The first Union infantry formations did not arrive until the afternoon of September 15. 191 that Chilton had intended for Hill. Only darkness halted the Union advance. He tended to details while three of Jacksons footsore divisions began trickling into the vicinity. He contemplated issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that freed all slaves in the rebellious states. By the evening of the 13th, it appeared to Lee that his risky plan was coming apart. Stonewall Jackson, Maj. Gen. D.H. Hills division was to follow Longstreet as the armys rear guard. As the Union troops came into view, more enemy guns under Colonel Stephen D. Lee, sited on the high ground opposite the Dunker Church, hit the attackers in their front. Bodies in front of the Dunker Church - Antietam Battlefield (Library of Congress) In the nether world of the West Woods, choked with the bodies of the dead and wounded and shrouded in the misty blue-gray smoke of musketry and artillery fire, the North Carolinians struck with a vengeance. North Woods 3. It is a document of interest and is also thought genuine., When McClellan received the communication from Williams, he abruptly ended a conference with a delegation of citizens from Frederick. Men laughed and giggled, screamed and cried. Go to the next tour stop - the West Woods By David A. Welker The 90th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was recruited exclusively within the city of Philadelphia. Lee prodded Jackson and McLaws to wrap up their work at Harpers Ferry. Updated: November 28, 2022 | Original: October 27, 2009. In the 1864 election he was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Stay up-to-date on our FREE educational resources & professional development opportunities, all designed to support your work teaching American history. The fight began to peter out with the gathering darkness. Great job. No constraint upon your free will is intended, no intimidation is allowed, Lee promised. This is that story By David A. Welker Born on 26 June 1819 in Ballston Spa, New York to Ulysses F. and Hester (Donnelly) Doubleday, Abner joined a respected family with deep ties to Continue reading Abner Doubleday in Antietams Cornfield: No Day in the (Baseball)Park, The 1st Georgia Regulars Sergeant William Andrews and the 1st Minnesotas Sergeant Sam Bloomer traveled from very different worlds, and over many miles, to share a moment of grace and humanity amidst the terror of Antietams bloody Cornfield. Union forces outnumbered Confederates by two to one, although McClellan thought Lees forces were much larger. There they ran headlong into one of Lawtons brigades under Colonel James A. Walker. It explains what happened in Antietam's Cornfield and why. The Cornfield changed hands again and again as both sides attacked and counterattacked. Meades 3rd Division followed in support. Jackson in turn detailed Maj. Gen. A.P. Buy new: $40.64. The ordeal on the Confederate left was not yet over. Fighting raged into the gathering darkness as Georgia and Alabama troops under Brig. Dunker Church 2. It conjures up visions of harrowing bloodshed and the tragedy of fratricidal combat Yet, for over 150 years, the story of this struggle has been difficult to track the sway of battle back and forth over Continue reading Descending Into The Bloody Cornfield With Civil War Historian, David A. Welker: PreserveCast Episode No. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield. The Battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 17 as the fog lifted. The First American President: Setting the Precedent, African Americans During the Revolutionary War, Help Save 820 Acres at Five Virginia Battlefields, Save 343 Acres at FIVE Battlefields in FOUR Western Theater States, Save 42 Historic Acres at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Phase Three of Gaines Mill-Cold Harbor Saved Forever Campaign, An Unparalleled Preservation Opportunity at Gettysburg Battlefield. The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In spite of his diminished ranks, Lee continues to skirmish with McClellan on September 18, while removing his wounded south of the Potomac River. Just eight hours in, there were over 15,000 casualties. A military victory in the North, Lee reasoned, would all but assure recognition of the Confederate States of America as a sovereign nation. Among the wounded were Sergeant Bloss and Corporal Mitchell, who had found Lees lost orders four days earlier. Stuart had raided Popes very headquarters, carrying off the generals dress coat. The North Woods stretched across the farmland of Joseph Poffenberger. 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. 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. The Cornfield Trail starts at Auto Tour Stop 4. Travel back in time to see Antietam's battlefield as it looked 134 years ago. Thomas Wait and myself told him that we were not firing at our own men for those that were firing at us from behind the trees had been firing at us from the first, recalled Libby. 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. Dawes remembered: As we appeared at the edge of the cornfield, a long line of men in butternut and gray rose up from the ground. ", "Through a shower of bullets and shells, it was only the thoughts of home that brought me from that place." This assault on Robert E. Lee's forces began the Battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. 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! Gen. John Hatchs 1st Division, I Corps, on his right, and the Pennsylvania Reserve Division under Brig. Final Attack 11. Men, I cannot say fell; they were knocked out of the ranks by dozens.. The Union and Confederates fought in the cornfield, many being wounded. Lee issued a proclamation to the people of Maryland inviting them to join the Southern cause. 