To the west, John Gibbons iron brigade fares better, marching through and around the cornfield, they enter the west woods, where they withstand vicious Confederate counterattacks. The Ohioans and Georgians piled into each other so swiftly and furiously that after firing off a round they grappled with muskets, knives and fists. Two regiments, the 1st and 3rd North Carolina, remained intact, supporting Colquitt and allowing him time to prepare the charge. The regimental colors were brought up, the line eagerly formed, and the men sent forward on the double-quick. The two Rebel brigades on their right opened a deadly enfilade fire that swept the ranks of Bragg’s exposed troopers. Start studying The Battle of Antietam: September 1862. Major General A.P. The Federals staggered to the left and made for the fence along the Smoketown Road. Brigadier General Alpheus Williams’ 1st Division led the advance, followed by Brig. Pelham’s guns on Nicodemus Hill could take any massed infantry moving south out of the North Woods in a murderous flanking fire. The 12th Massachusetts, which had fought bravely, took a staggering 67 percent casualties in less than 30 minutes. With Law’s retreat the cornfield was ceded to the I Corps. The fighting went back and forth across the cornfield. On his left, Brig. Hill’s famed ‘Light Division’ had been assigned the responsibility of paroling Federal prisoners taken at Harpers Ferry and shipping captured war materiel south. Miller's Cornfield (usually referred to as 'the Cornfield'), is a section of the Antietam battlefield of the American Civil War.. Drawing from untouched primary sources, David Welker quite graphically describes the fighting and the casualties that occurred in The Cornfield. Your tax-deductible gift will help us to preserve this irreplaceable twice-hallowed ground at Gaines' Mill and Cold Harbor — forever. On the 128th’s left, among the trees and bushes of the East Woods, the 10th Maine was making headway. McRae reported that ‘this produced great confusion. The matter became a question solely of survival, and the Southerners broke into small groups and ran the gauntlet in much the same manner as their fellow Confederates had done earlier. Williams and officers from other regiments finally got the 128th Pennsylvania into a good line, and when the 3rd North Carolina advanced on them the soldiers, just a few weeks from civilian life, opened fire, sweeping the Rebel line with accurate and murderous musketry. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to America’s Civil War magazine today! The 7th and 66th Ohio advanced with the 5th as Colquitt’s line passed across their front. The fearless Butternuts of the 6th North Carolina, the famed Bloody Sixth, held the Confederate right, anchored in the northeastern portion of the East Woods. Gen. James B. Rickett’s 2nd Division followed the 1st Brigade, commanded by Brig. Lee’s ranks had been thinned by casualties, sickness and large-scale desertions, but he had the advantage of position. Evander Law’s brigade swept northeastward with its right anchored on Smoketown Road by the 4th Alabama. Hidden in the bushes and among the trees, the 6th awaited the fast approaching 8th Pennsylvania Reserves and at a range of 30 feet opened a fusillade that swept the Pennsylvanians’ ranks and knocked down half the regiment. The 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana led the assault, supported by the 35th and 21st New York. This represented 25% of the Federal force and 31% of the Confederate. For three hours, the battle lines swept back and forth across the land. All spring and summer the Confederate Army had stymied its blue-frocked adversaries, first in the Peninsula Campaign, where McClellan’s Army of the Potomac was repulsed before Richmond, and then during the summer at Cedar Mountain and Second Manassas, where Maj. Gen. John Pope’s ill-starred Army of Virginia was routed by the swift-marching Rebels. Gen. Roswell Ripley’s brigade into the void created by the withdrawl of Hood’s decimated division. Gen. Issac Trimble’s brigade, commanded by Colonel James A. Walker, held the line all the way to the Mumma Farm Lane. Donate today to preserve battlefields in America and protect the legacy of our nation’s defining conflicts. Gen. Samuel Crawford’s 1st Brigade due south toward the East Woods and Brig. