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reserve. General Burnside summoned his division generals to his headquarters, and gave them the orders requisite to carry out that part of the programme assigned to the Ninth Corps. Did not you hear what I have been saying," he asked, after he had concluded. "Yes," they all answered. "Then say it over," said the general; and the generals, like school-boys in a class, repeated their lessons.

THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM-GALLANTRY OF THE NINTH CORPSDESIRE OF BURNSIDE TO FOLLOW THE FLYING FOE-INACTIVITY OF MCCLELLAN BURNSIDE PLACED IN COMMANDORDER ON TAKING COMMAND A DIFFICULT TASK.

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HE battle of Antietam, fought on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1862, made the vicinity of the little village of Sharpsburg, Md., memorable thenceforth. in our national history. It is situated on Antietam Creek, which rises in central Pennsylvania, and after running in a southerly direction, mingles its clear stream with the turgid waters of the Potomac about five miles above Harper's Ferry. The stone bridge across the creek, which General Burnside was ordered to take, is in a deep ravine. The face of the hill on the opposite side of the bridge is too steep to be ascended by a horse, and must be literally

climbed, to be surmounted by man. The roadway from the bridge turns abruptly to the right and left, and rises the hill along its side very gradually. On this steep hill, commanding the bridge, was a Confederate battery, and there were also rifle-pits, stone walls, and earth-works on either bank, filled with the enemy's sharp-shooters. The fight was a desperate one.

Some regiments advanced directly against the bridge, under a terrific fire; others, fording the creek, crossed, and endeavored to drive the enemy's sharp-shooters from their rifle-pits. An angry tempest of shot and shell poured down from the enemy's works, and several times the advancing columns were repulsed with great slaughter. Hooker and Meade were gallantly fighting lower down the creek, and from the spot where General McClellan established his headquarters, four miles of battle could be seen beneath the bright autumnal sun. Again and again. did the regiments move forward into what was literally the jaws of death. The bridge was at last handsomely carried, but the Confederates received reinforcements, and General Burnside was forced to send to General McClellan for aid.

Fifteen thousand men, constituting the division of Gen. Fitz John Porter, were massed idly in the valley, and their commander was with General McClellan when Burnside's staff-officer rode up. The message which he delivered was: "I want troops and guns. If you do not send them I cannot hold my position for half an hour.” General McClellan's only answer for the moment was a glance at the western sky, and he then looked on General Porter, who shook his head gravely. "Tell General Burnside," that this is the

said McClellan, speaking very slowly, battle of the war; he must hold his ground till dark, at any

cost. I will send him a battery; I cannot do any more. I have no infantry." Then, as the messenger was riding away he called him back. "Tell him also," said he, "that if he cannot hold his ground, then the bridge, to the last man,- always the bridge; if the bridge is lost, all is lost."

The bridge was not lost. Every foot of ground was stubbornly contested, and when the sun went down it was a source of gratification to General Burnside to know that the Ninth Corps, after a hard day's fighting, held the bridge, and thus secured victory by remaining on the ground which the Confederates had occupied. Could the Ninth Corps, isolated from the rest of McClellan's forces, have been cut off and overwhelmed, Lee would have gained the victory. "It is certain," said Mr. Pollard, in his History of the War, that if we had had fresh troops to hurl against Burnside at the bridge of Antietam, the day would have been ours."

The Ninth Corps numbered on the morning of the battle 13,819 officers and men. Its losses during the day were twenty-two officers and 410 enlisted men killed; ninety-six officers and 1,645 enlisted men wounded, and 120 missing. The commanding generals on both sides could not have been sorry when the sun set, and darkness prohibited any further carnage. General Burnside was actively engaged during the day watching intently every movement of the enemy. Among those who fell was General Rodman, who had been with him since the beginning of the war, and of whom he said: "One of the first to leave his home at his country's call, General Rodman, in his constant and wearing service, now ended by his untimely death, has left a bright record of earnest patriotism, undimmed by one thought of self; respected and esteemed