It was obvious to the Union veterans that the area had recently served as a Rebel bivouac. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. Badly needed supplies are brought in by nurse Clara Barton, known as the Angel of the Battlefield. During the night, both armies tend their wounded and consolidate their lines. John Cook swung his bugle over his shoulder and wrested from the dead man his leather pouch, bearing the undelivered shell without which the cannon was useless. Over Longstreets objections, Lee deployed 18,000 men, 14 infantry and three cavalry brigades in a four-mile line across the woods and fields at the northern end of the ridge, down to the bluffs of Antietam Creek, where the southernmost of three stone bridges spanned its waters. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. 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.. Simultaneously, the hostile battle lines opened a tremendous fire upon each other. Hood, however, was unable to consolidate his gains. 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. Starkes Louisiana men took up positions along a rail fence on the east side of the Hagerstown Turnpike. West Woods 6. Colquitt lost 100 casualties in an already understrength brigade, while Rodes faced two full Federal divisions, Brig. Final Attack 11. . They also ended any hope of France and Great Britain acknowledging the Confederacy and coming to their aid. War fever was high that nightthe day before Confederate forces had fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston harborand some 102 men volunteered their services to New York State for Continue reading Buffalo in the Cornfield: The 21st New York atAntietam, With his brigade locked in a nearly point-blank fight on the southern end of Antietams Cornfield, Colonel Douglass had already been wounded seven times but remained in command. Gibbons command had fought with such ferocity at Turners Gap that Hooker commented that the men were as strong as iron. The number increased, and larger and larger grew the field of the blue until it seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, and from the tops of the mountains down to the edges of the stream gathered the great army of . The two brigades emerged from the North Woods simultaneously and crossed a field of clover. Brig. Still, it endorsed the idea that the war wasnt just about states rights but also stopping slavery. Forward, guide centre, halt. 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. 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. Fewer know about the films opening scenes, which take Captain Shaw and the 2nd Massachusetts into the horror of the Cornfield. Commanders on both sides were trying to make order out of chaos, and even the most hardened veteran could scarcely comprehend the unimaginable holocaust that engulfed the cornfield, the woods, turnpike, and high ground around the Dunker Church, where more than 8,000 soldiers, Union and Confederate, lay dead or wounded. Frustrated with Lincolns policies and the course of the war, Democrats launched an anti-war campaign, hoping to take over the U.S. House of Representatives. The three-hour fight at Cramptons Gap left 500 Union and 750 Confederate dead and wounded. 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. To further complicate matters, Republicans faced midterm elections in November of 1862, and their victory wasnt in the bag. It pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of. From his point of view, hed accomplished his mission of forcing Lees troops from Maryland and preventing a Confederate win on Union soil. 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. Sign up for our quarterly email series highlighting the environmental benefits of battlefield preservation. Take a virtual tour of Antietam Battlefield by clicking on the links for the battlefield tour stops below. 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. Lincoln called the generals condition a bad case of the slows., Though well-liked by his men, McClellan could be vain and boastful. more information on current conditions Visit our keyboard shortcuts docs for details. The Iron Brigade headed down the turnpike and into the northwest corner of the cornfield, while Duryea struck toward the East Woods and the cornfields southern edge. 1. Many regiments on both sides were cut to pieces. The delaying action at South Mountain, though costly, had given Jackson enough time to tighten his grip on the arsenal. East Woods 4. The Battle of South Mountain began early on September 14, and by 11 am Union troops of Brig. Reaching the fence, the 6th Georgia had restored the Souths hold on the vital Cornfield only to find itself in a dire position. The little hillock would be his objective for the morning attack. The Cornfield changed hands again and again as both sides attacked and counterattacked. Civil War Trust.The Peninsula Campaign. 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. Meanwhile, Lee was becoming anxious. THE BATTLE OF Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, remains America's bloodiest single day. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single day in American history, and the partial victory by Union troops led Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Just twelve hours of intense and often close-range fighting with muskets and cannons had resulted in around 23,000 casualties, including an estimated 3,650 dead. XII Corps had lost a quarter of its men during the rush across the cornfield toward the Dunker Church. