Near the church was a portion of Walker’s division.  Further north were two of McLaws’ brigades; then Armistead, who had been sent forward from Sharpsburg, and then Early.  A brigade of McLaws’ division formed the second line, and Anderson was sent back to D.H.  Hill.  Hood also was withdrawn, and the survivors of Jones’ division, many of whom had shared in the counterattack, were permitted to leave the front.

10.30 A.M.

Their rifles were no longer needed, for from half-past ten onwards, so far as the defence of the Confederate left was concerned, the work was done.  For many hours the West Wood was exposed to the concentrated fire of the Federal artillery; but this fire, although the range was close, varying from six to fifteen hundred yards, had little effect.  The shattered branches fell incessantly among the recumbent ranks, and the shells, exploding in the foliage, sent their hissing fragments far and wide; yet the losses, so more than one general reported, were surprisingly small.

But although the enemy’s infantry had been repulsed, no immediate endeavour was made by the Confederates to initiate a fresh counterstroke.  When Lee sent McLaws and Walker to Jackson’s aid, he sent in his last reserve, for A.P.  Hill had not yet reached the field, and R. H. Anderson’s division had already been taken to support the centre.  Thus no fresh troops were available, and the Federal right was strong.  At least fifteen batteries of artillery were in position along the edge of the North Wood, and they were powerfully supported by the heavy guns beyond the stream.

Yet the infantry so effectively protected was only formidable by reason of its numbers.  The First Corps and the Twelfth no longer existed as organised bodies.* (* It was not until two o’clock that even Meade’s Pennsylvanians were reformed.) Sedgwick’s division of the Second Corps was still more shattered.  Only Smith’s division was effective, and General McClellan, acting on the advice of Sumner, forbade all further attack.  Slocum’s division of the Sixth Corps, which reached the East Wood at twelve o’clock, was ordered to remain in rear as support to Smith.  The Confederate left wing, then, had offered such strenuous resistance that eight divisions of infantry, more than half of McClellan’s army, lay paralysed before them for the remainder of the day. 30,500 infantry, at the lowest calculation,(1) and probably 100 guns, besides those across the Antietam, had been massed by the Federals in this quarter of the field.

(1) Hooker 11,000
    Mansfield 8,500
    Sedgwick 6,000
    Smith 5,000
                          ------
                          30,500

Jackson’s numbers, even after he had been reinforced by McLaws and Walker, at no time approached those arrayed against him, and 19,400 men, including Stuart and three brigades of Hill, and 40 guns, is a liberal estimate of his strength.(2)