Gen. George A. Hartsuff, moved forward. Under withering fire the Union vanguard pushed forward and the five Pennsylvania regiments of Meades 1st Brigade, under Brig. For the next four hours the Cornfield was the center of a storm of lead, iron, and flame as Federal soldiers from the First and Twelfth Corps clashed with Lee's men. The Army of the Potomac began to concentrate that night, but during the following day McClellan declined to make a decisive move. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield.. 2. Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) 9. The fighting in the southwest corner of the cornfield became desperate. Despite having no prior experience and receiving no payment for her services, she bravely drove her cart of medical supplies into the fray at many battles, including Antietam. A wave of panic gripped McRaes men, who turned and fled, causing the remnants of Hoods brigades to fall back as well. Lincoln called the generals condition a bad case of the slows., Though well-liked by his men, McClellan could be vain and boastful. 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. As Jacksons line wavered under unrelenting Union pressure, two brigades of his old division, 1,150 strong, rolled out of the West Woods. Artillery blasted Hoods Texans with double loads of canister, Gibbon moved in to personally direct the fire. He needed a legitimatizing Union victory in the field before he could issue the proclamation. Certainly McClellans opportunity was great. September 17. 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. Why is nurse Clara Barton considered a hero of Antietam? After losing his command, McClellan took up a new careerpolitics. It is for you to decide your destiny, freely and without constraint. How it ended Inconclusive. McRaes North Carolina troops advanced into the East Woods. On the political front, Lincoln felt that the war-weary North needed to be energized. Every purchase supports the mission. The 1st Texas, under Colonel P.A. XII Corps had lost a quarter of its men during the rush across the cornfield toward the Dunker Church. 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. It pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of. Nearing the end of 2018, well be bombarded by the annual parade of top ten lists counting down everything from the years news events to songs and online fads. Gen. John Gibbon, commander of the 4th Brigade, I Corps. [if] we can sit still long enough. 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. The Battle of Antietam has the regrettable distinction of being the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. But after several unexpected and demoralizing Union losses, including Major General John Popes sound defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, it became clear the Confederacy wasnt going to be easy to crush. James Dougherty, 128th Pennsylvania Infantry, wounded in the Cornfield. For more than three hours, fewer than 500 Confederate soldiers held Lower Bridge against multiple assaults by Union General Ambrose Burnsides Ninth Corps. Jones covered the ground to the south and occupied the bluffs above the lower bridge across the Antietam with six brigades. They watched and waited as McClellans army assembled along the creeks east side. 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. Join us online July 24-26! 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. It explains what happened in Antietam's Cornfield and why. By David A. Welker The 90th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was recruited exclusively within the city of Philadelphia. THE BATTLE OF Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, remains America's bloodiest single day. As Union soldiers stepped out of the Cornfield at dawn, September 17, 1862, Confederate troops unleashed a horrific volley. The 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana, moving as flank protection, fired a devastating volley into the two brigades assailing the 6th Wisconsin. Six generals were killed or mortally wounded, three from the Union army and three Confederates. 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. Lee knew that the capacity of the Union to wage war was virtually limitless. 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. The Battle of Antietam in September 1862 turned back the first major Confederate invasion of the North in the Civil War. The 19th Indiana and 7th Wisconsin crossed the turnpike to cover the Iron Brigades flank, and Gibbon brought up Battery B, 4th U.S. National Park Service.Why did Lee Enter Maryland? On first division, deploy column, march. Lt. Col. Edward Bragg of the 6th Wisconsin was wounded as the regiment was hit in both flanks. Captain Benjamin F. Cook of the 12th Massachusetts remembered the horrific fighting in the cornfield and its aftermath. 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. 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. Unable to remain in command, he left the scene convinced that Union forces were poised to drive the Confederates into the Potomac. 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. After McClellan fails to pursue Lee on his retreat south, Lincoln loses faith in his general. The division commander, John R. Jones, had been wounded by shrapnel earlier, and Brig. East of the turnpike lay the prosperous farm of David R. Miller, including the house, outbuildings, orchard, and a 24-acre field of ripening corn, grown taller than a mans head and nearly ready for harvest. The Union troops were thrown back as Wofford rolled into the western portion of the cornfield and Law struck to the east. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, Even so, the Union claimed victory. 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. 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. In August of 2021, the Park Service rerouted the Cornfield Trail to include more of East Woods and . The distance between the blue and gray lines was less than 250 yards. East Woods 4. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Sign up for our quarterly email series highlighting the environmental benefits of battlefield preservation. 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. .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. The Battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 17 as the fog lifted. (Today its called Burnside Bridge.) The 12th Massachusetts had 224 of its 334 soldiers shot down, a casualty rate of 67 percent that was the highest of any Union regiment on the field. 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. This 24-acre cornfield, owned by D.R. The delaying action at South Mountain, though costly, had given Jackson enough time to tighten his grip on the arsenal. Moving due east, Brig. Jackson included the caveat that Hood be ready to move at a moments notice if called upon. Take a virtual tour of Antietam Battlefield by clicking on the links for the battlefield tour stops below. One of his junior officers observed a large Union formation moving to the right. Because Federal and Confederate forces repeatedly . Gibbons Iron Brigade plowed down the Hagerstown Turnpike toward the cornfield and the West Woods. 191. 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. I was in the hospital in the afternoon, for it was then only that the wounded began to come in. 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. 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. Union Gen. Joseph Hooker remembered that "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 stood in their ranks a few moments before. In the 1864 election he was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Brig. Confederate troops ferociously fought off offensive after offensive to prevent being overrun, turning the cornfield into a massive killing field. 12. Military historians consider the Battle of Antietam a stalemate. The distance closed to 30 yards, and the two sides blazed away at one another. Williams took command of XII Corps and the fight for the cornfield continued, with men from both sides tripping over the dead and falling bleeding among the severed cornstalks. The remainder of the Army of Northern Virginia, divided into three separate commands, would converge on Harpers Ferry and compel the garrison to surrender. He tended to details while three of Jacksons footsore divisions began trickling into the vicinity. 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. 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. 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. The decimated survivors retreated in disorder, leaving behind 2,200 killed and wounded. Brig. You are bully boys but dont go any farther. He contemplated issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that freed all slaves in the rebellious states. For nearly three hours, Hooker and Mansfield's Union forces battled Jackson's Confederates. 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.. The American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 56,000 acres in 25 states! As the sun was setting, the entire Union I Corps under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker advanced toward Turners Gap. Great job. Adding insult to injury, Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. 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. His orders from Lincoln and Army General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck were somewhat vague: protect Washington and, if possible, destroy Lees army in the process. Libby remembered a loud response from the Maine men to the contrary. Within the hour Ezra would be troubled by a much greater lossand discover the ultimate irony of Antietam's bloody Cornfield. The single, bloodiest day in American History had begun in earnest. In Europe, France and Great Britain anxiously watched Americas War Between the States. 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! This battle flag of the 12 th Georgia includes the names of several color bearers who . 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