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield.. He contemplated issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that freed all slaves in the rebellious states. An original regiment in the storied "Iron Brigade," the 19th Indiana is perhaps best known for its role during the opening hours of the Battle of Gettysburg, which has for too long overshadowed its actions in Antietam's deadly Cornfield Featured The Cornfield Casualty Top Ten Featured / 5 Comments In August of 2021, the Park Service rerouted the Cornfield Trail to include more of East Woods and . It is necessary for you to abandon your position tonight. No constraint upon your free will is intended, no intimidation is allowed, Lee promised. Union gunfire wounded Private William Calton Odum of the 6th Georgia Infantry in the right arm during the morning fight in the Cornfield. By 9:30 a.m. thousands of them lay dead and dying. Gen. Mansfield was mortally wounded and Gen. Alpheus Williams took command of the Corps. Miller's Cornfield (usually referred to as 'the Cornfield') is a section of the Antietam battlefield of the American Civil War . Many regiments on both sides were cut to pieces. If either effort made good progress, McClellan was prepared to pitch every available soldier against the center of Lees line. Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) 9. Gen. William French and Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, crossed Antietam Creek to support Mansfield. (1) At daybreak, Gen. Joseph Hookers First Corps, approximately 8,000 men, advanced south through the Cornfield where, the hostile battle lines opened a tremendous fire upon each other. Initially knocked back, Hookers men regrouped and began to push Gen. Stonewall Jacksons men back as the casualties on both sides quickly escalated. Unable to remain in command, he left the scene convinced that Union forces were poised to drive the Confederates into the Potomac. Artillery to dislodge the Rebels to his front. McClellan sends Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter to mount a cautious pursuit, which is repulsed at the Battle of Shepherdstown. Even before the nine-day trek, Lincoln had all but given up on the man who had once been christened Young Napoleon for his military promise. President Lincoln, however, wasnt pleased. Gen. George G. Meades 3rd Division led the way as flank protection, and one of its regiments, the 13th Pennsylvania, hearty deer hunters from the western woodlands known as the Bucktails, was hit particularly hard. 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. Americas bloodiest day began with heavy fighting that ravaged a previously innocuous cornfield in western Maryland. Lincoln and McClellan had a tortured relationship. This is that story, Viewers of the 1989 film Glory know it tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts African American regiment and its commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who share a fate at the 1863 assault on Fort Wagner. Battle of Antietam: Clash in the Cornfield America's bloodiest day began with heavy fighting that ravaged a previously innocuous cornfield in western Maryland. Turn left (south) and walk through the historic Cornfield to complete your hike. Adding insult to injury, Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. It was finalized on the afternoon of the 16th, a full day after McClellan had arrived on the scene. 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. Gen. John Hatchs 1st Division, I Corps, on his right, and the Pennsylvania Reserve Division under Brig. McClellan charged Hooker and Mansfield, supported by Sumner, with the main effort against the Confederate left, while Burnside crossed the lower bridge and fords at Antietam Creek to attack the ridgeline on the Confederate right. 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. The Army of the Potomac began to concentrate that night, but during the following day McClellan declined to make a decisive move. To the west, Doubledays division made better progress. Here is their shared story By David A. Welker Werner Von Bachelle Continue reading Captain Von Bachelle and his canine friend sacrifice all in theCornfield. The pockets and cartridge pouches of the dead and wounded were ransacked, and soldiers handed muskets to those with better shots at the enemy. Lincoln has been waiting for a military success to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Corporal Barton W. Mitchell of Company F noticed something unusual lying in the grass. McClellans letters reveal his contempt for his commander-in-chief (whom he sometimes referred to as the Gorilla), and the historical record shows that as the war slogged on, Lincoln became increasingly frustrated with his generals timidity and excuses. Show your pride in battlefield preservation by shopping in our store. He needed a legitimatizing Union victory in the field before he could issue the proclamation. For nearly three hours, Hooker and Mansfield's Union forces battled Jackson's Confederates. 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. Send forward officers to explore the way, ascertain the best crossing of the Potomac.. Hays' Louisiana Brigade suffered over 60-percent casualties in 30 minutes. Gen. Abner Doubledays 1st Division marched through the North Woods, Gibbons 4th Brigade, wearing its distinctive black hats, led the way on the right. "Battle of Antietam: Carnage in a Cornfield", "cwla - Antietam Modern Image Gallery 11 Frame", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miller%27s_Cornfield&oldid=1139340604, Battlefields of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Lee was left with few cards to play. Among the wounded during two hours of savage fighting was Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes, commander of the 23rd Ohio Regiment and a future president of the United States. Greene rode forward and warned the New Yorkers to slow down before they outran covering artillery. 