[720] of infantry make their appearance on the other side of the Antietam. They cross the river, and, supported by the mounted artillery, attack Buford in turn. The latter calls in vain for the aid of the infantry of the Sixth corps, which is within supporting-distance: Sedgwick, being aware of his chief's circumspection, refuses to respond to this call, and the Federals fall back again upon Beaver Creek.
Lee was still waiting for Meade to shadow out his movement in order to select the position in which to receive his attack. The 10th was therefore another day gained, allowing his soldiers time to recuperate and the river to subside. In the afternoon, however, the demonstrations of the Federal right along the Boonsboroa and Hagerstown road decided him to fortify himself on that side. The Third corps left Hagerstown in order to draw near Williamsport, halting halfway between these two points. Early's division, encamped north of the first, took the positions which Hill had just abandoned at the south-west.
The reports which Lee received during the evening, however, left him no more doubt regarding Meade's intentions and the direction he has given to his columns. A large number of men are actively at work repairing the old boats, in fitting for use those that have been found on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, in constructing new ones, and in rebuilding the bridge at Falling Waters. In advancing beyond Bakersville the Federals threaten to interrupt this work. It is necessary to bar the direct road from Falling Waters to Williamsport by way of Downsville against them. Lee has foreseen this eventuality: with the perspicacity of an engineer officer he has chosen the line along which his troops will be posted. It forms a vast semicircle, of which Williamsport is the centre, having a radius of nearly four miles and intersecting the three roads leading from this village to Bakersville, Boonsboroa, and Hagerstown. On the right it rests on the Potomac at a point where the river, after running north-eastward, suddenly takes a southerly direction; following a little stream as far as Downsville, it again joins, at a distance of about two miles from this village, at St. James' College, the course of Marsh Creek, running straight along its left bank to the vicinity of its source, a little less than a mile above the college, and, following subsequently