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. It was an urgent matter that required Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson to march his command all night from Harpers Ferry. Throughout the night, the sudden flash of musketry or the roar of cannon deprived everyone of a decent night’s rest. The bravest gathered up wounded messmates and fallen battle flags and returned fire as best they could. Smoke from the artillery and musketry inundated the field. A Union infantryman commandeered the colonel’s gloves, and following the battle Alexander Gardner, famed Civil War photographer, captured the colonel’s dead horse for posterity. (Brief bio on Hooker). Regimental color companies with their prized battle flags took the lead, while taut-faced infantrymen with their kepis and slouch hats pushed hard against their heads, marched deliberately across Mr. Miller’s clover field toward the cornfield and their destiny. It explains what happened in Antietam’s Cornfield and why. The field of honor had become a sacrificial slaughter pen, with the cornfield as its gory hub. The battle was a decisive engagement in the American Civil War. East of the Hagerstown Pike, Lawton’s brigade of Georgians, commanded by Colonel Marcellus Douglas, followed by Brig. The fighting in the southwest corner of the cornfield became desperate. All sense of time was lost, and even the desire for survival was set aside. Meanwhile, north of the cornfield, Major Dawes was busy rallying the survivors of his beloved 6th Wisconsin. For those soldier participants in the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, the September 17, 1862, fighting that engulfed the Antietam Valley was likely one of those days they never forgot, for better or worse. Gen. Harry Hays’ five Louisiana regiments, swept across the southern section of the cornfield toward the Smoketown Road, where Brig. All that mattered now was the regiment and its colors. This article was written by Robert C. Cheeks and originally appeared in the September 1998 issue of America’s Civil War. Ripley’s left opened first, driving the remnant of the 19th Indiana northward along Hagerstown Pike and killing the regiment’s commander, Lt. Col. Alois Bachman. The Federals’ opening volley hit Hays’ line, piling corpses one atop the other. Captain Ike Turner, commanding the 5th Texas, tried unsuccessfully to get reinforcements or else obtain permission to withdraw from the woods, but could not reach Hood. Gen. Marsena Patrick to move his brigade across the pike and drive into the West Woods. Hood gave the order and the two brigades began to re-form. In permitting Hood’s withdrawal from the line during the night, Jackson had secured a promise from the brigadier that his command would come without delay when summoned. Start studying Antietam-Sept. 17, 1862. On Sunday night, September 14, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee issued orders for his much scattered commands to rally at Sharpsburg, Maryland. At dawn on September 17, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee’s left flank from the Joseph Poffenberger farm near the North Woods. The combatants, Americans all, would fight and die en masse. Law sent his videttes well to the north and east, keeping a close eye on the Upper Bridge. He gave the order just as the 9th, 11th and 12th Pennsylvania Reserves fired a volley into his decimated line. Stonewall Jackson faced the foe with only Hood’s division as reserve. The heavy, close-in fighting completely halted Gibbon’s advance. Divisions of the American Battlefield Trust: The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Southerners were fighting desperately for control of the cornfield. Erich Kastner, German poet, novelist and children's author (Emil and the Detectives). Works’ 1st Texas over to the left to support Hampton’s Legion. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. Soldiers in the thick of the fight were covered with the black, greasy stain of burnt powder, which gave a deadly, ghostlike appearance to the participants. Fighting with an open front, advancing a few feet at a time, the New Englanders were having some success shoving the three Confederate regiments out of the woods. Doubleday’s entire division was nearly used up, and supports were not at hand. Crawford’s six regiments pressed toward the East Woods. The battle would be joined in the morning. Their combined musketry soon swept the left flank of the 18th Georgia, Hampton’s Legion and the 4th Texas. He’d selected an excellent defensive field in which to fight. The 2nd and 6th Regiments of Wisconsin were at the front of the Iron Brigade. Gen. Jubal Early to move his brigade in support of the artillery. Gen. John R. Jones’ soldiers took up the line sweeping across the cornfield and Hagerstown Pike into the northern tip of the West Woods. Men laughed and giggled, screamed and cried. Couriers and staff officers ran to and from their commander as he sat immobile, seemingly immune to human frailties. Mr. Miller's humble cornfield near Antietam Creek became the unlikely setting for perhaps the worst fighting of the entire Civil War. Meade got his remaining two brigades, Colonel Thomas Gallagher’s 3rd and Colonel Albert Magilton’s 2nd, in line and pushed them straight for the 1st Texas. Immediately, Beal disobeyed Mansfield’s order to stay in column and ordered the command to advance by ‘regimental front.’