The Battle of Antietam

September 17, 1862

"The Bloodiest Day of the Civil War"

revised January 10, 2001

 

 

Dead near the Dunker Church

Table of Contents

Statistics for the Bloodiest Day of the Civil War	Eyewitness Accounts
Battle Prelude September 15-16, 1862	Links to The Battle of Antietam
The Cornfield	Battlefield Images and Aftermath
Bloody Lane	Dedication
Burnside's Bridge	E-Mail

Antietam resulted in nine times as many Americans killed or wounded (22,726 soldiers) as took place on June 6, 1944--D-Day

Statistics for the Bloodiest Day of the Civil War

Confederate Losses	Union Losses
Killed-1,512	Killed--2,108
Wounded--7,816	Wounded--9,549
Captured/Missing--1,844	Captured/Missing--753

Return to Table of Contents

 

Battle Prelude September 15-16, 1862

Lee's first invasion of the North came to a halt in the small town of Sharpsburg. Many have questioned Lee's wisdom in choosing this spot to stand and fight due to his inferior numbers and the lack of escape avenues. The Potomac River in the Confederates' rear offered the only major escape avenue available to Lee's forces. Lee's boldness was influenced by the crescent-shaped ridge that ran from the northwest to the southeast of Sharpsburg. It should be noted that General Longstreet objected to this site, while General Jackson endorsed it. The three mile long Confederate line used the Potomac to anchor their left and Antietam Creek to anchor the right.

Many believe that General McClellan failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity on September 16. Instead of attacking Lee, McClellan used this day to prepare his lines and place his artillery. His delay in attacking allowed Lee to quickly bring up General Jackson and his men. The night of the 16th both armies spent in anticipation of the fight that would surely come at dawn.

McClellan's plan was to begin the battle by attacking Lee's left flank, occupied by General Jackson's men, with the I and XII Corps. Support would be provided by two additional corps. It was hoped that this intense attack would result in the collapse of the Confederate left, forcing them into the Confederate center held by Hill. At the same time the IX Corps would attack Lee's right, occupied by General Longstreet, and prevent Lee from being able to access his escape route. The remaining Federal forces would then attack the center, crushing the Confederates in this three prong assault.

The tranquility of dawn held the promise of a glorious fall day. That tranquility was soon broken as Major General Joseph ordered thirty-five Union cannons to open fire on the Confederates' left. At 6:00 a.m., 12,000 men from the I Corps charged down the Hagerstown Pike to attack the ground held by Jackson's smaller force of around 7,000. The Union continued the attack through the woods and into a forty acre cornfield. The heavy fire of the Confederate muskets commanded a heavy toll from the Union attackers. With each step forward, Union soldiers fell to the ground, having been struck down by the whining song of the Confederate mini balls. The Union troops almost reached the high ground near the Dunker Church. Lead rained down all around them, as cannonballs and canister took a devastating toll upon the attackers. The cornfield of the Miller farm soon yielded gruesome harvest as the weapons of war turned it into a slaughter pen. The toll was high for both sides as officers and men fell side by side. Shortly before 7:30 a.m., Jackson's line was in danger giving way--it seemed that the Union would succeed. At this desperate moment, the fresh southern troops led by Generals Hill and Hood rushed into the melee, forcing the I Corps from the field. The I Corps lost 25% of its number and were unable to fight any more that day. Their commander, General Hooker, was one the casualties.

The Union's next assault was lead by Major General Joseph K. F. Mansfield. Mansfield commanded the XII Corps composed of the veterans of Banks's Valley Campaign. Mansfield hurried his troops into the battle, and was one of the first to be mortally wounded. The assault moved forward and the Union managed to retake a portion of the east woods and cornfield. This assault lasted around 29 minutes and bore no fruit. Hooker later described the scene in these words, "every stalk 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. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield."

