Antietam

About an hour south of Gettysburg is another historic battlefield that I’ve always wanted to visit. I can recall vividly the photographs of the dead in the Bloody Lane found in my junior year American history textbook. The Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland was the single bloodiest day in American history. On this beautiful land of rolling farmland, the armies of Northern Virginia and Potomac fought some of the fiercest fighting every seen and at the end of the day over 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing.

A year and a half into the Civil War, a Union victory was still very much in doubt. Confederate forces under the command of Gen. Robert E. Lee had won significant victories in the Eastern Theater mostly defending native Virginia. On the Union side, Lincoln struggled to find a commander who he could rely on to keep the rebels under constant pressure and attack. He fired and then rehired Gen. George McClellan to command the Army of the Potomac. Jefferson David and Gen. Lee devised a plan to take the fight into Yankee territory.  Their goal was two-fold: give Virginia farmers some time to have a harvest and prove to England that the Confederacy could win with the hope of securing their support. In the early days of September 1862, Lee led 40,000 Confederate soldiers across the Potomac and into the Maryland countryside. One wrinkle in Lee’s plan was the Union garrison at Harper’s Ferry, a key transportation hub for any supplies needed for the invasion. Lee sent his best fighter Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to capture Harper’s Ferry and then rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia outside Sharpsburg, Maryland.

On September 12, 1862, Gen. McClellan got the Army of the Potomac marching in pursuit of Lee’s army. In a stroke of luck for the Union, a lost secret communication penned by Gen. Lee himself was found by a Union soldier: this is known as Lee’s Special Order #191. From this secret communication, McClellan now knew Lee’s plan and the position of his troops. As Union forces moved towards the Confederates, there were some early engagements most notable South Mountain on September 14^th, but by the evening of September 16, 1862 both armies were closing in on Sharpsburg near a little creek called Antietam.

The morning of September 17, 1862 was foggy. Union forces under Gen. Joseph Hooker had spent the night at the Poffenberger farm where they launched an attack on Stonewall Jackson’s forces at first light. A woman by the name of Clara Barton brought medical supplies to the Poffenberger farm, she later founded the American Red Cross in 1880. Another area of focus for Union troops in the early morning hours was the Dunker Church (circ. 1852). The name “Dunker” comes from the practice of full immersion baptism practiced by the German Baptist Brethren congregation. The church was destroyed during a bug storm in 1921, but was rebuilt by the park service in time for the 100th anniversary of the battle. The new Antietam Visitor Center is located across the street from the church.

By mid-morning, Union forces led by Gen. Edwin Sumner were advancing into the West Woods where they were decimated by Confederate artillery and infantry leading to 2,200 killed or wounded Union soldiers. Fighting soon moved out of the woods and into a 23-acre cornfield owned by D.R. Miller who’s farm still stands today. This cornfield saw some of the most horrific fighting in U.S. history. For nearly three hours, Hooker and Manfield’s Union forces fought Stonewall Jackson’s Confederates in the stalks of corn with ground being exchanged multiple times. It is said that 25,000 soldiers were engaged in the cornfield and at the end of the fight the corn was mowed down and thousands of soldiers laid dead on the field. Soldiers described the air being filled with “lead missiles”.

The Mumma Farm was one of the few civilian homes destroyed. Confederate officers ordered it burned to the ground to prevent it from being a position for Union sharpshooters. Just down the road from the Mumma property is a sunken farm road that the Confederates quickly utilized as a defensive position to hold their ground. For three hours, some 2,200 soldiers of the Confederate center used this position to hold off repeated attacks of some 10,000 Union soldiers. When the Confederate position finally collapsed, the sunken road, renamed the Bloody Lane, was filled with 5,500 dead and wounded soldiers. The loss was so severe to the Union forces that they didn’t have the strength to pursue the retreating Confederates. Witnesses described the bodies in the sunken road as “laid like railroad ties” and “stacked like cords of wood”. The Bloody Lane was one of the early sites of Civil War photography by renowned Alexander Gardner who brought the ugly reality of the conflict to Northern homes.

A stone bridge (circ. 1836) crossing over Antietam Creek was the site of heavy fighting in the early afternoon. About 500 Confederate soldiers, many from Georgia, held a strong position overlooking the bridge. For nearly three hours, these Confederates led by Gen Robert Toombs fought off three assaults by Union troops commanded by Gen. Ambrose Burnside. Eventually the Union forces found another water crossing further upstream and forced the Confederates from their position. Burnside’s men pursued the fleeing Confederates, but a counter attack by Gen. A.P. Hill forced Burnside and his men back to Antietam Creek essentially ending the bloodiest day in American history. Still standing on the east side of what is now called Burnside Bridge is a beautiful sycamore tree which was present as a youngster some 160 years ago. Oh, the stories it could tell!

The bloodiest day in American history basically ended as a stalemate with no clear winner. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but for the Confederates being a smaller force it was more significant. General Lee elected to withdraw his troops back to Virgina which handed McClellan a huge victory for the Union: they had fought off the first invasion of the North. This was the victorious opportunity President Lincoln had been waiting for and he signed the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22^, 1862.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, burial details worked quickly to intern the dead of both sides often burying them where they fell in shallow or mass graves. By 1864, many of the hastily formed graves had been exposed and it was recognized that a permanent solution was needed. The State of Maryland purchased 11 acres for the purpose of the Antietam National Cemetery which became the final resting place of 4,778 Union soldiers killed in the Maryland campaigns. Originally, Confederate soldiers were to be buried in the same cemetery, but public outcry put an end to that plan. Confederate soldiers were reinterned in cemeteries throughout Maryland in far less prestigious locations. The Antietam National Cemetery was dedicated on September 17, 1867 which was the fifth anniversary of the battle.  The Union soldiers are buried in neat rows by state and unknown soldiers have a simple post with their burial number.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the last invasion of the Confederate army into the North. A little under two years later in July 1864, General Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia towards a quiet little crossroads town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.