Burnside Bridge, Across Antietam Creek, MD (September 1862)

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One mile below Sharpsburg, on Antietam Creek, a /graphics/stone structure, known as the "Burnside Bridge," crosses the stream. Bold bluffs, crowned with oaks and trimmed with tangled bushes, form a most delightful valley, through which the miniature river, broken here and there by tiny cascades, hurries down to the Potomac.
It was at this point that some of the most desperate fighting of the battle of Antietam occurred. The right of the Federal line was several miles above, and with the centre hotly engaged, the Confederates slowly forcing them back, while General Burnside, commanding the Ninth Corps, was ordered to carry this point and turn the enemy's right. The banks of the stream were very steep, and well defended by rifle pits which were covered by the guns of the Confederates on the ridge in the background. The assaulting column suffered heavily as it approached the bridge, and, in crossing, was exposed to a murderous fire. Here the Union troops again formed under a heavy artillery fire, and pushed forward into the standing corn, out of which a second line of Confederates suddenly arose and renewed the contest. The battle lasted for many hours, finally resulting in Union victory. At the close of the fight the dead and wounded on the field seemed countless.

Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War - Plate 20