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. Hooker threw a blanket on the ground near the Poffenberger farmhouse and commented within earshot of George Smalley, a reporter for the New York Tribune, If they had let us start earlier, we might have finished tonight.. 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. Hood was aghast at the losses. 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. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Just eight hours in, there were over 15,000 casualties. Strategically, Lees decision to invade the North made sense. In a letter to his wife, Mary, Lincoln joked, We are about to be photographed. . 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. 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. Jackson included the caveat that Hood be ready to move at a moments notice if called upon. Swinging widely to the west, Jackson was to scoop up the enemy garrison at Martinsburg and move on to Harpers Ferry. . 126, May 18,2020, The Cornfield Inside the Action at Antietams Bloody TurningPoint, Abner Doubleday in Antietams Cornfield: No Day in the (Baseball)Park, Garlands Brigade at the Cornfield: The Death of a Reputationand MuchMore, The 88th Pennsylvania at Antietam: A Cornfield Invalid SavesWashington, Farming the Cornfield: D. R. Millers 1862 Harvest ofDeath, Buffalo in the Cornfield: The 21st New York atAntietam, Claimed by the Cornfield: Georgias Colonel MarcellusDouglass, Cowards in the Cornfield? (Part Two): The Complicated Story of Virginias General John R.Jones, Amidst a firestorm of Confederate shells, just as his brigade was heading into the hell of Antietams Cornfield, Colonel William Christian suddenly muttered Ive always had a great fear of shelling. And with that, he simply vanished By David A. Welker William Henry Christian was born on April 9th 1825 in Utica, New York. 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. Because Federal and Confederate forces . Stonewall Jackson, Maj. Gen. D.H. Hills division was to follow Longstreet as the armys rear guard. Hooker ordered four batteries to unlimber. He retrieved an envelope that contained three cigars wrapped around the copy of Special Orders No. I will have a battery here to help you.. Casualties were fearful. Hesitant to support a pro-slavery regime, England and France decline to form an alliance with the Confederate States of America. Lee issued a proclamation to the people of Maryland inviting them to join the Southern cause. Detached from the command of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Racing 150 yards ahead of the units on either side, the whooping Texans came within 30 yards of the Pennsylvanians, who rested their rifles on the lowest fence rails and fired a withering volley at the legs of the onrushing Rebels, shrouded in the thick smoke of battle. Gens. The next day, the Army of Northern Virginia set out from Frederick. 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. It explains what happened in Antietam's Cornfield and why. A short video presentation on Tour Stop 4, The Cornfield. ", "Through a shower of bullets and shells, it was only the thoughts of home that brought me from that place." The Battle of Antietam has the regrettable distinction of being the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. One soldier of the 6th Wisconsin captured the essence of that horrific morning. The trail is 1.25 miles in length and takes approximately sixty minutes to complete. 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. Why is nurse Clara Barton considered a hero of Antietam? Because Federal and Confederate forces . Gen. D.R. 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. The Union formation that panicked the Confederates in the East Woods was Mansfields 2nd Division under 61-year-old Brig. By September 12, the Army of Northern Virginia expected to mass in the vicinity of Hagerstown, poised for the push into Pennsylvania. The Cornfield Trail starts at Auto Tour Stop 4. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! (3) Gen. Lee ordered troops from Gen. D. H. Hills command at the Sunken Road to move north into the Cornfield. Troops from both sides faced-off across a 30-acre cornfield owned by David Miller. His opponent, Abraham Lincoln, was reelected for another term. There they ran headlong into one of Lawtons brigades under Colonel James A. Walker. September 17. The carnage was terrific; only two dozen of the original 250 men of the 6th Georgia survived the maelstrom without being killed or wounded. The Union and Confederates fought in the cornfield, many being wounded. 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. Although Continue reading Cowards in the Cornfield? Walker lost 228 of his 700 soldiers and was forced to retire. 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. 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. Monday marks the 150th . An up-close look at the people, places and turning points of the American Civil War. Greenes two brigades were within 200 yards of the Dunker Church, where they halted and watched the West Woods swarm with Confederates. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. 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. Stay up-to-date on our FREE educational resources & professional development opportunities, all designed to support your work teaching American history. 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