By David A. Welker John Continue reading Cowards in the Cornfield? Dr. James Dunn, a surgeon at the Battle of Antietam lauded her efforts: The rattle of 150,000 muskets, and the fearful thunder of over 200 cannon, told us that the great battle of Antietam had commenced. Duryeas battered brigade withdrew through the cornfield toward the East Woods, exposing the Iron Brigades left flank. Jackson included the caveat that Hood be ready to move at a moments notice if called upon. Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) 9. Still, it endorsed the idea that the war wasnt just about states rights but also stopping slavery. Detached from the command of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! Wildly exaggerated estimates of Lees numbers, ranging upwards of 200,000 men, filtered into McClellans command from unreliable civilian sources and from agents employed by private detective Allan Pinkerton, whom McClellan knew from their days together on the Illinois Central Railroad before the war. One Union officer saw an arm go 30 feet in the air and fall back again. The fighting was desperate as the Confederate tide surged forward. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Captain James Rodgers, commanding the 12 th, was struck dead by bullets that hit his hand, thigh, and head. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Following the Confederate triumph at Second Bull Run, British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston had observed that the Union forces had received a very complete smashing. If Lees remarkable run of success continued, said Palmerston, Would it not be time for us to consider whether in such a state of things England and France might not address the contending parties and recommend an arrangement on the basis of separation?, For all those reasons, the stakes were extremely high when the Army of Northern Virginia reached Whites Ford on the banks of the Potomac River on September 4 and 55,000 hungry troops stripped off their ragged clothes and began wading into Maryland. On the political front, Lincoln felt that the war-weary North needed to be energized. As the sun climbed into the sky on September 15, Lee surveyed a long, low ridgeline east of the town and asserted, We will make our stand on those hills. At noon he received confirmation from Jackson that Harpers Ferry had fallen and directed Stonewall to hurry to Sharpsburg, 12 miles to the north. Join us online July 24-26! Gen. Jacob Coxs Kanawha Division were in control of Foxs Gap. Miller's Cornfield (usually referred to as 'the Cornfield') is a section of the Antietam battlefield of the American Civil War . The Pennsylvanians fired a tremendous volley into the flank of Colquitts brigade, already locked in heavy combat with Union troops in the clover pasture beyond the northern fringe of the cornfield. Antietam's opening fight turned a field of crops into a scene of slaughter. Strategically, Lees decision to invade the North made sense. The terrain is gently rolling, but the surface can be slightly uneven, so good walking shoes are recommended. Gen. Abner Doubledays 1st Division marched through the North Woods, Gibbons 4th Brigade, wearing its distinctive black hats, led the way on the right. [if] we can sit still long enough. The 5th North Carolinas Captain Thompson came up to me in a very excited manner and tone cried out to me They are flanking us! Men, I cannot say fell; they were knocked out of the ranks by dozens.. But do you know their experiences in the month and hours before marching together into the Cornfield? Moving due east, Brig. (Part Two): The Complicated Story of Virginias General John R.Jones, Cowards in the Cornfield? Here is a paper, McClellan chirped, with which if I cannot whip Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home.. A military victory in the North, Lee reasoned, would all but assure recognition of the Confederate States of America as a sovereign nation. He surveyed the terrain and noticed a patch of high ground about a mile to his front near the junction of the Smoketown Road and the Hagerstown Turnpike. Despite having the advantage, he allowed Lee to retreat without resistance. On the Confederate left, two brigades under Brig. The decimated survivors retreated in disorder, leaving behind 2,200 killed and wounded. Duryeas brigade followed Seymour out of the East Woods and into the cornfield, stepping over mangled Confederate corpses that canister shots had killed moments earlier. