Antietam, America's Bloodiest Battle (The Civil War Diaries S2E03)

[Music] do [Music] a lovely day started today daylight and crossed catoctin mountain and joined the battery about one mile east of middletown at 8am while here one of the men that was watering his horses in a mud hole had his horses flounder in the mud pitching him underneath the horse but after a great deal of difficulty he extricated himself and succeeded in getting out without being much injured but such a sight you never saw he was covered from head to foot being completely covered with mud so thick that no one expected to see him come out alive as the horses had to be dragged out by other horses at 9 00 a.m the battery moved through middletown on towards sharpsburg about two miles and then took a road to the left which crossed south mountain at fox's gap here the general ordered our battery to ascend the mountain to a certain point and then engage the rebel battery supposed to be about one and a half miles off we immediately proceeded to obey orders and ascended the mountain to the designated point and went into battery but before we could load all our pieces the rebels opened upon us with a masked battery only 125 yards distant with grape and canister some of our pieces fired three or four rounds and the shots were coming so fast the lieutenants and captains haven't disappeared most of them haven't skedaddled the men became panic stricken too and skedaddled leaving the two howitzers behind lieutenant evans having posted the kaisans in the woods rolled up to them and gave the order to retreat and immediately put spurs to his horse rapidly passing out of sight down the mountain not stopping until within a short distance of middletown captain cook and coffin soon recovered from the panic and succeeded in getting some of the guns in position a short distance from the first position and succeeded in keeping the enemy from taking the two guns left on the field until the infantry could get into position to help us soon after the general having found the position of the enemy got around them upon their sides and after several charges succeeded in driving them into the main road where they were obliged to retreat over the mountain in solid columns and we pouring shell among them until dark every shell killing from 20 to 30 of them lieutenant griffin and the color bearer as well as several of the men's gedaddled down clear to middletown and some of them reported the battery all cut to pieces frank keane was killed outright by great ball and frank adams had his legs shot off and five or six more were more or less wounded at general reno advance the infantry or cavalry as skirmishers the panic would have never ensued but to advance a battery up a steep mountain without knowing what was ahead and without the proper support showed very little generalship but on the other hand showed culpable negligence in the general commanding at 9 00 pm the enemy returned and are on the retreat over the mountain the boys are to stay by the guns all night the rebel dead lay piled up in the road for about a quarter mile four and five deep the enemy loss is extremely large our loss is quite severe in officers and one or two regiments were badly cut up general reno was killed and general wilcox assumes command of the division pleasant today the battlefield presents an awful spectacle this morning though and the ground for miles is covered with the dead and wounded in many places three and four deep the enemy must have lost at least three thousand killed yesterday and as many men wounded at 9 00 a.m our pickets advanced five miles and the rebels sent in a flag of truce requesting the privilege of burying their dead which of course we were obliged to refuse as we are to advance immediately general burnside has made contracts to have their dead buried for one dollar a piece at six p.m we advance five miles and bivouac with orders to be ready to move at midnight pleasant out we advance to within five miles of sharpsburg near elk mountain here the main body of the army seems to be congregating our division is to be held for the reserve this evening the right wing of the army has been engaged all day principally a duel between the artillery several shells have burst near us during the day we have a miserable camp we have to walk about one and a half miles to get water but the rebels have been driven back about a mile cloudy today the right wing has commenced the battle again with artillery firing is very rapid and heavy on both sides but our folks are driving the rebels seem to be making their popular movement to flank our left and we are ordered to the left to open on them at 10 a.m we commence shelling them in a cornfield across antietam creek to the south of sharksburg benjamin's and two other batteries have been brought into action with us we shelled them out of the cornfield around noon the right wing seems to have driven them also so our division is ordered to cross the creek and we are to go with them one brigade of infantry crossed over the stone bridge and lay down under the cover of the hill and the ammunition train crossed next so we followed the ammunition train but before our left section had fairly crossed the rebels discovered the