September 16, 1862

Early in the morning on September 16, 1862, the 20-pounder Parrott gun batteries of Taft, Langer, von Kleiser and Wever of the First New York Artillery were in position on the ridge east of the Antietam and north of Boonsboro Pike, while Battery E (Benjamin's) 2nd U.S. and Battery I (Weed's) 5th U.S. stood on the ridge south of the Pike, all engaging Confederate artillery on the heights east and north of Sharpsburg. About 8 a.m., four companies of the Fourth U.S. Infantry crossed the Antietam by the Middle Bridge and, late in the day, engaged Confederate infantry. About noon, Morell's Division of the Fifth Corps arrived from Frederick and encamped near Keedysville. The Ninth Corps moved to the left on high ground opposite and commanding the lower stone bridge. Between 3 and 4 p.m., Hooker's First Corps crossed the Antietam by the Upper Bridge and a ford below it, moved westerly to high ground near the Hagerstown Pike, then turned left, moved south, and encountered Confederate outposts on and near the Smoketown Road about one and three quarter miles north of this point. The advance continued under artillery and musketry fire until dark, when Hooker went into bivouac with the right of his line on the Hagerstown Pike where it entered the East Woods from the north. During the night, Mansfield's Twelfth Corps crossed the Antietam by the Upper Bridge and bivouacked about a mile in Hooker's rear.

Keedysville, Maryland · United States