Antietam Battle, Sharpsburg, Maryland | 1862 | McClellan & Lee | Cornfield, Sunken Road with Maps

september 1862 the confederate army has moved the war from virginia into union maryland union general mcclellan pursues lee from washington d.c after holding gaps over south mountain from the union army confederate generals d h hill and hood pull their divisions off the hill and retreat west under the cover of darkness to sharpsburg maryland lee is actually very vulnerable on september 15. much of jackson's core is still on the march from harper's ferry where they recently secured the arsenal and took over 12 000 prisoners if mcclellan beats jackson to sharpsburg long street might be surrounded and destroyed in sharpsburg a closer look at sharpsburg shows the terrain lee is hoping that the topography around sharpsburg will give his vastly outnumbered army an advantage against mcclellan who is beginning to arrive from the east in this little town robert e lee will reassemble the army of northern virginia lee knows mcclellan's massive union army is on the approach in front of the town running north to south is antietam creek lee will use this as a natural barrier three bridges run across the creek the upper bridge the middle bridge and the lower bridge lee knows mcclellan will have to cross the creek at these narrow places and then go uphill to reach the ridge that runs along the creek's west bank lee tells his men we will make our stand on those hills lee is protected from a rear strike by the potomac river but there is a danger here if mcclellan pushes hard enough lee could get trapped against the river but a sunken road near town highlighted here in purple acts like a natural trench and the hagerstown pike here in white runs the whole way up the rebel line allowing for fast transition of forces if a flank gets stressed despite the fact that half of his army is still on route from the south and the massive union army is approaching from the east lee remains confident on september 15 long street's men take positions above the lower bridge d.h hill forms his division in the sunken road hood takes the woods just above the sunken road this meager force waits hoping general jackson arrives from harpers ferry before mcclellan attacks and that is precisely what happens mcclellan comes in cautiously allowing enough time for jackson to arrive on the 16th taking positions with hood along the woods walker's division also arrives taking positions near the lower bridge on the other side of antietam creek the union army is now assembling mcclellan's army stands nearly 90 000 strong over twice as large as lee's hungry and foot sore army you can say that the battle of antietam actually begins on september 16th on september 16th the two armies are on the field cannonballs streak over the creek hitting positions on the opposite side and mcclellan will make his first move on the afternoon of the 16th mcclellan is often criticized for his over caution however he needs to be careful this battle is in union maryland not confederate virginia a defeat here like the fiasco that recently transpired at second bull run could support in the north for the war mcclellan is not going to direct a frontal assault over antietam creek and storm up the ridges instead he is going to move a few advanced core over the upper bridge of antietam creek beyond the range of enemy rifle fire hooker's core takes the lead crossing the upper bridge unopposed in the late afternoon of september 16th the battle of antietam begins here in the evening after crossing the bridge hooker's core gets too close to hood's men in the east woods a fire fight breaks out but hooker avoids a prolonged engagement and gets to the pike threatening the extreme left flank of lee's army mansfield's core also crosses during the night mcclellan's cautious planning alerts the rebels as to his designs for the next day however mcclellan has moved a sizable force into striking distance of the rebel flank an examination of a topographical map shows that this ground is rolling but relatively flat thus far mcclellan has gotten too core over the creek and avoided attacking high ground with few casualties hooker and mansfield will be ready to strike the rebel flank a closer look at the rebel left shows the landscape features that will play a critical role on the coming day there is the northwoods the eastwoods and the west woods in the center is the miller farmhouse and here is a cornfield that lies in the center of these wooded boundaries the hagerstown pike cuts along the west woods and the smoke town road cuts through the east woods a white dunker church sits here which will be an important marker the dunkers are a german pacifist denomination their name derived from the habit of full dunking baptisms on the opposite union flank burnside's core is in position near the lower bridge the chess pieces are in place and everyone knows the next day will be in a fight of epic proportions but the rebels now know the attack will come on their left lee plans accordingly the early morning hours of september 17 arrive the first phase of the attack begins as expected on lee's left flank on to the north the attack begins early in dim twilight at 5 30 am hooker's division readies near the north woods hooker's three divisions stretch out over a half mile front double day is on the union right flank along the pike meat is in the center in the north woods and ricketts forms the left flank in the east