e
same moment 30,000 men were launched against McMahon's front, 25,000
against his right, and 10,000 against his left. Every battalion
within sound of the cannon participated in the forward movement; and
numerous batteries, crossing the stream which corresponds with the
Antietam, supported the infantry at the closest range. No general
hesitated to act on his own responsibility. Everywhere there was
co-operation, between infantry and artillery, between division and
division, between army corps and army corps; and such co-operation,
due to a sound system of command, is the characteristic mark of a
well-trained army and a wise leader. At Sharpsburg, on the other
hand, there was no combination whatever, and even the army corps
commanders dared not act without specific orders. There was nothing
like the close concert and the aggressive energy which had carried
the Southerners to victory at Gaines' Mill and the Second Manassas.
The principle of mutual support was utterly ignored. The army corps
attacked in succession and not simultaneously, and in succession they
were defeated. McClellan fought three separate battles, from dawn to
10 A.M. against Lee's left; from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. against his
centre; from 1 to 4 P.M. against his right. The subordinate generals,
although, with a few exceptions, they handled their commands
skilfully, showed no initiative, and waited for orders instead of
improving the opportunity. Only two-thirds of the army was engaged;
25,000 men hardly fired a shot, and from first to last there was not
the slightest attempt at co-operation. McClellan was made aware by
his signallers on the Red Hill of every movement that took place in
his opponent's lines, and yet he was unable to take advantage of
Lee's weakness. He had still to grasp the elementary rule that the
combination of superior numbers and of all arms against a single
point is necessary to win battles.

The Northern infantry, indeed, had not fought like troops who own
their opponents as the better men. Rather had they displayed an
elasticity of spirit unsuspected by their enemies; and the
Confederate soldiers, who knew with what fierce courage the attack
had been sustained, looked on the battle of Sharpsburg as the most
splendid of their achievements. No small share of the glory fell to
Jackson. Since the victory of Cedar Run, his fame, somewhat obscured
by Frayser's Farm and Malvern Hill, had increased by leaps and
bounds, and the defence of the