On the 15th, Longstreet was posted on the south of the Boonsboro road, and D. H. Hill north of it. Hood's division prolonged the line on Hill's left bending west until it touched the Hagerstown road. Jackson, early on the 16th, was put on Hood's left, with his right on the Hagerstown road. Stuart with cavalry and horse artillery guarded the extreme left next the Potomac. Walker, with his two brigades, came up from Harper's Ferry by afternoon, and was posted on the extreme right and immediately on the Antietam bluffs. As the divisions slept on arms, on the night of the 16th, they stood for battle, from right to left, in the following order: Walker, D. R. Jones, Evans (brigade), D. H. Hill, Hood, Lawton, J. R. Jones, cavalry. The artillery opened the great battle at dawn on the 17th, and before the sun had risen Jackson was hotly engaged with Hooker's corps on the Confederate left.
Jackson's and Hood's troops held their ground with great courage and firmness, sometimes advancing in triumph and then repulsed by the front lines of the enemy. The history of Jackson's battle is a history of violent and bloody contention, advances and retirements, with ground lost, gained, relost and regained, until at last the enemy was forced to the defensive and the Confederate battle held on nearly its chosen line. The three corps of