After 3 hours of murderous fighting, McClellan order a third attack over this bloodied ground. At 9:00 a.m. General "Bull" Sumner attacked Jackson's line from the east-northeast. The lull in the battle had allowed Jackson the time needed to readjust his lines in an arc facing northward. As Sumner's 18,000 men charged forward, they quickly lost alignment and fell victim to Jackson's trap. In less than 20 minutes, Sedgwick's lead division had suffered a casualty rate of around 50%. Jackson then ordered his command to charge into the cornfield and reached the northern end before coming under a galling crossfire from fifty Union cannons hidden from view. Jackson was force to abort his attack. This concluded the four-hour fight on the Confederate left.

 

"In the time I am writing," Hooker reported, "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."

"

• Confederate Eyewitness: Miller Cornfield--"Then a grand sight met their eyes. The number of regimental standards floating in the morning air indicated the immense numbers of the advancing enemy. It was a wonderful sight. . Colonel Douglass, fearing the result of an attack by so large a force on his weak brigade, ran from regiment to regiment exhorting the men not to fire until the enemy reached the fence and began to get over it--to shoot low and make every bullet count.
• Union Eyewitness: Miller Cornfield--"At the front [South] edge of the corn-field was a low Virginia rail fence. Before the corn were open fields, beyond which was a strip of woods surrounding a little church, the Dunkard church. As we appeared at the edge of the corn, a long line of men in butternut and gray rose up from the ground. Simultaneously, the hostile battle lines opened a tremendous fire upon each other. Men . . . were knocked out of the ranks by dozens. But we jumped over the fence, and pushed on, loading, firing, and shouting as we advanced. There was . . . great hysterical excitement, eagerness to go forward."
• Rebel lines hold after six assaults--The fighting at Antietam is most ferocious in the morning when Union soldiers begin to assault the Confederates in Miller's Cornfield.
• Lorenz A. Miears--"When we got over the hill, we formed (a) line of battle and was ordered (to lie) down. We are as much exposed lying down as standing up. They was killing us faster than the litter bearers could carry them."
• Maj. Thomas W. Hyde, Seventh Maine Infantry, of The Battle of Antietam--"I took the regiment in front of the skirmishers of the brigade next on our left, formed them behind a fence, sent out my skirmishers, who drove the rebel skirmishers in fine style from the edge of the cornfield and the hollow lying on this side of the timber I was ordered to clear."
• 'And the Slain Lay in Rows'--This field of hay is called "the Cornfield" because that's what it was at dawn on September 17, 1862. By noon, though, the corn was gone, cut to the ground by bullets and cannon shells; and the field was covered with thousands of dead or broken men. It was the bloodiest part of the bloodiest day in this country's history--the Battle of Antietam.
• Carnage in a Maryland Cornfield--David Miller's humble cornfield near Antietam Creek became the unlikely setting for perhaps the worst fighting in America's Civil War.
• Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early C.S.A--Battle Of Sharpsburg Or Antietam--Very shortly after dawn on the morning of the 17th, I was ordered by General Jackson in person to move my brigade to the front and left, along a route pointed out by him, for the purpose of supporting some pieces of artillery which General Stuart had in position to operate against the enemy's right, and Hays was ordered to the support of Lawton's and Trimble's brigades. 

The second phase of the Battle of Antietam began around 10:00 a.m. and would also last four hours. This time the Union assault would be aimed at the Confederate center. Once again McClellan would fail to coordinate his attacks to take advantage of his superior numbers and Lee's weakened center.

As the battle moved to the south Lee's center was held by two brigades commanded by Robert Rodes and G. B. Anderson. These brigades belonged to General Harvey Hill's division. These Confederate troops were along a sunken road that ran 1000 yards to both the south and east. As the Confederates attempted to further fortify their concealed position in this sunken lane, they spotted Union forces on the hill above them. These Union troops were part of Sumner's II Corps. As they moved in the direction of the Confederate center, many described their appearance as being parade like. Major General William H. French commanded the lead division of the Union attack.

As French's division drew within range of the sunken road, a murderous volley was delivered by the Confederates, and the Union troops seemed to suddenly disappear. A second group of Union soldiers met a similar fate as they attempted to attack the southern position. Both sides quickly brought in reinforcements, and for three hours the slaughter continued with neither side gaining the advantage.