woods the plan is to advance forward toward the white dunker church at the intersection of the hagar's town pike and the smoketown road the flanks are at least partially covered by woods but the center must pass through the miller's open farm acreage midway from the north woods to the dunker church is that 30-acre cornfield it is september and the autumn corn stalks are as tall as a man hooker's first wave advances gibbon's iron brigade is on the union right durier is in the center and seymour is on the union left as the blue lines appear from the north woods confederate artillery opens up from nicodemus hill on the union left seymour's brigade takes the lead through the east woods a seymour crosses the threshold from the woods at the smoketown road he takes fire from j.a walker's brigade of lawton's division seymour is knocked back past the woods duriet advances towards the cornfield while gibbon's iron brigade moves parallel along the pike twilight reveals confederates in the cornfield hooker brings his artillery forward union cannon levels the cornfield the defenders retreat duriet's brigade hits the northeast cornfield while gibbons iron brigade parallels along the western cornfield and west woods they advance over the broken corn stalks and hammered bodies christian and heart stuff's brigades follow through the east woods towards the front as they cross beyond the cornfield durye and gibbon are slammed by douglas's brigade of georgians then gibbon is hit by stark's brigade which swings in from the west woods but gibbons wisconsin and i indiana men fight back driving stark into the west woods for over an hour the rebels have held off hooker's core but with heartstuff and christian's brigades approaching douglas's georgians struggle to hold walker's brigade near the east woods pulls back douglas hangs on but the blue advance will be challenged hayes louisiana tigers strike from the west woods the tigers search toward the union right the 12th massachusetts loses two-thirds of its men hand-to-hand fighting breaks out yankee artillery is drawn into the cornfield it shoots point blank into the tigers in 15 minutes the tigers lose two-thirds of their men hayes succeeds in stopping the yankees but his brigade is shattered on the union side durier is badly mangled and pulls back within the first hour and a half at the battle of antietam we have examples of regiments and brigades being torn to pieces within 15 minutes antietam will show that 15 minute intervals are all the time that is necessary for large units to be deployed and destroyed the cornfield is going to be a no man's land much like a world war one battlefield it will see-saw back and forth leaving only the dead from both sides strewn through it it's now 7 am the outnumbered rebels beaten and bruised still have plenty of fight in them and here comes the uppercut hood's division comprised of wolford and law's brigades punch straight up the union line lost smashes christian and heart stuff back and the rebels retake the east woods wilford hits gibbon halting the iron brigade in the cornfield gibbon falls back some of hood's men push all the way through the cornfield only to run headlong into meade's pennsylvania brigades under anderson and majilton the cornfield fills with smoke the firing lines between the two sides are sometimes only 15 yards apart it is now 7 30 am but the rebels know a counter attack is coming however hood's attack has brought the rebels time to get fresh men on the front robert e lee and stonewall jackson are determined to hold their left flank zooming out we can see that the only available troops are d h hills division in the sunken road dh hill is activated we will zoom back in to get a closer look dh hill's men approach the left flank from the south ripley's brigade moves in to bolster the rebel right and retake the east woods colquitt and macri move out of the sunken road to reinforce hood in the cornfield but means pennsylvanians push anderson and magilton hit down the center the first texas in the northwest cornfield loses over 80 percent of its men during the attack hood is driven from the cornfield but ripley's brigade moves in and continues to struggle the fight pushes back into the cornfield ripley pushes anderson and majilton back until he is replaced by kulkwitz brigade mead pulls back leaving the cornfield to the rebels macri occupies the east woods the first phase of the battle has ended hooker's giant 15 000 man corps has been beaten back across to the location it originally started two and a half hours before vastly outnumbered and with little or no reserves to spare the rebels hold off the first union thrust but mcclellan activates a second union corps to continue the attack on the rebel left mansfield's ten thousand man corps approaches the front the second round for the cornfield and adjacent woods begins it is just after 8 a.m mansfield's core approaches from the east greens division advances along the smoketown road toward the dunkard church meanwhile williams division advances above near the cornfield with gordon's brigade moving toward the pike williams will quickly be promoted to core commander after mansfield is killed at the beginning of the attack the giant blue tide is too large for the defenders seeing the fresh troops approach macri pulls out of the east woods colquitt retreats from the cornfield to the sunken road gordon secures the east woods tyndale and steinrook advance along the smoketown