Lee nodded and turned his glasses again toward the long blue line across
the Antietam. McClellan himself was there, standing on a hill and also
watching. Around him was a great division under the command of Burnside,
and his time to win victory had come. He sent the order to Burnside to
move forward and force the Antietam. It is said that at this moment Lee
had only five thousand men with him, all the rest having been sent to
Jackson, and, if so, time itself fought against the Union, as it was a
full two hours before Burnside carried out his order and moved forward on
the Antietam.
But Dick, on the north, did not know that it was as yet only cannon fire,
and not the charge of troops to the south and west. In truth, he knew
little of his own part of the battle. Once he was knocked down, but it
was only the wind from a cannon ball, and when he sprang to his feet and
drew a few long breaths he was as well as ever.
From muttered talk around him, talk that he could hear under the thunder
of the battle, he learned that Sumner, who had come with the great
reinforcement, was now leading the battle, with Hooker wounded and
Mansfield dying.
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