Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg and Its Meaning for America (1 Viewer)

[jazzeum]

Yesterday, September 17 was the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg, one of the bloodiest days in American History that resulted in enough of a Union victory to change the Civil War.


Confederate dead along the Hagerstown Road, Antietam.


Dead by the Dunker Church


Fighting Along the Burnside Bridge

As recounted in yesterday's Disunion post, the Confederacy's invasion of the Northern territory was turned back, convinced wavering European nations such as England and France to withhold recognition from the Confederacy, allowed Abraham Lincoln to announce the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22 and persuaded the president that George B. McClellan was not the man for the job.


President Lincoln meets with General McClellan at Antietam after the battle.

More than anything it led to the Emancipation Proclamation, which Lincoln had announced to the Cabinet in July but had held off on Secretary of State Seward's advice that the Proclamation not be announced until the Union Army had secured a victory. Anything short of that would smack of desperation.

Please also see this post in Professor Brooks Simpson's Crossroads blog, where he recounts his ancestor James Denton at the Battle of Antietam and a possible encounter with the ancestor of Brooks Simpson's wife.

 

[lancer]

A very important campaign, repleat with a Union victory that should have been overwhelming but was bungled by Little Mac. Two publication of interest: "The Maps of Antietam" by Bradley Gottfried and "The Maryland Campaign of 1862: Vol.1, South Mountain" by Ezra Carmen. Volume 2 on Antietam itself due in October. Both outstanding works. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

I believe those are Savas Beatie publications, which puts out some fine books. One book on South Mountain from SB that is supposed to be quite good, from what I've heard, is Brian Matthew Jordan's Unholy Sabbath: The Battle of South Mountain in History and Memory.

 

[lancer]

I believe those are Savas Beatie publications, which puts out some fine books. One book on South Mountain from SB that is supposed to be quite good, from what I've heard, is Brian Matthew Jordan's Unholy Sabbath: The Battle of South Mountain in History and Memory.

Those are them, Brad. I've heard about the Jordan book and it is supposed to be quite good. The work on Antietam by Carmen has long been favored by professional historians, but these are newly edited and published in this form for the first time. -- Al

 

[tdubel]

My Grandfather still lives in Antietam/South Mountain area and that is where a good number of my family comes from. This was an interesting battle and the scene of what IMO was AP Hills greatest maneuver of his career as a LT Gen in the Confederacy. His flanking action that was albeit a little luck after his crossing of the Potamac generally saved the day for Lee and is written about quite prolifically. I remember as a kid traveling the exact route Hill used. My Grandfather is a history buff and has probably been over every inch of that battlefield at one time or another as well as a number of relics found. When he was a kid, he found a rusty musket while fishing in Antietam Creek. I remember as a kid you could still drive up to Burnside Bridge. They have now done a lot of work/preservation to that battlefield and it is worth a visit. I was just in Boonsboro last weekend when they had part of the celebration with a reenactment.

McClellan was really an inept General in a line of inept Generals. The true game changer for the Union IMO was Grant/Sherman/Sheridan as they understood and were able to fully utilize the overwhelming numbers they possessed. IF that combination had been in charge of the Eastern theater in the beginning of the War, I am not so sure even the maginficent Jackson would have fared so well.

IMO
TD

 

[jazzeum]

Friday, September 19, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland:

"I took the delay to ride over the field of battle. The Rebel dead, even in the woods last occupied by them, was very great. In one place, in front of the position of my corps, apparently a whole regiment had been cut down in line. They lay in two ranks, as straightly aligned as on a dress parade. There must have been a brigade, as part of the line on the left had been buried. I counted what appeared to be a single regiment and found 149 dead in the line and about 70 in front and rear, making over 200 dead in one Rebel regiment. In riding over the field I think I must have seen at least 3,000. In one place for nearly a mile they lay as thick as autumn leaves along a narrow lane cut below the natural surface, into which they seem to have tumbled. Eighty had been buried in one pit, and yet no impression had apparently been made on the unburied host. The cornfield beyond was dotted all over with those killed in retreat.

The wounded Rebels had been carried away in great numbers and yet every farmyard and haystack seemed a large hospital. The number of dead horses was high. They lay, like the men, in all attitudes. One beautiful milk-white animal had died in so graceful a position that I wished for its photograph. Its legs were doubled under and its arched neck gracefully turned to one side, as if looking back to the ball-hole in its side. Until you got to it, it was hard to believe the horse was dead."

Brigadier General Alpheus S. Williams,
Division Commander, Army of the Potomac

Source: Alpheus S. Williams, Milo Milton Quaife (eds.), From the Cannon’s Mouth: The Civil War Letters of General Alpheus S. Williams, from the Dead Confederates blog, www.deadconfederates.com

 

[Rob]

Friday, September 19, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland:

"I took the delay to ride over the field of battle. The Rebel dead, even in the woods last occupied by them, was very great. In one place, in front of the position of my corps, apparently a whole regiment had been cut down in line. They lay in two ranks, as straightly aligned as on a dress parade. There must have been a brigade, as part of the line on the left had been buried. I counted what appeared to be a single regiment and found 149 dead in the line and about 70 in front and rear, making over 200 dead in one Rebel regiment. In riding over the field I think I must have seen at least 3,000. In one place for nearly a mile they lay as thick as autumn leaves along a narrow lane cut below the natural surface, into which they seem to have tumbled. Eighty had been buried in one pit, and yet no impression had apparently been made on the unburied host. The cornfield beyond was dotted all over with those killed in retreat.