Major General Israel B. Richardson's division joined the fight to aid French's division. Near 1:00 p.m., Richardson's men were able to gain the high ground near the road's bend and delivered an enfilading fire upon the remaining 300 Confederates forcing them to fall back to new positions. If General McClellan had continued to push the advantage that these brave men had gained, Lee's center would have collapsed and resulted in the ruin of the army and perhaps the Confederacy as well. General McClellan elected to end the fight in this section stating, "It would not be prudent" to continue the attack. This marked the end of the second phase of the Battle of Antietam.

Union officers who viewed the bodies of the Confederates in the sunken road stated that the lane was completely covered with bodies as far as the eye could see. This sunken road became known from this day forward as "Bloody Lane."

• Confederate Eyewitnesses: Bloody Lane --"The day was clear and beautiful, with scarcely a cloud in the sky. The men in blue . . . formed in my front, an assaulting column four lines deep. The front line came to a 'charge bayonets,' the other lines to a 'right shoulder shift.' The brave Union commander, superbly mounted, placed himself in front, while his band in rear cheered them with martial music. It was a thrilling spectacle.
• Union Eyewitness: Bloody Lane --"Forward we go over fences and through an apple orchard. Now we are close to the enemy. They rise up in the sunken lane and pour a deadly fire into us. Our men drop in every few files. The ground on which we are charging has no depression, no shelter of any kind. There is nothing to do but to advance or break into a rout. We know there is no support behind us on this side of the creek. So we go forward on the run, heads downward as if under a pelting rain.
• 5,000 soldiers slaughtered in Sunken Lane--The fighting shifts half a mile to the south at Sunken Road, a hard clay road that had been worn down through the years by rain and wagons. It was used primarily by farmers who wanted to bypass Sharpsburg.
• J.B.Gordon--Gordon was so confident in his men he told General Robert E. Lee, "These men are going to stay here, General, till the sun goes down or the victory is won," and that they did.
• Baptism Of Fire At Bloody Lane--"These volleys of musketry we were approaching sounded in the distance like the rapid pouring of shot upon a tin pan, or the tearing of heavy canvas, with slight pauses interspersed with single shots, or desultory shooting."
• "Never Were Men So Brave"--Antietam was the next battle honor garnered by the brigade. It was committed in the Union center and had the dubious distinction of attacking the Confederates in the "Sunken Road." With Meagher at their head, the cheering Irish moved against the waiting enemy.

The third and final phase of the Battle of Antietam took place to the south of the battlefield where a stone bridge crossed Antietam Creek. General Ambrose Burnside was given the task of attacking the Confederate right. The Confederates, commanded by Brigadier General Robert Toombs, were entrenched on a hillside overlooking Antietam Creek and the stone bridge that spanned it. Toombs' forces consisted of several small Georgia regiments. The task should have been an easy one for Burnside and the IX Corps if he had used his superior numbers to his advantage. Instead of delivering a massive decisive blow, Burnside sent his troops forward one regiment at a time to cross the stone bridge. The Confederates were able to deliver a rain of shot and shell as the Union troops struggled to cross the narrow stone bridge. Regiment after regiment was forced back by the murderous fire from the hillside.

As the battle at Bloody Lane drew to a close, the Union artillery concentrated a heavy bombardment at the bridge and the hillside. This support allowed the 51st New York and the 51st Pennsylvania to cross the bridge and establish a foothold on the opposite bank. The Confederates were soon forced to retire from the crest of the hill. Once again McClellan had the opportunity to deliver a crushing blow to Lee's army. Once again, delay and lack of coordination proved to be McClellan's downfall as Burnside delayed for over two hours before advancing the attack.