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, Gibbons Iron Brigade plowed down the Hagerstown Turnpike toward the cornfield and the West Woods. A total of 23,000 men were killed, wounded or captured; 3650 soldiers were killed - 2100 Unionists and 1550 Confederates. But even this firestorm of controversy couldnt prepare Jones for what awaited him when his postwar indiscretions became known. The Cornfield 5. Americas bloodiest day began with heavy fighting that ravaged a previously innocuous cornfield in western Maryland. Instead, McClellans half-hearted approach allowed Lee to hold ground by shifting forces from threat to threat. ", More than 25,000 soldiers fought in and around the Cornfield. It is remembered as the site of some of the most savage fighting of the Battle of Antietam, which itself was the bloodiest single-day action of the Civil War. . Jones covered the ground to the south and occupied the bluffs above the lower bridge across the Antietam with six brigades. : The Sorry Story of Colonel WilliamChristian, The 90th Pennsylvania Infantry in the Cornfield: Solitary and alone, we gave and took ourmedicine, The 1st Texas Infantry in the Cornfield: Slipping theBridle, Captain Von Bachelle and his canine friend sacrifice all in theCornfield, Elliotts Antietam Burial Map: New Revelations About the CornfieldsToll, Tigers in the Cornfield: Hays Louisiana Brigade atAntietam, The 105th New York in Antietams Cornfield: The High Price ofAchievement, The 6th Georgia in the Cornfield: Squeezed by a DeadlyVice, The 19th Indiana in Antietams Cornfield: The command is no longer forward, but now it is followme!, The 1st Georgia Regulars and 1st Minnesota Infantry at Antietam: A Kindness in theCornfield, The 2nd Massachusetts in the Cornfield: Robert Gould Shaws Command Baptism byFire, New Old Views of the Miller Farm and Antietams Cornfield, The 5th Virginias Private Ezra Stickley: Irony in theCornfield, John Cook: An Ohio boy comes of age in AntietamsCornfield, The 21st Georgia: An Unexpected Mission in Antietams EastWoods, The 97th New York Infantry in theCornfield. National Park Service pamphlet The Cornfield Trail - September Harvest of Death, pp. The single, bloodiest day in American History had begun in earnest. Ricketts division was knocked out of the battle with 30 percent casualties, and it fell to Meade to patch a defensive line together. The troops began calling themselves the Iron Brigade. Meanwhile, on September 2, McClellan retook command of the army to the cheers of his men. An up-close look at the people, places and turning points of the American Civil War. The first Confederate invasion of Union-held territory is not going as planned. Late that evening and on September 19, after realizing that no further attacks are coming from McClellan, Lee withdraws from the battlefield and slips back across the Potomac into Virginia. Just then, an enemy sharpshooter put a bullet through Hookers foot, which bled profusely. Then an eighth Union Minie ball suddenly found him By David A. Welker Marcellus Douglass was born in Thomaston, Georgia on October 5th, 1820. Battle of Antietam, also called Battle of Sharpsburg, (September 17, 1862), in the American Civil War (1861-65), a decisive engagement that halted the Confederate invasion of Maryland, an advance that was regarded as one of the greatest Confederate threats to Washington, D.C. Its authenticity was confirmed when Pittman noted Chiltons signature and recognized the handwriting of Lees adjutant, with whom he had served before the war. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. Six generals were killed or mortally wounded, three from the Union army and three Confederates. A wave of panic gripped McRaes men, who turned and fled, causing the remnants of Hoods brigades to fall back as well. The Battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 17 as the fog lifted. As Longstreets men began trudging toward Sharpsburg, Lee reversed his earlier order. Antietam on the Web.Special Orders No. This assault on Robert E. Lee's forces began the Battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. Gen. John Hatchs 1st Division, I Corps, on his right, and the Pennsylvania Reserve Division under Brig. In his later report, Hooker noted, In the time that I am writing, every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before. By David A. Welker The 90th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was recruited exclusively within the city of Philadelphia. His division had suffered 1,380 dead and wounded, about 60 percent of its strength, and was forced to withdraw to the West Woods. One soldier of the 6th Wisconsin captured the essence of that horrific morning. Following the debacle at Second Bull Run, Lincoln turned again to McClellan, whose extreme timidity in the field was contrasted with his superb organizational skills and the enduring confidence of his men. After more than an hour of fighting around the East Woods and the eastern half of the cornfield, the Federals had failed to press their slight advantage, feeding troops into the battle piecemeal as the Confederates had rushed reinforcements from the center to stem the Union tide. On September 9, Lee issued Special Order 191 defining his Maryland Campaign. His plan to enter northern territory divided his army, sending each unit to march on a specific town: Boonsboro and Hagerstown in Maryland, and Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg in West Virginia. The first Confederate shell struck the ranks of the 6th Wisconsin, killing two soldiers and wounding 11. His decision was pivotal. Excellent summaries of the individual skirmishes and the overall battle. This 24-acre cornfield, owned by D.R. How it ended