Ninth Army Corps

On September 17, 1862, Christ's Brigade of Willcox's Division, Ninth Army Corps, commanded by Col. B.C. Christ of the 50th Pennsylvania Infantry and composed of the 50th Pennsylvania Infantry, 79th New York Infantry, 28th Massachusetts Infantry, and 17th Michigan Infantry, was in reserve in the morning on the eastern slope of the ridge on the left flank of the Antietam, nearly opposite Burnside Bridge. About 2 p.m., after Sturgis' Division had carried the bridge, the brigade crossed and, following the stream and the road to Sharpsburg, filed to the right where the stream turned east and formed line on the narrow plateau at the foot of the bluff southeast of this point. After the corps line was formed, the brigade advanced under heavy artillery fire from Cemetery Hill and the high ground west of the road to within a few yards of this point, where it was checked. After a short delay, the 79th New York advanced as skirmishers and compelled the Confederate artillery to retire. The brigade was about to move forward when A.P. Hill's attack on the left of the corps forced it to fall back to the Antietam, where it remained until the evening of September 18, when Morell's Division of the Fifth Corps relieved it.

Maryland · United States