In mid-afternoon, the Union army finally began moving thousands of Federal troops toward Lee's weakened flank. Burnside's superior numbers quickly moved through Toombs' Georgians and engaged D. R. Jones's four brigades. Lee desperately moved both men and guns south to meet the Union's massive attack. The southerners held on through sheer desperation as the cause appeared to be lost. The town of Sharpsburg was in flames and utter confusion as the battle roared around it. The Union moved to within nine hundred yards of Lee's only escape route. Victory seemed within sight for Burnside and his troops.

In the frenzy of battle, with the smell of victory in the air, the Union troops failed to notice the approach from the south of General A. P. Hill's Light Division. Hill's men had been left behind to secure Harper's Ferry. Hill had wisely left his post in mid-morning to march hard towards the sound of the battle. The march of 17 miles was so demanding that only 3,000 of Hill's 5,000 made it to Sharpsburg. Hill's exhausted troops, never stopping, slammed, screaming the rebel yell, into Burnside's left flank. In a matter of minutes, the tide of the battle was turned. The Union advance was stopped and forced back to the banks of Antietam Creek. This marked the final action of the Battle of Antietam.

As night fell, the sounds of battle gave way to the screams and groans of the wounded that the 14 hours of vicious fighting had produced. The Day of September 18th both armies spent waiting for the other side to renew the fight. The fight never came and Lee retired from the field on the evening of the 18th.

Graves at Burnside's Bridge

• At the bridge, rebels take a stand--The fighting now moves further south to a 125-foot-long bridge spanning the Antietam Creek. It was called the Lower Bridge or Rohrback Bridge then; but after this day, it will become known as Burnside Bridge.
• The Connecticut Hard Luck Regiment Lives Again--At 1 p.m., the bridge across the creek was carried. The 16th crossed below the bridge, wading across the creek in waist-deep water. They took positions on the slope of a hill on the farm of J. H. Snively. The cannonade was furious as General Longstreet's entire artillery started firing. Solid shot swept the crest of the hill in front and tore up the ground behind. Shells burst overhead, showering the 16th with fragments of grape and canister.
• The Taking of Burnside's Bridge--While Union commander George McClellan fumed and the Battle of Antietam hung in the balance, a handful of Rebels held off Federal troops at "Burnside Bridge."
• Report of. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, U. S. Army, Commanding Right Wing, Army of the Potomac, Of Operations September 7-19 --"About this time I received an order from the general commanding to make my dispositions to carry the stone bridge over the Antietam nearly opposite our center, but to await further orders before making the attack. I accordingly threw my lines forward."
• Taking of Burnside's Bridge--While Union commander George McClellan fumed and the Battle of Antietam hung in the balance, a handful of Rebels held off Federal troops at "Burnside Bridge."

• Mary Bedinger Mitchell--"What before was confusion grew worse; the retreat became a stampede. The battery may not have done a very great deal of execution, but it made a fearful noise. It is curious how much louder guns sound when they are pointed at you than when they are turned the other way! And the shell, with its long-drawn screeching, though no doubtless terrifying than the singing minie-ball, has a way of making one's hair stand on end."
• Charles W. Andrews, Rector, Trinity Church of Shepherdstown--"The armies are all upon us with sick and wounded and all in confusion and trouble."
• Carnage At Antietam, 1862--Some of the day's most brutal combat occurred during the late morning along a sunken road held by the Confederates. For two and one half hours, Union troops threw themselves at the entrenched Confederates, finally dislodging them. The murderous fire from both sides left the battlefield strewn with corpses, giving the road the name "Bloody Lane."
• Angel of the Battlefield--Arriving at the northern edge of the infamous "Cornfield" at about noon, Clara Barton watched as harried surgeons dressed the soldiers' wounds with cornhusks.
• The Battle of Antietam as described by Alpheus Williams--"The roar of the infantry was beyond anything conceivable. . . Imagine from 8,000 to 10,000 men on one side, with probably a larger number on the other, all at once discharging their muskets. If all the stone and brick houses of Broadway should tumble at once, the roar and rattle could hardly be greater, and amidst this, hundreds of pieces of artillery, right and left, were thundering as a sort of bass to the infernal music."
• New York Tribune reporter George Smalley--"The half-hour passed, the rebels began to give way a little--only a little, but at the first indication of a receding fire, Forward, was the word, and on went the line with a cheer and a rush. Back across the cornfield, leaving dead and wounded behind them, over the fence, and across the road, and then back again into the dark woods which closed around them went the retreating rebels."
• Baptism Of Fire At Bloody Lane--Lt. Frederick Hitchcock--"All this presaged fearful work in store for us, with what results to each personally in the future, measured probably by moments, would reveal. How does one feel under such conditions? To tell the truth, I realized the situation most keenly and felt very uncomfortable. Lest there might be some undue manifestation of this feeling on my conduct, I said to myself, this is the duty I undertook to perform for my country, and now I'll do it, and leave the results with God."