road toward the dunker church green's men are able to drive rebel guns from the dunker church area but the heavy fighting has taken a toll near 9 00 a.m greens division holds the ground near the dunker church zooming out we can see how lee is maintaining a grip on his left flank despite being heavily outnumbered lee sees that burnside has not moved on his right flank so lee will redeploy men from his right flank to his left flank lee will also commit his few reserves to the flank he volunteers walker's division and gt anderson's brigade from the right flank as well as mclaughs division near town to bolster the left flank rh anderson's division is activated to reinforce the sunken road but mcclellan is adding forces to the fight as well he sends another core this one under sumner to reinforce manfield's core sumner's core will add almost 20 000 more fresh men to the field mansfield and sumner's cores alone are almost the size of the entire rebel army at 9 00 a.m sedgwick's division of sumner's corps is advancing from the east woods across the open field sedgwick moves so fast that his three brigades remain in column one after the other with gorman in front then dana then howard the union feels that they now have the rebels on the run and this strike will crack their flank about 9 15 am sedgwick's division approaches the west woods gorman engages rebels at the front dana and howard remain in waiting the soldier standing in place then it happens the west woods erupts lee's reshuffle works his fresh replacements have arrived mclaughs brigades under sems and barksdale smash into sedgwick's left flank as does gt anderson's brigade jubal early hits the center the yankees are taken by complete surprise sedgwick's division is in total disarray confusion leads to panic smoke and terror fills the woods future justice of the supreme court oliver wendell holmes jr is one of the thousands wounded howard's brigade breaks then the whole division breaks running north in a mad dash out of the west woods sedgwick loses over 2 200 men in about 15 minutes an entire union division is smashed with half of its men wounded or killed in a quarter of an hour we have seen regiments and brigades smashed in 15 minutes and now we have an example of an entire division smashed in 15 minutes the fighting continues down the way green's division advances to the dunker church but it is held in check by manning and kershaw's brigades there is a rebel counter-attack the rebels follow to the pike but fall back after taking heavy fire from artillery and gordon's brigade but both sides pull back to find cover in their respective woods as the firing eases the union has been thrown out of the west woods and greens division is left at a standstill at the dunker church since 5 30 a.m stonewall jackson has held off hooker's core mansfield's core and now a division of sumner's corps the rebel left despite being vastly outnumbered holds after five hours of constant slaughter with much acreage covered with dead and mangled the union army can claim hold to the east woods progressing one half a mile from the north woods to the edge of the east woods the cornfield between the eastwoods and the west woods is a precursor to the no man's land of the first world war the battle will now shift to the sunken road on the larger map we can see the sunken road is directly south of the morning's action and it's highlighted here in purple the sunken road is the confederate center we'll zoom into the sunken road to get a better look the hagerstown pike runs along the western side of this map here the sunken country road is shown here in white the sunken road forms a natural trench giving the outnumbered rebels their earl their only advantage french's division of subner's core approaches the sunken road french's three brigades approach in battle formation weber in front morris ii and kimball third dh hills division waits entrenched in the sunken road colquitt is on the left rhodes is at center and g b anderson has the right the rebels wait until weber is right on them and then they open fire whole blue lines are knocked down webber falls back morris's brigade comes up next those blue lines also fall and pull back finally kimball approaches the rebels cut the third wave down one in three of french's division are either killed or wounded in the assault just like sedgwick's division in the west woods another large union division is destroyed in a single disastrous attack two of sumner's divisions one under sedgwick and one under french have been smashed and scattered r.h anderson's division arrives reinforcing the sunken road it is now 10 30 a.m d.h hill has held off a whole union division but a second division is now approaching now richardson's division approaches the sunken road instead of hitting the defender straight on they approach the rebel flank meager's irish brigade strikes first but the irishmen are driven back the next union strike will finally crack the sunken road caldwell approaches two of his regiments from new york under barlow angle a volley down the flank of the sunken road in a battle where tens of thousands have already fought and many thousands died some 350 new yorkers make a decisive turn for the battle they throw more volleys into the defender's trenches trapping the rebels in the very trench that had previously been their shelter caldwell's brigade advances up the sunken road and the confederates peel off and run south by noon richardson's