[KG_SSpoom]

Colonel John Hartranft's men in the 51st Pennsylvania scrambled over the fence bordering both sides of the road south of the bridge, and took cover behind the lower wing of the abutment. The colonel, who was with his colors, used the upper abutment for shelter; he ordered his men to tear out the fence rails directly across the mouth of the bridge.

From behind the knolls, Ferrero, who had caught up with the 35th Massachusetts, could not understand why the 51st Pennsylvania had not crossed the stream as ordered. The dapper dancing master snapped at the ever-present Hudson to go down and find out why Hartranft had not done as commanded. Before trotting out into the corn-stubbled valley, Hudson pointedly asked the New Englanders not to shoot him in the back.

Taking off at a steady trot, Hudson dashed into line just south of the bridge. The men pointed him in the direction of the northern parapet, where he found Hartranft and his color guard huddled below the bridge wall. Hudson screamed for the colonel to cross the bridge.

"Does he desire it?" an incredulous Hartranft shouted back. "Yes, sir," Hudson replied.

"Very well."

The two officers headed south together. Hartranft and his color guard worked their way into the crowd on the bridge, while Hudson sought out Colonel Robert B. Potter of the 51st New York and told him to follow the Pennsylvanians across. Potter shouted at his men to move and bolted onto the parapet, where he stood shouting and swearing like a madman.

Hudson, for his part, hurriedly raced back to the safety of the knolls. As he explained later, "Having on straps & sword & pistol, I was willing to keep moving," lest he prove to be a prize target for some Confederate sharpshooter.

Confederate Colonel Benning, commanding the Georgians at the bridgehead, found his position, which his soldiers had held so valiantly for so long, now becoming untenable. The morning attacks had left his men physically exhausted. Their fire dwindled perceptibly as the Yankees down at the bridge began to stir. He passed word along the crest for the men to fall back.

At the bridge, Captain William Allebaugh, Sergeant William Thomas, three color-bearers and a member of the color guard bolted across the span and planted the regimental standard in the road at the mouth of the bridge. Simultaneously, Hartranft, hat in hand, rushed to join them, screaming at the top of his lungs. His men followed his excited example, clogging the 12-foot-wide roadway as individuals halted to shoot at Rebel snipers in the opposite treetops.

The incoming rifle fire ceased suddenly as the Pennsylvanians reached the middle of the bridge. A short distance to the left, some men of the 51st New York--who had forded the stream and scaled the quarry at the crest of the hill--had outflanked the re-forming 2nd Georgia, which had pulled back from the crest. Union fire cut down Lt. Col. William R. Holmes, Jr., of the Georgia regiment, who died, sword in hand, while attempting to fulfill his vow to hold the bridgehead or "die in a ditch" trying.

Hudson, in the meantime, had reported to Ferrero, who directed him back to the bridge with orders for each regimental commander to form in the road along the western bank of the creek, then occupy the crest above the bridge.

By the time Hudson responded, the scene at the crossing had become thoroughly muddled. The 51st Pennsylvania halted in the road at the entrance of the bridge to volley at an enemy that was no longer there. Hartranft leaned against the upper abutment, weakly fanning his hat to speed his men forward. "Come on, boys,' he panted, "for I can't halloo any more."

The 51st New York jammed the entire length of the bridge. Men shouted and screamed at one another as they pushed and shoved like so many runners on a giant treadmill. Individual soldiers halted to load and fire into the treetops. There was a great deal of motion, but no headway. To the left rear, the 48th Pennsylvania and 21st Massachusetts, along with a company of the 35th Massachusetts, continued to volley into the far bank.

Hudson got hopelessly stuck in the middle of the mob. As he elbowed his way through the frantic herd, he repeatedly bellowed, "Make way for an aide!" The struggle so exhausted him that when he came within hailing distance of the acting lieutenant colonel of the New York regiment, he blurted the commands to him along with the request, "Will you pass it to your colonel along the line?" The officer, a new acquaintance of Hudson's, politely but with a hint of exasperation in his voice replied, "That is part of your duty, sir."

Hudson continued to worm his way through the human roadblock, eventually finding the commanders of both lead regiments, then made his weary way back to Ferrero, who was still at the knolls. Ferrero appeared rather piqued. When Hudson returned from the creek, the tail end of the 51st New York still clogged the bridge, while the rest of the regiment, along with the 51st Pennsylvania, blocked the road on the western bank.

Dense, sulfurous clouds engulfed the entire creek bank as the frustrated Federals repeatedly fired at random at any individual Rebel who happened to pop from cover. Corpses, wounded men and piled-up fence rails marked the former presence of the opposing force. Occasional potshots still came from the trees, but there was no genuine Confederate opposition left at the bridge.

The 78th Ohio, unknown to the men of Ferrero's brigade, had forded the creek above the bend in the Lower Bridge Road in an effort to flank the retreating Georgians from the north. At the same time, a large number of impatient Union troops forded the stream at the big bend and scaled the quarry south of the 2nd Georgia.

Meanwhile, the 51st New York and the 51st Pennsylvania retired below the creek bank to the water's edge to avoid enfilading fire from the heights above Boonsboro Pike. Hartranft, who was about 300 feet up the road, sent Lt. Col. Thomas Bell south to fetch reinforcements.

Ferrero fumed as he watched his lead regiment, the 51st Pennsylvania, move upstream and lie down under the shelter of the creek bank instead of ascending the heights. Coffee fires with their telltale smoke were being kindled.

"Hudson," cried Ferrero, "tell your colonel to cross the bridge immediately, move along the road to the right, form in line and advance up the hill."

The exhausted lieutenant delivered the order to Lt. Col. Sumner Carruth, who immediately got the 35th Massachusetts to its feet. The regiment double-quicked in column through the saddle between the two knolls, down to the creek. The 6th New Hampshire--and what could be found of the 2nd Maryland--joined the advance, which almost was trampled to death when Carruth, in a moment of indecision, tried to front his regiment to fire across the creek. He changed his mind in midcommand and unexpectedly moved his herd by right flank onto the bridge.

The tumult at the bridge disturbed a large sow and her litter. Bounding over corpses, the pig made straight for the 9th New Hampshire, charged through a gap in the rails and tried to negotiate the opening between the legs of one of the advancing New Englanders. She was too wide and he was too low--the sow plucked the startled soldier off his feet and carried him, screaming for his life, toward the rear.

The 35th and 21st Massachusetts hurried onto Lower Bridge Road and formed along the western bank. During the ensuing crossing, a couple of men dropped snipers out of the trees near the bridge. One sharpshooter, in particular, left an indelible impression on them. As he fell from his perch, one arm snagged a branch and he dangled piteously before plummeting into the creek.

Second Lieutenant Farquhar McCrimmon of the 20th Georgia, with 16 survivors from his own regiment and the 2nd Georgia, realized that he could not withstand the onslaught of the two Federal brigades. As the 35th Massachusetts came up the hill, the Confederate remnant raised their hands, waving filthy white rags and pieces of newspaper from their ramrods. They were herded toward the bridge, where Lt. Col. Bell had to calm his angry men, who had surrounded the bested Rebels.