movement and immediately opened several of their batteries on a fearful effect and they had good range of us to the right of the bridge the road was right under the hill and only just wide enough for one team to pass here we were obliged to stay about one and a half hours before we could move either way finally the ammunition train got turned around and we got two of our guns by them and advanced them cautiously around the brow of the hill one at a time and immediately engaged the rebel batteries which were making such a habit amongst the infantry just before we advanced around the brow of the hill the zoo zoos had made a charge and were badly cut up and when they saw us coming around the hill they cheered us lustily cried go in we'll support you all two pieces kept firing and advancing until they were close upon the rebel lines and the greater part of the time engaging the fire of the four rebel batteries until we had fired all the ammunition that would fit the guns then they very deliberately limbered up and coolly walked off the field [Applause] in the meantime the right section went up on top of the hill to the left but soon left their positions their lieutenant having skedaddled down into the creek and ran under the arch to the stone bridge but the captain seeing them cross the bridge immediately went after them and made them re-cross together with the center section and take position on the hill and remain there all night at 9 00 pm our folks held the ground taken and our left section have bib whacked near where we opened our first fire this morning the slaughter has been dreadful today on both sides many of our regiments are sadly cut to pieces and the loss has been very heavy on both sides and officers the 35th has again suffered as much as any regiment on our side and the rebel loss must have been the largest as they suffered severely in the foreign in the cornfield pleasant and warm today seven a.m the left section has taken position just through the woods on the brow of the hill from where we bid-whacked last night the right and center section are still in battery across the creek the infantry have thrown out skirmishers all along the line the rebels are advancing batteries in different directions but neither side seems anxious to bring on a conflict our batteries are nearly out of ammunition and we judge the rebels are in the same circumstances as they were obliged to fire chains stones junk bottles and railroad iron cut up in pieces about six inches long the sharp cracks of the rifle tells us that the skirmishers are busy dealing out death warrants and our reinforcements and ammunition trains are arriving we can see by the aid of a powerful glass that the rebels are getting their trains back as far as possible i shouldn't wonder if they attempted to cross the potomac before morning our boys are having their fill today of apples peaches and potatoes from the garden close by collington was wounded in the leg and probably will have to have his leg amputated his father has called for him today and we told him he was wounded and that the surgeon at the hospital wanted someone detailed to take care of him lieutenant coffin ordered to get him detailed from his regiment the 9th massachusetts if he desired which offer he gladly accepted pleasant but the nights are growing cold at 5 00 am we got orders to harness up and rejoin the rest of the battery about half mile to the west and after considerable delay it got with the rest of the battery once more and the captain has the whole company in line and gave them good advice he told them if any of the officers showed the white feather again he would not ask them to go into battle under the present officers at 10 am we crossed the creek and advanced as far as sharpsburg but no rebs do we see except dead ones but the booming of distant cannons tells us that they are crossing the potomac back into virginia once two miles beyond sharpsburg we were ordered back to sharpsburg and are to take the river road down the creek the rebels admitted to the inhabitants of sharpsburg a loss of 30 000 since they come into my maryland and general lee had his arm broken by a gunshot this raid has proved a mighty sorry thing to them and i guess they won't sing my maryland anymore at present [Music] if you'd like to learn more about william clark halls and the eighth battery of massachusetts light artillery the links to all of the reference material are in the video description below if you enjoyed today's video and would like to see more content like this take a shot at the like button subscribe and ring that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest bird dog content oh

Channel: BirdDogg

Views: 18,936

Keywords: History, Metal Detecting, Metal Detecting Vlog, NuggetNoggin, BirdDogg, Relic, Show, Relic Hunting, Relics, Outdoor Adventure, Garrett AT Pro, Garrett AT Gold, Nautilus Metal Detector, Daily DIg Log, A Day in the Life, Day in the Life, Vlog, Treasure, Man FInds Treasure, Treasure Hunting, Bluegrass, Pulse induction, Nokta, Nokta Makro Simplex, Simplex, Anfibio, Nokta Makro Anfibio, Anfibio Multi, Amazing Treasure, Civil War Relic, Magnet Fishing, Magnet

Id: EKEmwtj_nHs

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 07 2021