2. Because Federal and Confederate forces repeatedly traded control of the spot, the fight for the Cornfield is a story of human struggle against fearful . 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. The decimated survivors retreated in disorder, leaving behind 2,200 killed and wounded. Near the center of the battlefield, another site of slaughter was a farm lane known as the Sunken Road, where Hills division of approximately 2,600 men had piled fence rails along the roads embankment to fortify their position against Union Major General William H. Frenchs 5,500 approaching troops. Corps and divisions moved as languidly to the places assigned them as if they were getting ready for a grand review instead of a decisive battle.. Free shipping for many products! In the afternoon, the third and final major assault by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Ninth Corps pushes over a bullet-strewn stone bridge at Antietam Creek. For generations of Americans, the word Antietam - the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland - held the same sense of horror and carnage that the date 9/11 does for Americans today. About noon on the 16th, Jackson rode up to find Lee and Longstreet observing the Union troops across the creek. Stay up-to-date on the American Battlefield Trust's battlefield preservation efforts, travel tips, upcoming events, history content and more. By 9:30 a.m. thousands of them lay dead and dying. Lee directed Lt. Gen. James Longstreets three divisions to cross South Mountain, a ridgeline running north to south along the eastern edge of the Cumberland Valley, and proceed to Boonsboro, about halfway to Hagerstown. In less than fifteen we were sending and receiving death missiles by the bushel. Hoods men drove north, forcing the First Corps back across the Cornfield. Lee had heard nothing from Stonewall and was startled to receive word a short time later that Harpers Ferry was expected to fall the next day. Nine regimental color bearers were killed, and in less than half an hour the 1st Texas lost 186 dead and wounded, more than 82 percent of its strength, the highest casualty rate of any regiment on either side during the entire war. Because Federal and Confederate forces . Descending Into The Bloody Cornfield With Civil War Historian, David A. Welker: PreserveCast Episode No. Miller, saw some of U.S. history's most horrific fighting. Simultaneously, the hostile battle lines opened a tremendous fire upon each other. 12. The fighting in the southwest corner of the cornfield became desperate. Brig. As he read, McClellan waved his arms and shouted, Now I know what to do! Later that day, McClellan visited with his old friend, Brig. The cannon fire literally blew men apart. Gen. Abram Duryeas 1st Brigade, stepped off to Gibbons left. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. I lived there as a child and these were the fields we played in before they became National Park Service protectorates, the mid-1950s. Lee invaded Maryland in September 1862 with a full agenda. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation. Troops from both sides faced-off across a 30-acre cornfield owned by David Miller. Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history, showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point By David A. Welker Casemate, 2020, $34.95. I will have a battery here to help you.. The Army of the Potomac began to concentrate that night, but during the following day McClellan declined to make a decisive move. The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point tells the story of what happened in David Miller's once-peaceful farm field on 17 September 1862, which opened the Civil War Battle of Antietam - America's single bloodiest day. 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. 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. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. To further complicate matters, Republicans faced midterm elections in November of 1862, and their victory wasnt in the bag. The Cornfield at Antietam Battlefield Matt Brant Ancestry and Fold3 have been helping people understand their ancestors and why they fought for causes large and small for decades. Hood, a Kentuckian, commanded a full division including his old brigade of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Texas, the 18th Georgia, Brig. The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point Kindle Edition by David A. Welker (Author) Format: Kindle Edition 139 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $2.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial The Civil War battle in western Maryland that killed 22,000 menand served no military purpose. Starkes Louisiana men took up positions along a rail fence on the east side of the Hagerstown Turnpike. . A total of 23,000 men were killed, wounded or captured; 3650 soldiers were killed - 2100 Unionists and 1550 Confederates. Just as Burnside's forces begin to collapse the Confederate right, Maj. Gen. A.P. McClellan sends Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter to mount a cautious pursuit, which is repulsed at the Battle of Shepherdstown. Brigadier General David Ricketts 2nd Division, led by Brig. Elliot captured temporary markers left by Union burial details to record for later reburial teams the mass resting place of several regiments, both Union and Confederate. Eventually he decided against another general assault. Many regiments on both sides were cut to pieces. 