division pursues the confederates the rebel center is about to break open with the town of sharpsburg in their sights but longstreet thinks fast with no infantry support he positions artillery to slow richardson's push long streets gambit works richardson is now separated and without support of this attack he withdraws to the sunken road between 10 a.m and 1 p.m some 5 600 men have fallen over the sunken road amounting to some 1867 casualties per hour or 31 casualties every minute or one casualty every two seconds for three hours taking a step back we can see how the battlefield looks in the early afternoon franklin's core has now arrived fresh and ready to renew the attack on the weakened rebel line but sumner whose core was riddled with casualties advised against any further action mcclellan not wanting to gamble his gains away does not send franklin's core in positions are held no further attack is made on the rebel left or center the battle now shifts from the rebel left and center to the rebel right let's take a closer look at the rebel right flank general burnside's core has a more problematic crossing of the antietam creek antietam creek is highlighted in blue the lower bridge known today as burnside's bridge is highlighted in yellow the bridge here crosses just below a bluff seen here on the topographic map this high ground makes any crossing risky through a series of miscommunications with mcclellan burnside's attack comes later in the afternoon burnside's core measures some fourteen thousand men on the other side of the stream is robert toomes lean brigade of georgians numbering only a few hundred men but tombs has done everything he can to turn the long odds in his favor his brigade is stretched on the bluffs overlooking the creek during the morning burnsides had attempted two earlier crossings but the attacks were poorly coordinated and faltered the road leading to the bridge exposed any attacking unit to fire from the opposing heights tombs had successfully driven off these earlier attempt attempts before they had even made it to the bridge but pressure is mounting on burnside to make a crossing the fight near the dunker church and the sunken road is heating up and mcclellan needs a new front opened up to support those attacks burnside dispatches rodman's division composed of fairchild and harlan's brigades southward to cross the creek at snavely's fort about half past noon after much of the sunken road action is winding down burnside finally commits ferraro's brigade strikes the front bridge union canyon slams the opposing side of the creek the 51st pennsylvania and the 51st new york take positions adjacent to the bridge tombs responds the union regiments seeking cover the pennsylvanians and new york and fire back across the creek after 30 minutes of heavy fighting the forward regiments pour over the bridge with the bridge crossed and with rodman's division approaching from the south tombs withdraws however the great numbers of blue soldiers now crossing the narrow bridge slows the advance it isn't until after three o'clock when burnside's core is finally ready to advance but his line is formidable the brigades of christ welsh crook fairchild harland and ewing are in position to attack let's get a closer look of the area southeast of sharpsburg the paper-thin lines of dr jones division watch as the blue mass approaches christ and welsh's brigades press on to sharpsburg supported by fairchild ewing and harland on the left they encounter resistance halfway to town from joseph walker drayton and kemper but the numbers are too great the blue lines send the rebels into retreat it looks as if the rebel right which had been depleted all day to support the battle up the pike is about to break then the union soldiers suddenly stopped to resupply it is now 3 30 pm at this time there is a commotion down the road columns are coming up the way new englanders and harlan's brigade see blue uniforms approaching but these are not union soldiers they are just wearing fresh federal uniforms that they had just captured from harper's ferry they come on fast and open fire on harland ap hill's three thousand men have made the 17-mile trek from harper's ferry to sharpsburg arriving just in time to counter-attack burnside greg's brigade smashes into harlan's new englanders routing them then archer strikes ewing branch pushes across the union flank burnside's core is now in retreat pulling back to the antietam creek a.p hills 3 000 man division has flushed out an entire union core of some fourteen thousand men burnside's attack had begun too late to coordinate with the other attacks in the cornfield or in the sunken road and once burnside finally did progress towards sharpsburg the corps was swept back to antietam creek by ap hill burnside's attack accomplishes nothing the battle of antietam ends around 5 30 pm 12 hours after it began 12 hours claimed some 23 000 killed or wounded or 1900 casualties per hour or 32 casualties per minute the dead include some 2100 union and 1500 confederate soldiers it was the bloodiest day in american history you

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Keywords: battle of antietam, battle of anteitem, antietum, battle of sharpsburg, what was the bloodiest day in american history, what was the bloodiest battle in the civil war

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Length: 28min 10sec (1690 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 14 2021