His army had been manoeuvred with a rapidity and precision which must have excited even the admiration of the distinguished soldier opposed to him.

He had promptly concentrated his forces opposite every threatened point in turn, and if he had not been able to carry out the axiom of Napoleon, that a commander should always be superior to the enemy at the point of contact, he had at least done all that was possible to effect that end, and had so far succeeded as to have repulsed if not routed his adversary.

This is the main feature to be noticed in Lee's handling of his troops at Sharpsburg.

An unwary or inactive commander would have there suffered decisive defeat, for the Confederate left wing numbered, throughout the early part of the battle, scarcely more than four thousand men, while the column directed against it amounted first to eighteen thousand, and in all to forty thousand men.

To meet the impact of this heavy mass, not only desperate fighting, but rapid and skilful manoeuvring, was necessary.