The "Jackass Battery" Monument and Stonewall's March from Harpers Ferry: Unknown Antietam 159

hey everybody thank you for joining us for yet another segment of unknown antietam this is the 159th anniversary you're with the american battlefield trust make sure you share this with your friends we really can only keep doing this if enough people watch it to justify doing these things and we are at a place where i have been bi in a car numerous times most people don't even pass by this place on burnside bridge road but this is unknown antietam so we're taking you here and to tell you where we are why we are here maybe a little bit about cannons elevations and even a jackass is dennis fry he's not the jackass he might talk about a jacket i'm really happy you clarify thank you very much you're welcome sir i'm sure i've been called much much worse so but jackass here is really a compliment for this monument we are at we are at the southernmost monument on the battlefield and if you've been following along we've been trying to take you to places that represent the most the northernmost monument the easternmost monument here is the southernmost monument now first of all where are we well we are actually south of the burnside bridge about half a mile or so south could you point to the burn size yeah the burnside bridge will be this direction this direction right here now the antietam creek is right over there right over there now you can't see it because it drops down precipitously we're actually on a high elevation here we are on a bluff equivalent to the confederate fluff that overlooks the burnside bridge except we're on the union side of the creek here this is the united states side of the creek and so the vegetation that you just saw eradicate it erase it just get rid of it we've got clear views here so the confederates are on the other side of the antietam we're on burn side side and the reason this monument is here is because first ohio light artillery is part of the union ninth corps and they've got two principal jobs here one is to make sure that they can fire upon confederate positions across the creek but they're not going to do it from here the monument is placed in the vicinity of the battery not the actual location of the battery we're too low here you don't put a battery at a low point and so you can see the ground rising you see that ground rising the elevation going up behind the monument that's where they're going to be on that higher ground and then there they have a clear view of the confederate lines now they can't see the bridge the burnside bridge itself sits down in the chasm in a ravine you can't see it from up there plus they would not be able to fire on the burnside bridge because they would not have you can't depress the muzzle enough you can't lower the muzzle enough to even be able to do it if you saw it so they're not firing on the bridge they're firing on the confederates holding the bridge and confederates in the distance beyond the bridge and so this monument commemorates the proximity of their location they were known as the jackass battery because when they first came into existence they were issued mules mules rather than horses and the reason for that was they were going to be campaigning in western virginia and if you know anything about western virginia which today is called west virginia you know about mountains big deep mountains massive valleys up and down up and down over and again horses tough terrain for horse but a mule stronger any mule will tell you in mule language that it is smarter than a horse a mule will tell you it's more powerful than a horse and you also will tell you it doesn't take directions from human beings i think we better call you the mule whisperer then and so mules became the principal form of transportation for the battery and that's how it got the nickname jackass battery now they're gonna they're going to be very active here so i mentioned to you that one of their principal roles is to fire on confederates the opposition but the other thing that's really important is this road this road right here which is today called burnside bridge road and it's the original road that crossed historically the burnside bridge it goes east towards roarsville and pleasant valley ultimately towards harpers ferry and then it goes north towards sharpsburg crossing the burnside bridge just before we get so this is it this is the original bridge uh original road these guys are also guarding this road this is an artillery position that's guarding this road you might say why i mean the confederates are over there the confederates on the other side of the antenna creek why guard this road well one of the things that's so underappreciated about a strategic understanding of antietam what is the most i'm going to pose a question pose a question what is the most direct route from harper's ferry to sharpsburg and if your response is the harpers ferry road gold star gary you got to make sure that whoever's at harvard straight road you give them give them a free membership right here it is free membership plus 500 bucks for anyone who got that right that is as long as you can guess also my great grandfather's middle names weird spelling [Laughter] why why so many qualifiers just give them a free membership look when he was head of the uh of the predecessor to american battlefield trust i don't think he was giving away membership so easy and so and so the birdside bridge road connects potentially with roads that bring you from harper's ferry and the most direct route from harpers ferry to sharksburg harpers ferry road mcclellan knows this and you know who's at harpers ferry thousands of confederates almost 30 000 confederates