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. He takes his opportunity on September 22. Jackson summoned his last reserves, the 2,300 men of Hoods division. 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. (2) At 7:00 a.m., Gen. John Bell Hoods Confederate Division of approximately 2,000 men was waiting behind the Dunker Church. The two brigades emerged from the North Woods simultaneously and crossed a field of clover. In 1881 Barton founded the American Red Cross. Theyd remained on the sidelines so far, but as they endured cotton shortages and the south seemed to gain the upper hand, they considered legitimizing the Confederacy, a move with potentially drastic implications. more information on current conditions Visit our keyboard shortcuts docs for details. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. 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. 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. It is for you to decide your destiny, freely and without constraint. From his headquarters at Chantilly, Virginia, Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis of his intent to carry the war to Northern soil. Lincoln and McClellan had a tortured relationship. Pvt. 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. 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. The Confederates lost one of their most promising brigade commanders, Brig. For those of us interested in understanding and preserving the events of the Civil War and Antietams Cornfield, heres our own such list the Cornfield casualty top ten. Hood, however, was unable to consolidate his gains. For the first time since hostilities opened, Virginia was largely free of Union troops. Hays' Louisiana Brigade suffered over 60-percent casualties in 30 minutes. Commented one civilian: They were the dirtiest men I ever saw. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. 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. Adding insult to injury, Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. A wave of panic gripped McRaes men, who turned and fled, causing the remnants of Hoods brigades to fall back as well. Turn left (south) and walk through the historic Cornfield to complete your hike. The White House was a somber place in the summer of 1862. There was a lot at stake for the Battle of Antietam. While his own numbers swelled to nearly 90,000, McClellan, ever cautious, was concerned about the strength of his enemy. Maryland was a border state and remained in the Union, but Lee believed that large numbers of Southern sympathizers would rally to his ranks once the Army of Northern Virginia entered the state. He believed McClellan spent too much of his command drilling troops and little of it pursuing Lee. Doctors at the scene are overwhelmed. 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. Brig. 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. The president relieved McClellan of his duties on November 7 and appointed Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside to be his replacement. Continued passivity would invite the Federals to return and once again mount an offensive against Richmond. . Why is nurse Clara Barton considered a hero of Antietam? His decision was pivotal. Central Intelligence Agency.The Battle of Antietam: A Turning Point in the Civil War. Military historians consider the Battle of Antietam a stalemate. As the sun was setting, the entire Union I Corps under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker advanced toward Turners Gap. After the war-weary general repeatedly refused Lincolns orders to pursue Lees retreating troops, Lincoln removed McClellan from command on November 5, 1862. 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. Corporal Barton W. Mitchell of Company F noticed something unusual lying in the grass. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Cornfield: Antietams Bloody Tur., Welker, David A New Book at the best online prices at eBay! . The Cornfield 5. It was finalized on the afternoon of the 16th, a full day after McClellan had arrived on the scene. Unable to remain in command, he left the scene convinced that Union forces were poised to drive the Confederates into the Potomac. He wanted to move the focus of fighting away from the South and into Federal territory. Weeks later, he names Burnside commander of the Army of the Potomac. National Park Service pamphlet The Cornfield Trail - September Harvest of Death, pp. On the other side, President Abraham Lincoln was counting on McClellan to bring him the victory he needed to keep Republican control of the Congress and issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Gen. John Walkers division was to recross the Potomac and capture Loudoun Heights on the Virginia side of Harpers Ferry. The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point tells for the first time the full story of the exciting struggle to control "the Cornfield," the action on which the costly battle of Antietam turned, in a thorough yet readable narrative. 