre, range, and number of the Yankee guns; hence it ought
only to have been used against masses of infantry. On the contrary,
our guns were made to reply to the Yankee guns, and were smashed up
or withdrawn before they could be effectually turned against massive
columns of attack." After Sharpsburg Lee gave orders that there were
to be no more 'artillery duels' so long as the Confederates fought
defensive battles.) The cliffs of the Red Hill, replying to the
rolling thund