A Country Divided : Through Blood United

Battle of Antietam: Burnside's Bridge

Several other soldiers noticed the bridge also, and they started following us out of the river. After a few moments, almost half of Burnside's troops were charging the other direction toward the Confederate-free bridge.

"What are you all doing?" Burnside shouted as he turned his horse toward the troops. "You're all going the wrong way!"

The troops that headed for the bridge ignored his shouts of confusion. I did also because his tactics were well, uh, horrible. I honestly think that risking the lives of the soldiers by crossing the river instead of the bridge so it would be "cute" is a bad war tactic.

As we charged across the bridge, we shouted loudly to try to scare the Confederates away. We all traveled in one giant wave, and we all moved as one large soldier instead of hundreds of individual small soldiers.

The few Confederate soldiers that guarded the other side of the bridge attempted to shoot at the wave of Union attackers, but they quickly gave up and fled into the hills.

"We're doing it!" I said happily to Milo and Johnathan at my sides.

The wave of Union troops began to pick up speed. We started to quickly jog, and our shouting grew louder. The huge wave also split up into a few more groups, each one tackling a section of the land on the other side of the bridge.

With only a few shots fired, the Georgian Confederate army receded into the hills nearby.

I ran over to Milo and Johnathan with a happy smile planted onto my face, and I ignored my slight limp. "Guys, we did it! I'm happy that we disobeyed Burnside." I slight chuckle was hidden in my sentence.

"I'm too, but we should hurry back before any other Confederate soldiers come," Johnathan added seriously.

"Johnathan's right," Milo commented, nodding his head in agreement. "We should head back."

With Milo's final words leading us off, we all ran back to where we came from just in case any Confederate soldiers chose to attack us while we were celebrating.

***

    Once Milo, Johnathan and I escaped the bridge at Antietam Creek, we decided to set up a small tent that was hidden in the dense forest by a small church on top of a hill that served as a hospital for soldiers.

    I was the first to enter our small tent, and I crashed onto the floor and instantly fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.

***

    I'm not sure how long I slept, but I felt extremely refreshed. I sat up and glanced at Milo and Johnathan who were softly snoring at my side. I quietly stood up and tapped Milo and Johnathan's shoulders.

    Johnathan stayed sound asleep, but Milo began to stir. He blinked slowly and absent-mindedly yawned before fully escaping DreamLand. Milo sat up and rubbed his temples in exhaustion with both of his hands.

    "Good morning, Milo," I said softly, a smile strewn across my lips.

    "Ugh, why did you wake me up so early?" he groaned in annoyance. "I was in the middle of a good dream."

    "I don't know," I shrugged, making Milo a bit more angry at me. "It's just weird how it's all quiet today."

    Johnathan suddenly shot upward, his eyes widening in surprise. "Oh my goodness!" He shouted.

    He then blinked in confusion just like Milo did, his eyes scanning his new surroundings.

"What's going on?" he asked, his voice trailing off from exhaustion.