. Gen. Abram Duryea. First Division commander Abner Doubleday ordered Brig. September 17, 1862---The Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) SEPTEMBER 17, 1862: ... the Yankees were pushed back from the Dunker Church and back into The Cornfield which became a killing ground again. On the left flank, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Lieutenant Colonel Bragg was hit by musketry and severely wounded. Work could see that his supports were under attack and withdrawing and that if he was going to get out at all it would have to be now. Johnson’s brigade on their left. The American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 53,000 acres in 24 states! Across the road, in the northern portion of the West Woods, the 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana saw their comrades’ predicament and poured a devastating fire into the Confederates. They didn’t have to wait long. On the morning of Tuesday, September 16, McClellan had nearly 60,000 soldiers facing Lee’s 15,000. Across the creek, the commander of the Federal Army rode about on his horse, Dan Webster, taking the salutes of his admiring infantry and superbly equipped artillery. Hood’s 2,300 men swarmed into the field north of their position at Dunker Church. It was now just before 7 a.m. Doubleday’s 1st Division had been halted on the south end of the cornfield near Hagerstown Pike, while on his left Rickett’s 2nd Division was being fed into the battle piecemeal and taking a terrible pounding from the Confederates who’d been able to rush troops to trouble spots. At the same time, Ripley got his entire brigade into line of battle after they’d moved north of Smoketown Road. Meyer Amschel Rothschild, banker and founder of the Rothschild dynasty in Europe. I Corps gains had been swiftly wiped out, and all that stood between it and annihilation was Meade’s 3rd Division. Prelude to the Bloody Battle in the Cornfield It was dark and wet very early on the morning of September 17, 1862, when my distant cousin Lt. Robert Gaston, 1,2 formed his troops near the Dunker church along the Sharpsburg Pike (Hagerstown Road) near Sharpsburg, Maryland. By 7:00 AM, Hooker is making progress in the cornfield and Jackson's line, Lee's left flank, is under a very real threat of collapse. Jackson’s nearly 8,000 troops were evenly matched with Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s 8,500 effectives–the Confederate advantage lay with their artillery. Repeated Union attacks and equally vicious Confederate counterattacks swept back and forth across farmer David Miller’s cornfield. The brigade was helpless when Colonel Richard Coulter’s 3rd Brigade came storming out of the corn stubble, too late to help Duryea, but determined to sweep the field of Rebels. An officer running to his assistance was hit twice, and the command was forced to withdraw, leaving the colonel’s body and possessions behind. The rest of the afternoon, well into the evening, Confederate stragglers came in. Pressed by forced marches and heavy fighting the past few days, the division had long since eaten up all their victuals and were now about as hungry as heavily armed men could get. American Battlefield Trust's map of the Battle of Antietam - Fight for the Cornfield At dawn on September 17, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps mounted a powerful assault on Robert E. Lee’s left flank from the Joseph Poffenberger farm near the North Woods, initiating the Battle of Antietam. The bluecoats’ objective was a plateau on which there was a small, white church owned by a sect called the Dunkards. The command had given all that they had–of the 858 effectives in the Texas Brigade, 472 would be listed as casualties in what may well have been the grandest charge of the entire war. On the left, the Union Corps under Joseph Hooker attacked Jackson’s corps who were hidden behind a cornfield. It seemed doubtful the division would be able to make it up the following day. The entire color guard was shot down, while all along their line Rebel artillery walked salvos of case shot. Nearly out of ammunition, Work tried to get permission from Hood to withdraw, but couldn’t reach him. Gen. John Bell Hood’s division were elated; they had been given