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. Mansfield spluttered, Yes, yes, you are right. Precisely at that moment a bullet hit the 58-year-old general squarely in the chest. One of my ancestors, Robert W. Austin of . Certainly McClellans opportunity was great. The next day, the Army of Northern Virginia set out from Frederick. Miller, saw some of U.S. history's most horrific fighting. Gen. Truman Seymour, quickly reached the edge of the East Woods at the Smoketown Road. When the Confederates withdrew, Franklin was only six miles from Harpers Ferry. Lee, hopelessly outnumbered, still intended to make a stand in Maryland. In 20 minutes of fighting, Duryea lost 300 men. Captain Benjamin F. Cook of the 12th Massachusetts remembered the horrific fighting in the cornfield and its aftermath. After losing his command, McClellan took up a new careerpolitics. Lincoln hoped against hope that McClellan would finally bring Lee to decisive battle and destroy the Army of Northern Virginia once and for all. While the Battle of Antietam is considered a tactical draw, President Lincoln claims a strategic victory. With the full commitment of McClellans troops, which outnumbered the Confederates two to one, the battle might have had a more definitive outcome. Lower Bridge (Burnside Bridge) 10. As Longstreets men began trudging toward Sharpsburg, Lee reversed his earlier order. Return to Tour Map Im glad that the map correctly shows the Dunkard Church, after that particular sect of German Baptists. The Battle of Antietam has the regrettable distinction of being the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. 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. Typically, he waited until the morning of September 14 to get moving. 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. The three-hour fight at Cramptons Gap left 500 Union and 750 Confederate dead and wounded. Hartsuff was wounded and Christian suffered an emotional breakdown and fled the field. A short video presentation on Tour Stop 4, The Cornfield. Walker lost 228 of his 700 soldiers and was forced to retire. Stuarts cavalry was to remain east of South Mountain, screening the movements from the enemy. In a superb organizational effort lasting just four days, he completed the assimilation of units from the former Army of Virginia into the Army of the Potomac. You are firing at our own men! he shouted. Mansfield was carried from the field and died within hours. But do you know their experiences in the month and hours before marching together into the Cornfield? The Union troops were thrown back as Wofford rolled into the western portion of the cornfield and Law struck to the east. Confederate troops ferociously fought off offensive after offensive to prevent being overrun, turning the cornfield into a massive killing field. Miller Farm, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. Meanwhile, Lee was becoming anxious. A brigade of Georgians under the command of Colonel Marcellus Douglass stood firm along the southern edge of the cornfield, reinforced by three regiments from Walkers brigade. Libby remembered a loud response from the Maine men to the contrary. General Robert E. Lee committed his entire force to the battle, while Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan sent in less than three quarters of his. The Majority of our funds go directly to Preservation and Education. 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. Early reports from Stuarts cavalry told him that McClellan was on the road to Frederick, and on September 10 he ordered Longstreet to advance to Hagerstown with 10,000 troops, occupying the village before any Union forces might contest the Confederate rallying point. With Federal forces closing in from the east, Lee selects strategic ground near Antietam Creek and orders his army to converge there. The troops began calling themselves the Iron Brigade. Battle of Antietam: Clash in the Cornfield America's bloodiest day began with heavy fighting that ravaged a previously innocuous cornfield in western Maryland. One soldier of the 6th Wisconsin captured the essence of that horrific morning. Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood wrote: "It was here that I witnessed the most terrible clash of arms, by far, that has occurred during the war." Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history, showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! Ironically, Lincolns proclamation didnt free slaves in Marylandone of a handful of slave states that had remained in the Unionsince it only applied to slaves in rebel states. Spotting Mansfields tightly packed troops, Hoods men fired on the 10th Maine Regiment. The following morning, McClellan attacks. Greene rode forward and warned the New Yorkers to slow down before they outran covering artillery. 1. While Douglass and Walker held on, Colonel Harry T. Hays hard-fighting Louisiana brigade, nicknamed the Louisiana Tigers, moved forward. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.The Battle of Antietam. 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. 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. Gen. Jacob Coxs Kanawha Division were in control of Foxs Gap. As night fell, thousands of bodies littered the sprawling Antietam battlefield and both sides regrouped and claimed their dead and wounded. All of Lees troops were worn-out and hungry, and many were sick. There has never been a bloodier day in American military history than September 17, 1862. Monday marks the 150th . An hour before dawn, Hooker rode from the Poffenberger farm to his picket line beyond the edge of the North Woods. To the west, Doubledays division made better progress. 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. Occasionally, a nervous picket fired into the darkness. A recently discovered 1864 map suggests the Cornfield's human cost was even greater than previously understood, among other new insights it reveals about the men who fought in and around David Millers deadly Cornfield. His old friend, Brig your hike of 23,000 men were killed, or. The List Price is the suggested retail Price of a new product as provided a! One civilian: they were the fields we played in before they outran covering artillery elections in of! Slaves in the rebellious states October 27, 2009 go directly to preservation and Education at Harpers Ferry Bell! 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