The Battle of Antietam ( Sharpsburg) 17th September 1862
Timeline 10.45 AM
Union troops under the command of Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis have crossed the Rhorbach bridge, over the Antietam creek under a withering hail of Confederate musketry as their progress is furiously contested.
url=https://postimg.cc/3kbt4LzN]
url=https://postimg.cc/t1Z2h3H5]
General Longstreet's planned flank attack on the Union advance by Major General Lafayette Mc Laws has been again frustrated by another appalling dice throw resulting in the Division remaining immobile, facing the wrong way!
This has allowed the Union Second Brigade, Second Corps, Brigadier Oliver Howard commanding, to divert its advance to oppose a similar Confederate threat to its flank by a Confederate Brigade not affected by Mc Laws inaction.
Baxter's Fire Zouaves, Colonel De Witt Baxter are engaged in a spirited firefight.
url=https://postimg.cc/rDphp6n7]
Their compatriots from the Second Division, Major General John Sedgwick commanding have fought their way through the West Wood, past the Dunkard church and are emerging into the last line of Confederate defence by the Mary Loacher cabin.
Reinforced by Brigadier John G Walker's Brigade the remnants of Jackson's command are desperately contesting the Federal onslaught.
url=https://postimg.cc/56b7ZQw4]
Contemporaneously, the Union assault at the Sunken Road has increased in fury with Brigadier General William French's division now fully committed.
url=https://postimg.cc/Sn8GRyLT]
Colonel John B Gordon's Alabamians, along with their comrades are heavily engaged in attempting to repulse the wave of Federal infantry.
url=https://postimg.cc/hfsyg4r9]
The pressure on the Army of North Virginia has begun to reach a crescendo of violence with its fate starting to hang in the balance.
adds artillery to his soft-plastic Union forces.