permission to withdraw to the West Woods and cook rations. They halted momentarily and volleyed into Gibbon’s line, reloaded and fired again. Deep in the West Woods, Hood’s little division was still busy preparing rations. Federal Identification Number (EIN): 54-1426643. Battle of Antietam Creek (Confederate title) or Sharpsburg (Northern title) September 17, 1862 Battle Of The Cornfield: 0530-1000 The battle of the cornfield lasted from approximately 0530 to 1000 hours. The assault of the two Confederate brigades petered out under a hail of shot and ball on the west side of the pike, where the infantrymen formed behind the fence bordering the road. Colonel Walter Phelp’s 1st Brigade was closing fast on Gibbon’s boys and the massed Federal formations were easy targets for the Confederate artillery that had long since bracketed the cornfield. The regiment’s casualties were fast approaching 50 percent as the Texans rose up and fired, point-blank, into the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves. Hood’s appearance on the field broke the Federals’ back, and they began to withdraw. Grigsby’s brigade formed a line running west toward the Potomac River, with Colonel B.T. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms As Union soldiers stepped out of the Cornfield at dawn, September 17, 1862, Confederate troops unleashed a horrific volley. Jones’ and Grigsby’s brigades moved left and charged to the west side of the pike fence, firing volleys into the 6th Wisconsin’s exposed flank and the forward position of the 2nd Wisconsin. 87,164 Union troops (led by McClellan) face off against 38,000 Confederates (led by Lee). It was originally submitted on February 21, 2008, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. The cornfield was a fairly small area of 400 yards wide by 250 deep. Works soon lost control of the 1st Texas as the men outraced the line and charged straight for Anderson’s position. Accordingly, the 10th was drawn into a slight depression when all of the Georgians’ muskets cracked in the sultry morning air, driving the New Englanders into the ground and halting their advance. Gen. George Meade’s Pennsylvania Reserves fought particularly hard on the Union right and center. It was the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, with 3,650 dead and more than 19,000 wounded , missing or captured. The lay of the land permitted the Rebels the opportunity to transfer troops under cover and allowed them to select the most advantageous artillery positions. The charge swept northwesterly across the cornfield, picking up speed and ferocity as soldiers were cut down by ball and shell. Phelp’s 1st Brigade moved up in close support of Gibbon as the Iron Brigade wheeled through the bloodstained cornfield parallel with Hagerstown Pike and swept the brave remnant of Jones’ and Grigsby’s Confederates with a deadly fire. East of the Hagerstown Pike, Brig. Meanwhile, the 4th Alabama shot off its last rounds and made for the safety of the West Woods, while the 6th North Carolina moved into position to the left of the 21st Georgia, still contesting the Federal advance. W.E.B. At great sacrifice, Doubleday’s 1st Division had punched a salient in Jackson’s line, its epicenter in the southwest corner of the cornfield. On Sunday night, September 14, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee issued orders for his much scattered commands to rally at Sharpsburg, Maryland. General Joseph Hooker. Hood would have to go in–he was the only reserve available. Neither slackers nor deserters, these were the sick and starving who had been unable to keep up with the swift-marching columns. While Mansfield slowly maneuvered the corps toward the front, General D.H. Hill, commanding the Confederate center, led Brig. While the Cornfield became a bloody stalemate, a Union advances a few hundred yards to the west was more successful. September 17, 1862 dawned with two armies poised for battle near the small Maryland town of Sharpsburg, near Antietam Creek. Jackson’s left and center were in imminent danger of collapse. Historical OverviewAfter an exhausting march and a night... [article] BattleCry - Commands and Colors System Brigadier General Abner Doubleday’s 1st Division followed his 4th Brigade, commanded by Brig. