I Dread the Thought of the Place by D. Scott Hartwig;

Author:D. Scott Hartwig;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2023-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

16

The Bridge Captured

“What the hell you doing there? Straighten that line there, forward”

During the time between the dispatch of Burnside’s orders to open his attack on the Rohrback Bridge and the subsequent repulse of the 11th Connecticut, concern mounted at McClellan’s headquarters over news arriving from the Union army’s right. At 10:20 a.m., they received Sumner’s troubling messages that he needed immediate reinforcements or the whole right flank might give way. The optimism prevailing when Burnside’s orders were first drafted evaporated, and the operations of the 9th Corps began to assume greater importance than just a diversionary attack. McClellan considered it imperative to prevent Robert E. Lee from shifting any more troops to concentrate against his fragile right flank. Colonel David Strother detected McClellan’s growing impatience with Burnside and heard him frequently exclaim, “What is Burnside about? Why do we not hear from him?” Consideration had been given to supporting the 9th Corps’ attack, since McClellan had originally intended to hold the 6th Corps in reserve to reinforce a successful assault, wherever that might occur. Had he committed this corps by having it cross Antietam Creek at the Middle Bridge, or using it to reinforce the 9th Corps at the Rohrback Bridge, it might have dramatically altered the outcome of the engagement, but the decision to commit Franklin to reinforce the right eliminated this possibility. The two divisions of the 5th Corps were also available, but McClellan considered their position on the eastern bank of Antietam Creek to be indispensable to the army’s safety. Instead of support that might have helped Burnside gain possession of the Rohrback Bridge by outflanking its defenders, McClellan merely sent staff officers to demand information and apply increasing pressing on the 9th Corps to capture the bridge on its own.1

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