r of the position in which I had posted Cooke in the morning, and
upon informing him of Jackson's intentions, he withdrew his order.

"While we were discussing this subject, Jackson himself joined us
with the information of Stuart's failure to turn the Federal right,
for the reason that he found it securely posted on the Potomac. Upon
my expressing surprise at this statement, Jackson replied that he
also had been surprised, as he had supposed the Potomac much further
away; but he remarked that Stuart had an excellent eye for
topography, and it must be as he represented. "It is a great pity,"
he added; "we should have driven McClellan into the Potomac""* (*
Battles and Leaders. volume 2 pages 679 and 680.)

That a counterstroke which would have combined a frontal and flank
attack would have been the best chance of destroying the Federal army
can hardly be questioned. The front so bristled with field artillery,
and the ridge beyond the Antietam was so strong in heavier ordnance,
that a purely frontal attack, such as Longstreet suggested, was
hardly promising; but the dispositions which baffled Stuart were the
work of a sound tactician. Thirty rifled guns had been assembled in a
single battery a mile north of the West Wood, where the Hagerstown
turnpike ascends a commanding ridge, and the broad channel of the
Potomac is within nine hundred yards. Here had rallied such portions
of Hooker's army corps as had not dispersed, and here Mansfield's two
divisions had reformed; and although the infantry could hardly have
opposed a resolute resistance the guns were ready to repeat the
lesson of Malvern Hill. Against the rifled pieces the light
Confederate smooth-bores were practically useless. Stuart's caution
was fully justified, and the sun sank on an indecisive battle.

"The blessed night came, and brought with it sleep and forgetfulness
and refreshment to many; but the murmur of the night wind, breathing
over fields of wheat and clover, was mingled with the groans of the
countless sufferers of both armies. Who can tell, who can even
imagine, the horrors of such a night, while the unconscious stars
shone above, and the unconscious river went rippling by?"* (* General
Palfrey. The Antietam and Fredericksburg.) Out of 130,000 men upon
the ground, 21,000 had been killed or wounded, more than sixteen per
cent.; and 25,000 of the Federals can hardly be said to have been
engaged.

The losses of the Confederate left have already bee