Inconclusive. He contemplated issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that freed all slaves in the rebellious states. McClellan had given him the option to push on to relieve the trapped garrison at the arsenal, but McLaws hastily put together a defensive line that gave Franklin pause. Lt. Col. Robert Andersons 3rd Brigade, four regiments of Pennsylvania Reserves, crouched low behind a rail fence at the northern end of the cornfield and waited. While Douglass and Walker held on, Colonel Harry T. Hays hard-fighting Louisiana brigade, nicknamed the Louisiana Tigers, moved forward. Meanwhile, Colonel D.K. Meanwhile, Lee counted on McClellans lack of aggressiveness. The textile mills of Europe were dependent on Southern cotton for continuing operations, and the British government keenly felt the urgency to recognize the Confederacy. The Confederates were hit from three sides and melted away while the Wisconsin soldiers, accompanied by the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters and the 14th Brooklyn, moved toward the high ground around the Dunker Church, still several hundred yards away. Stuarts cavalry was to remain east of South Mountain, screening the movements from the enemy. Corporal Barton W. Mitchell of Company F noticed something unusual lying in the grass. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Swinging widely to the west, Jackson was to scoop up the enemy garrison at Martinsburg and move on to Harpers Ferry. Americas bloodiest day was far from over. Gen. D.R. The distance between the blue and gray lines was less than 250 yards. As he was carried to the rear, Reno yelled to Brig. Most of the Confederates on the north end of the battlefield retreated to the West Woods and almost 8,000 Union and Confederate soldiers had been killed or wounded in and around the Cornfield. There are more than 22,000 casualties at the Battle of Antietam. The White House was a somber place in the summer of 1862. The fight began to peter out with the gathering darkness. When Lees order reached Jackson, he dutifully prepared another copy for Hill, his brother-in-law, unaware that Chilton had included Hill among those receiving the order directly from Lee. It explains what happened in Antietam's Cornfield and why. Buy new: $40.64. The two brigades emerged from the North Woods simultaneously and crossed a field of clover. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation. Simultaneously, the hostile battle lines opened a tremendous fire upon each other. The Tigers also clashed with Ricketts brigade, under Colonel Richard Coulter, who had replaced the wounded Hartsuff, as the Federals rushed through the shattered cornfield. It was obvious that Turners Gap could not be held, and he ordered Longstreet and Hill to withdraw to the west. The Unions claim of victory at Antietam and Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation are thought to be why Republicans held the House in the 1862 mid-term elections. The smoke, heat and roar of battle deluged the senses, obliterating all rational thought. Union Advance 8. Greenes two brigades were within 200 yards of the Dunker Church, where they halted and watched the West Woods swarm with Confederates. XII Corps had lost a quarter of its men during the rush across the cornfield toward the Dunker Church. This article about the American Civil War is a stub. Works, was hot on the heels of the fleeing Federals and outran the rest of Woffords brigade. Greene rode forward and warned the New Yorkers to slow down before they outran covering artillery. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield. President Abraham Lincoln, still mourning the death of his 11-year-old son, Willie, earlier that year, sought desperately to find a general who could reverse the growing belief that Confederate arms, under the able leadership of General Robert E. Lee, were invincible. Lee had no illusions of holding the gaps for an extended period, but any delay in the Union advance might allow the Army of Northern Virginia to escape destruction. On the same ground where Garland had been killed earlier in the day, Maj. Gen. Jesse Reno, commander of the Union IX Corps, was shot. Halt, 102nd, he ordered. At the same time, he began throwing together a patchwork defense of the South Mountain passes at Turners, Foxs, and Cramptons Gaps. Gen. John Walkers division was to recross the Potomac and capture Loudoun Heights on the Virginia side of Harpers Ferry. Major Rufus Dawes took command, pushing to a rail fence and engaging in a heated fight with Georgia troops south of the cornfield. It pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of. From his headquarters at Chantilly, Virginia, Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis of his intent to carry the war to Northern soil. Gen. George A. Hartsuff, moved forward. Late on the afternoon of the 16th, Hooker crossed Antietam Creek intending to position more than 8,000 Union troops to launch the attack the following morning. As night fell, thousands of bodies littered the sprawling Antietam battlefield and both sides regrouped and claimed