The wounded Rebels had been carried away in great numbers and yet every farmyard and haystack seemed a large hospital. The number of dead horses was high. They lay, like the men, in all attitudes. One beautiful milk-white animal had died in so graceful a position that I wished for its photograph. Its legs were doubled under and its arched neck gracefully turned to one side, as if looking back to the ball-hole in its side. Until you got to it, it was hard to believe the horse was dead."

Brigadier General Alpheus S. Williams,
Division Commander, Army of the Potomac

Source: Alpheus S. Williams, Milo Milton Quaife (eds.), From the Cannon’s Mouth: The Civil War Letters of General Alpheus S. Williams, from the Dead Confederates blog, www.deadconfederates.com

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Superb and moving description Brad, thanks ever so much for posting it, even as a WW1/2 bod there is just something about the ACW that grabs your guts and twists them with the horror , humanity and sacrifice of that terrible and heart wrenching conflict.

And with absolutely no disrespect intended to the human dead shown above, the picture of the dead Horse is also very sad indeed, surely no other animal has suffered at our hands so much over so many generations serving and dying for us in conflict.

Thanks Brad

Rob

 

[jazzeum]

Rob,

Pleasure. When I read the post from Andy Hall (operator of Dead Confederates) this morning I though it was just tremendous and the photo of the horse which looked very much alive to me when I first saw it just clinched it.

BTW, Dead Confederates is a wonderful blog and I recommend it. For those who may think that it slights Confederates that is not what is intended. Andy Hall is from Texas and many of his ancestors fought for the South and some were slaveholders. Here is Andy Hall's description of the name:

"I chose the name Dead Confederates for this blog because it neatly encapsulates my own view about my Civil War ancestors. There is an inescapable logic to it; all of them were Confederates, and all of them are dead.

To expand a bit on that latter point, they are not just physically dead, but also dead as individuals, as personalities. While I can quote many factual details about their lives and military service, they can never be fully known as individuals. With a few exceptions, they left no memoirs or personal papers that reflect what they believed or how they felt or what motivated them; their thoughts and desires and regrets and fears and eccentricities are as dead as their corporeal selves.

They are, in every sense, dead Confederates."

 

[jazzeum]

A very important campaign, repleat with a Union victory that should have been overwhelming but was bungled by Little Mac. Two publication of interest: "The Maps of Antietam" by Bradley Gottfried and "The Maryland Campaign of 1862: Vol.1, South Mountain" by Ezra Carmen. Volume 2 on Antietam itself due in October. Both outstanding works. -- Al

Al,

You might be interested in Dimitri Rotov's comments in his Civil War Bookshelf blog about the Carman books, http://cwbn.blogspot.com/2012/09/september-17-19-1862.html

Brad

 

[lancer]

Al,

You might be interested in Dimitri Rotov's comments in his Civil War Bookshelf blog about the Carman books, http://cwbn.blogspot.com/2012/09/september-17-19-1862.html

Brad

Thanks for the link, Brad. It is really interesting and highlites how useful the new editing job is. I am also going to watch the interview at the page bottom when I have the time. I knew Brian Pohanka, who was an incredibly nice person and knew tons about the ACW and the AZW. His passing at such a young age was a tragic loss. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Agreed about Brian.

Dimitri's blog is somewhat interesting. He can be rather acerbic at times but his point of view is always different, no sacred cows with him.

 

[Combat]

CSPAN covers some of these events. I caught of a bit of activities for the 150th. The park ranger mentioned that on the first Saturday of December that candles are placed on the field for each of the casualties. Something like 23,000. They get volunteers from all over to help. Quite a sight:

http://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/luminary.htm

 

[lancer]

CSPAN covers some of these events. I caught of a bit of activities for the 150th. The park ranger mentioned that on the first Saturday of December that candles are placed on the field for each of the casualties. Something like 23,000. They get volunteers from all over to help. Quite a sight:

http://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/luminary.htm

This candlelight vigil has been going on for quite a while. There was a couple of guys at the firehouse I was working out of in the mid 90's who were involved in the setting up of these candles. It is a VERY impressive sight to ride through the battlefield and see all the candles lit up in the dark. It has been many years since I went but I would encourage anyone who is close enough to Sharpsburg to make the effort to go. Quite an experience. -- Al

 

[Scott]

Setting up and lighting the luminaries has to be a job. It looks magnificent from the photos I've seen. Lights are appropriate to represent a life, even of the non-fatal casualities among the 23,000 number.