h blood, and planted thick with the dead.
Scarcely had the sun risen when a shell from the enemy dropped not far
from our force, which was quietly resting upon their arms near the
crest of a low knoll a short distance from the enemy's position.
Immediately another followed, a twelve pounder crashed diagonally
through the Eighth Connecticut, killing three men instantly, and
wounding four in Company D.

The position was changed for one less exposed, but in getting there
the troops were obliged to pass under a deadly fire from a rebel
battery stationed at short range distance. In this undertaking the
Sixteenth lost three wounded. We lay here perhaps two hours, and had a
good view of the battle on the right, which had by this time assumed a
fearful magnitude. Along the western banks of the Antietam River,
there runs, with a gradual rise of undulating ground, a
crescent-shaped ridge, presenting its concave side to the river. The
top of this ridge spreads out into a broad tableground of forests and
ravines. A series of timbered-covered hills surrounded this ridge;
some of the adjacent hills had been cleared of the forest, and were
covered with orchards and cornfields, enclosed with fences of rails or
stone. Behind this ridge runs the road from Hagerstown to Sharpsburg
and Shepardstown. Sharpsburg is just in the rear of the ridge.

Along these hills the rebel lines were posted, four miles in extent.
Their position was exceedingly strong, protected by ravines and
forests. Every commanding crest bristled with artillery, and the
forests were planted thick with infantry. The extreme right of the
rebel line was within three-fourths of a mile of the Potomac; in
front, and along their left flank, flowed the Antietam, winding
through a wooded ravine, with banks too high and with waters too deep
to permit a crossing, except at two fords, at some distance from each
other. Between these distant fords there were three bridges; on the
right, at the center, and on the left. These bridges were strongly
guarded. The federal troops were on the east side of the Antietam,
behind a low range of hills, lying at the base of the Blue Ridge.
These eminences were generally commanded by the heights held by the
rebels. General Lee had certainly chosen a very strong position.

The Eleventh Connecticut now received orders from General Burnside to
take the bridge, after the batteries had shelled the woods on the
other side, and hold it until General Rod