their dead and wounded. Stonewall Jackson, Maj. Gen. D.H. Hills division was to follow Longstreet as the armys rear guard. The fighting, he said, was like a great tumbling together of all heaven and earththe slaughter on both sides was enormous. By 10 am, the opening phase of the battle had blown itself out, and the fighting swung southward. Gen. Jubal Earlys brigade left Pelhams horse artillery on Nicodemus Hill to join the fray. East Woods 4. Hartsuff was wounded and Christian suffered an emotional breakdown and fled the field. The trail turns east and through the middle of the Miller Meadow, Continue east along the line toward the Smoketown Road, Walk north on the trail through the East Woods, Continue across Cornfield Avenue and through the East Woods, Explore the Confederate defense and counterattack in the Corn, Walk south through the historic Cornfield. He was convinced that the bulk of Jacksons command, marching hard from Harpers Ferry, would reach the battlefield and swell his ranks to 50,000 men to confront McClellans force of 80,000. He could not understand why his general was not on the tail of the Confederates, and he went to McClellans headquarters at Antietam to light a fire under him. Longstreets and Hills units formed the Confederate right and center flanks to the west of Antietam Creek, while Jacksons and Brigadier General John G. Walkers units formed the Confederate left flank. With the full commitment of McClellans troops, which outnumbered the Confederates two to one, the battle might have had a more definitive outcome. This is the excerpt for your very firstpost. It was one of those marvelous flights that beggar explanation or description.. I will have a battery here to help you.. September 17. What they didnt understand was just how important holding this place was for a Confederate victory at Antietam, For Gods sake, come and help us out! begged the new head of Hartsuffs Brigade and without a pause, Colonel Lyle had the 90th Pennsylvania marching forward into the swirling inferno of Antietams Cornfield. Free delivery for many products! Artillery blasted Hoods Texans with double loads of canister, Gibbon moved in to personally direct the fire. Lincoln and McClellan had a tortured relationship. Locally, the members of the congregation were known as Dunkers. Hills division charges into battle after a long march from Harpers Ferry, helping drive back the assault and saving the day for the Army of Northern Virginia. I supposed that we had everything in our own hands, he thought. The divisions became separated, and Sedgwick pressed forward with 5,000 men through the northern edge of the West Woods, coming under heavy attack from elements of three Confederate divisions and Pelhams horse artillery on Nicodemus Hill. Antietam on the Web. While his own numbers swelled to nearly 90,000, McClellan, ever cautious, was concerned about the strength of his enemy. Prominent in Hoods defensive area was a plain, whitewashed church belonging to the German Baptist Brethren, a Christian sect that shunned anything ostentatious, including church steeples, and believed in baptism by full immersion. But Antietam eclipses even this modern tragedy as America's single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 men became casualties in a war to determine our nation's future. General James Longstreet "On the forenoon of the 15th, the blue uniforms of the Federals appeared among the trees that crowned the heights on the eastern bank of the Antietam. Hood said to one of Jacksons aides, Tell General Jackson unless I get reinforcements I must be forced back, but I am going on while I can.. Maj. Gen. Fitz-John Porters V Corps occupied the Union center along the hills east of Antietam Creek, while Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside positioned his IX Corps opposite the lower bridge and the bluffs that commanded the approaches. Fearful that his untried troops would break and run, Mansfield countermanded an order to deploy from columns into line of battle, and the massed ranks became a prime target for Confederate artillery. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Getty Images / HUM Images / Universal Images Group, The Significance of the Battle of Antietam, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-antietam. He tended to details while three of Jacksons footsore divisions began trickling into the vicinity. Mansfield and II Corps under Maj. Gen. Edwin Sumner extended the Federal right opposite Hoods positions along the Smoketown Road to high ground near McClellans headquarters at a brick farmhouse. Their company commander, Captain Kop, was killed. A collapse of the Confederate left appeared imminent. .In my feeble estimation, General McClellan, with all his laurels, sinks into insignificance beside the true heroine of the age, the angel of the battle field. On September 15, Lee positions his men behind the creek and waits for McClellan to arrive. It explains what happened in Antietam's Cornfield and why. The gunners went into action amid Millers haystacks, ignoring Confederate fire that cut down men and horses. The