• The Battle of Antietam--McClellan's battle plan was to open the battle with an attack on Lee's left flank, followed by a second blow on the Confederate right flank. When either of these two assaults made progress, he would follow up with a decisive blow with his reserves wherever the enemy had suffered the most.
• The Battle of Antietam: Behind the Front Line--"Today our troops went into battle, on the Antietam Creek. Although the weather was dreary, the troops' spirits were at a high. Leading them was General McClellan, hopeful for a grand victory."
• The Contest In Maryland!--Battle-Field of Sharpsburg, Wednesday evening Sept. 17, 1862--Fierce and desperate battle between 200,000 men has raged since daylight, yet night closes on an uncertain field.
• The Invasion of Maryland--by James Longstreet--This "lost order" has been the subject of much severe comment by Virginians who have written of the war. It was addressed to D. H. Hill, and they charged that its loss was due to him, and that the failure of the campaign was the result of the lost order. As General Hill has proved that he never received the order at his headquarters, it must have been lost by someone else.
• Battle of Antietam--The battle was fought only by the small divisions and brigades instead of full-fledged attacks, which was a very large advantage for Lee. Now Lee was dealing with sections of McClellan's powerhouse instead of the whole force.
• Antietam--New York Tribune reporter George Smalley scooped the world with his vivid account of the Battle of Antietam.
• The Battle of Antietam--The map shows the Federal and Confederate positions and movements at the Brigade level.
• Battle of Antietam--The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) on September 17, 1862, climaxed the first of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's two attempts to carry the war into the North. About 40,000 Southerners were pitted against the 87,000-man Federal Army of the Potomac under General George B. McClellan.
• Maryland Campaign, 1862--"In Memory of All Americans Who Fought and Died"
• Battle of Antietam--"The Bloodiest Day of the Civil War" September 17, 1862.

• Antietam National Battlefield--There are 103 monuments at Antietam, most of them for Union soldiers. After the war, the former Confederacy was so devastated it was difficult for the veterans to raise money to build their monuments.
• Antietam-a Photographic Tour--This document is not intended to relate the events of the battle in great detail. Although events will be alluded to, several definitive works which describe the battle in great detail already exist. Those works, however, either ignore or relegate to a handful of black and white images any attempt to present a visual description of the battlefield. What you will find here is a study of the actual ground of the battlefield, using wartime and modern photographs, computer generated maps and computer generated 3-D perspective images, and a few other special presentations that you are unlikely to find elsewhere.
• Cannon smoke cleared to 'indescribable horror'--About 5,110 were left dead, including one soldier hung over a fence on Bloody Lane who had been shot 57 times in the Sept. 17 battle.
• Robert M. Fossett--Copy of Letter from Robert M. Fossett, Medical Aide, describing the battlefield two days after the Battle of Antietam.
• Battle was first to use ambulances--Antietam marked the first battle in which an ambulance corps was used to care for injured troops.
• Antietam National Cemetery--The Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, on September 17, 1862, was the tragic culmination of Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North. That one fateful day more than 23,110 men were killed, wounded, or listed as missing. Approximately 4,000 were killed, and in the days that followed, many more died of wounds or disease. The peaceful village of Sharpsburg turn into a huge hospital and burial ground extending for miles in all directions.