. Johnny Reb and Billy Yank . ed to fire, and it sounded like the sputteringof a pack of firecrackers. The men in frenzied haste reloadedtheir muskets and lay silent and expectant: we could easily hearthe officers expostulating and urging the men to reform, andthey made a rush the second time, but it was without heart, andwhen we poured in a close fire, they broke in a panic and disap-peared, officers and men, over the brow of the hill. We had notime to feel jubilant, for the rattling of drums in our front, themeasured tread, the clanking of the accoutrements showed thatthe Yankee reserves wer
. Johnny Reb and Billy Yank . ed to fire, and it sounded like the sputteringof a pack of firecrackers. The men in frenzied haste reloadedtheir muskets and lay silent and expectant: we could easily hearthe officers expostulating and urging the men to reform, andthey made a rush the second time, but it was without heart, andwhen we poured in a close fire, they broke in a panic and disap-peared, officers and men, over the brow of the hill. We had notime to feel jubilant, for the rattling of drums in our front, themeasured tread, the clanking of the accoutrements showed thatthe Yankee reserves were coming up. We braced ourselves forthe shock, and every man looked backward, hoping to see rein-forcements, but not a soul could be seen between us and thevillage. Our losses had been trifling up to that time, but in our frontthe ground was strewn with the dead and dying Federals: wenoticed many walk, hobble and crawl over the crest: all undis-turbed, for no one fired, and the order to remain in ranks was im-plicitly the; battle of sharpsburg 293 The Seventeenth was on the extreme right and in the air, andit was by the merest chance that the first attacking force had notoverlapped us. Had we known what the next fifteen minutes would bringforth, every officer and man would have fallen back to ToombssGeorgia Brigade, which had reformed on the edge of Sharpsburg;for the South Carolina Brigade, which was on our left, gave way;thus our small force had both flanks unsupported. The enemy knew our position perfectly, and their line far over-lapped ours. We heard the commanding officer of the unseen foe give theorder Forward, march! Dress to the colors! Double-quick!and in a shorter time than it takes to write this, they came overthe rising ground with a ringing cheer; when they reached theeminence every man in the Rebel line who could sight a gunpulled trigger. The two hundred or so muskets of the brigadeexploded like a bomb; the discharge tore gaps in the line ofblue; it ree
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