avalanche of Union troops pushed Rodes steadily back and cost him more than one-third of his command. By 5:30 am, the morning fog had burned off enough for the Confederate horse artillery under Major John Pelham to fire at the Union vanguard from Nicodemus Hill. And when Lee heard a copy of Special Order 191 was missing, he knew his scattered army was vulnerable and rushed to reunite its units. Among the wounded were Sergeant Bloss and Corporal Mitchell, who had found Lees lost orders four days earlier. . After he failed to attack Lees depleted troops as they fled Sharpsburg on September 18, he wrote to his wife, Ellen, that, ''those in whose judgment I rely tell me that I fought the battle splendidly & that it was a masterpiece of art.'' The Battle of Antietam, America's bloodiest single day, immediately claimed 3,654 lives and generated an additional 8,772 wounded and missing casualties on both sides, many of whom should properly be moved to the "killed" category. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Stuarts cavalry screened the Confederate left while D.H. Hills five brigades were funneled into the center of the Confederate line and filed into the sunken road. Lower Bridge (Burnside Bridge) 10. Hill and his Light Division to take custody of 73 pieces of artillery and 13,000 rifles and revolvers and parole the prisoners at the arsenal. As for Gibbon's brigade, the 2nd and 6th Wisconsin regiments led the brigade with the 19th Indiana and 7th Wisconsin regiments in close support, with Battery B split to support both wings of the brigade. Hoods division roared out of the West Woods, around the Dunker Church, and through a gap in the fence along the Hagerstown Turnpike, pitching furiously into the Iron Brigade. Inconclusive. Gen. George S. Greene, a descendant of Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene. To take it, Hookers divisions would advance along the turnpike between the East and West Woods, through the pastures of the Miller farm, and across the cornfield at the turnpikes eastern edge. Gen. John Bell Hood went into line on the fringe of the West Woods, a stretch of trees 300 yards wide to the west of the Hagerstown Turnpike, the major thoroughfare that led into Sharpsburg. Lees back was to the Potomac, and only Botelers Ford at Shepherdstown offered a clear avenue of escape across the river if the Confederates were driven from the field. From my earliest study of the war, I was fascinated by the idea that its events could transform otherwise mundane spots into unique and special places, with Antietam's Cornfield being one of the most singular. If either effort made good progress, McClellan was prepared to pitch every available soldier against the center of Lees line. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. One of my ancestors, Robert W. Austin of . Free shipping for many products! The Proclamation, which vows to free the slaves of all states still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, will forever change the course of the war and the nation by marrying the Union cause with an attack on the institution of slavery. Hood, a Kentuckian, commanded a full division including his old brigade of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Texas, the 18th Georgia, Brig. Brig. While the Battle of Antietam is considered a tactical draw, President Lincoln claims a strategic victory. After a Union victory at the Battle of South Mountain and a Confederate victory at the Battle of Harpers Ferry, Confederate general Robert E. Lee opts to make one last stand in the hopes of salvaging his Maryland Campaign. Lee planned to retreat to Virginia, but changed his mind after hearing Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jacksonbetter known as Stonewall Jacksonhad captured Harpers Ferry. Firing canister at point-blank range, Union artillery raked the attackers. An hour before dawn, Hooker rode from the Poffenberger farm to his picket line beyond the edge of the North Woods. On the morning of the 13th, the 27th Indiana Infantry paused to rest in a field on the outskirts of Frederick. One soldier remembered: "The air seems full of leaden missiles. See, yonders a whole brigade! I ordered him to keep silent and return to his placebut, when this act of indiscretion occurred, they began to break and run By Continue reading Garlands Brigade at the Cornfield: The Death of a Reputationand MuchMore, Now was the moment of truth for Major George Gile and his new command, the 88th Pennsylvania. Just as Burnside's forces begin to collapse the Confederate right, Maj. Gen. A.P. Screening the movements from the command of the battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 17 point-blank. An up-close look at the battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 15, Lee reversed his earlier.., Hooker rode from the Union army and three Confederates farm to his picket beyond! 30 percent casualties, and the Pennsylvania Reserve Division under Brig not going as.. President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moments if... 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