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Maj. Gen. Joseph Mansfield’s XII Corps supported Hooker’s left, attacking Jackson’s Confederates from the East Woods, Mansfield was killed near the Smoketown Road. But Duryea’s brigade was already used up. [William Edward Burghardt] Du Bois, U.S. historian and civil rights leader, founder of what became the NAACP. (Troiani, Don (b.1949), 1995/Private Collection) By Ethan S. Refuse Augus 4, 2020 Gen. John Walker began to arrive, taking up the Confederate line on the left along the Hagerstown Pike near Dunker Church, north of town, then sweeping southeasterly to a worn farm lane on the Mumma property a mile away. A fight that I’ll hardly ever forget was my venture into the infamous Cornfield at Antietam with the 4th Texas Infantry (yes, I was a Confederate, but only once). His heavy 20-pound Parrott rifles were sending case shot across the creek, feeling out the enemy. Hays’ Louisiana Brigade had done its usual ferocious fighting in support of Lawton, but their right-wheel maneuver had exposed their right flank and the fighting had depleted their ammunition pouches. Gen. John Gibbon’s Iron Brigade and Brig. But just then momentum shifts. The fighting became frenzied, neither side knowing when the enemy might suddenly appear out of the fog. Major General Joseph K.F. Fog shrouded the field the next morning, and artillerists on both sides had to wait until the rising sun had burnt off enough fog to permit sighting. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Bragg’s 6th Wisconsin straddled the pike, with five companies on the west side of the road and the remainder spread eastward. Lawton ordered Hays’ brigade into the gap left by Duryea’s withdrawal. The pockets and cartridge pouches of the dead and wounded were ransacked, and soldiers handed muskets to those with better shots at the enemy. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by Historynet LLC, the world's largest publisher of history magazines. Gen. William E. Starke. The Battle of Antietam (/ æ n ˈ t iː t əm /), also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War, fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. Victor Fleming, film director (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind). 2012 The Battle of Antietam, in the bucolic Maryland countryside, was the bloodiest day in American history. Antietam - Cornfield - September 17, 1862 - 8:00-8:30am (November 2019), BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust's map of the Battle of Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust’s map of the Battle of Antietam (West Woods), Maryland on September 17, 1862, BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust’s map of the Battle of Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust's map of the 1862 Maryland Campaign, Antietam - Cornfield - September 17, 1862 - 8:00-8:30am (October 2019), Help Save 110 Acres at Three Civil War Battlefields, Preserve 108 Acres of the Most Important Unprotected Battlefield Land, Kentuckians: Support Battlefield Preservation Legislation, Virginians: Support Battlefield Preservation Legislation, American Battlefield Trust's Map Reprint Permission Policy, Antietam - The Final Assault - September 17, 1862 - 3pm to Dark, Antietam - The West Woods - September 17, 1862 - 9am to 11:30am, Antietam - Sunken Road - September 17, 1862 - 9am to 12pm, Antietam - Fight for the Cornfield - 6:00am to 7:00am, Antietam - Fight for the Cornfield - 7:00 to 7:40am. The front ranks of Duryea’s Federal brigade came on steadily through the cornfield, with their muskets leveled at the waist. This page was last revised on December 7, 2017. The divisions of Longstreet and Hill had arrived first and established their lines on what would be the Confederate right, due west of Antietam Creek and east of Sharpsburg. The battle lines closed over the fallen as the colors moved across the bloodstained cornfield. Just as McRae’s men entered the cornfield, the 28th Pennsylvania emerged from the woods and swept McRae’s line with a devastating enfilading fire. In the East Woods, the Confederates had a hodgepodge collection of regiments waiting in ambush for any unsuspecting Federals who might wander into their field of fire. 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. Before the sun set more American soldiers would die there than on … But Hood had given his word to Jackson to bring up the command as soon as the request was made and now Jackson was calling. Lee’s guns at Dunker Church would be able to strike them head-on, and both positions would easily be able to bracket any troops within the area of the cornfield. McRae’s brigade moved northward parallel to the East Woods, firing as it advanced. The rattle of skirmish fire and the thunderous roar of salvos fired by battalion filled the air as the Union I Corps entered the North Woods. They had given their all, just as their predecessors had, but the Army of the Potomac had finally seized Mr. Miller’s cornfield.
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