Photo by Alexander Gardner, 1862.
Courtesy Library of Congress

History continued

Meanwhile, southeast of Sharpsburg, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and the Federal Ninth Corps had been charged with first taking a stone bridge spanning Antietam Creek and then pressing on to Lee’s headquarters within the town. Burnside’s attack was designed to coincide with Hooker’s daybreak artillery volleys, but because of delays ordered by McClellan, he did not move against the bridge, known after the battle as Burnside Bridge, until after 10:00 a.m. When he did attack, the entrenched Confederates repelled several charges by concentrating fire on the narrow bridge opening on the creek’s eastern bank. Bodies piled up near the entrance, and the span became slick with blood. Amid the shot being leveled against the bridge, and the chunks of shrapnel hurtling overhead, Burnside believed he faced a much stronger enemy than awaited across the creek. His force of 12,000 was being held at bay by a mere “400 stalwart Georgians.” The defenders were only dislodged when a contingent from the Federal force forded the shallow creek downstream and threatened to outflank them.

Low on ammunition, the Confederates withdrew, but this small group, had cost him precious time. Burnside’s own ammunition shortfall caused further delays, and the bridge itself proved a bottleneck for the throngs of soldiers, supply wagons, and artillery attempting to cross. The hours lost over the course of the day proved extremely costly to the Federals, affording Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill adequate time to march his division of 3,000 Confederates the seventeen miles from Harper’s Ferry. Covering the distance in less than eight hours, the men arrived weary but their timely intervention successfully halted Burnside’s advance at the outskirts of Sharpsburg. Many military historians contend that had Hill not arrived precisely when he did, Sharpsburg would have been encircled, Lee’s retreat cut off, and the Army of Northern Virginia defeated. However, that these events did not occur, and that the Civil War pressed on for three more years, can and should be equally attributed to Toombs’ brigade defense of Burnside Bridge. Even with the earlier delays ordered by McCellan, if not for the extra time incurred in his crossing, Burnside would have most likely reached Lee’s flank before Hill could save the day.