are there under stonewall jackson mcclellan knows that harper's ferry is capitulated the garrison's given up so where are those 30 000 people going well mcclellan surmises remember he was number two in his class at west point so he's extremely intelligent he can figure this out just with good common sense if there's 30 000 rebels under jackson and harper's ferry and lee's here at sharksburg in front of mcclellan jackson's on his way and the most direct route was not through what is today west virginia and not to cross the potomac river near shepherdstown but the most direct route is to come across a pond hoon bridge which mcclellan knows is still standing at harpers ferry and take the harpers ferry road north which means the mcclellan's southern flank where burnside is is his most vulnerable flank on the battlefield to reinforcing confederates coming up from harper's fair and this is an access point right here into mcclellan's underbelly so one of burnside's principal jobs was not to take that bridge that wasn't in the cards initially his principal job he's looking south he's looking towards harpers ferry he's guarding the roads from the south that seemed to be the most direct approach that the rebels possibly would use to get up here quickly to join lee and that's that's so undervalued and understated as part of the overall strategic concept of this campaign so this artillery's got a big mission when the day of the battle they're looking across the creek because that's where the confederates are and that's where they're coming but before the battle mcclellan doesn't know what avenue what route they're going to take and this artillery and burnside with his infantry is in position here right here to block any confederates coming from south to north and protect mcclellan's southern flank see i think that's a great point here dennis and by the way you're with the american battlefield trust if some of this doesn't make sense look at the maps we have at battlefields.org watch our antietam animated map which will help to lay out some of the campaign movements all of us study this stuff because we after we know the end but to be a great historian to really understand you've got to look at it through their perspective and that can help answer questions like why these guys were here now dennis i think you're leaving us hanging a little bit you said you're obviously a fan of mules mules think they're smarter but this is the jackass battery so what's going on here we're gonna get that name exactly it is the jackass battery no mule is insulted by the word jackass that's a compliment ask a mule will tell you that's a compliment so going through the mountains of west virginia these guys got used to it they took jackasses with them they're going through the mountains far superior to horsemen yeah and these are some of these are very experienced men this is a very experienced uh battery here much of the ninth core is very very experienced troops unlike a lot of other men on the battlefield uh the ninth corps are veteran troops under a veteran commander uh burnside and in fact the immediate commander of the ninth corps had been fighting in western virginia uh jacob dolson cox and so uh these these fellows here this terrain's nothing compared to what they were what they were finding and fighting over in western virginia but uh yeah they're up here on the hill and boy they did a great job of not only pounding confederates but making sure the rebels aren't coming in from the south well then two last things before we close one if the ninth core is filled with experienced soldiers let's make sure that if you have any inexperienced soldiers maybe from connecticut that you put them on the extreme left where you're most vulnerable right when you're 400 steps from victory and then two if we've been to the northernmost the easternmost and now the southernmost monument not marker you know not tablet but monument on the battlefield where's the westernmost one we'll give you a hint we've already visited it and you probably already know about it uh feel free to just pipe in and say i've been there and if you can't resist say which one it is anything else to add dennis well this place here there's no parking um it's it's hard to find it's not on any battlefield tour map um it's really obscure it's it's perhaps the most obscure monument on the antietam battlefield itself in fact this is private property the monument itself is owned by the government maintained by the government but all the property around it is private and so to find this place you have to go south of sharpsburg via the burnside bridge road and the first pull-off you see along the creek and you'll see it it's very evident that's where you must park and then you need to walk about 300 yards to get up on this high ground if you do so safety first safety first make sure you walk on the left side of the road you're facing traffic single file please i'm sorry to be so pedestrian about this and still elementary but this is a very heavily traveled road people aren't expecting to see tourists and there's a hill here that blinds the driver from you so if you decide to come try to find the jackass monument and it's a good idea to try to do that because you'll come someplace where almost no one has just be sure you think safety first and just remember that the american battlefield trust and its partners cannot be held liable for any of your actions if you choose to come up this way dennis thanks again for taking us to yet another obscure place that there's no doubt i would have never stopped at were it not for you and we hope you enjoy some of these views of obscure antietam see some of the more famous stuff at our antietam 158 157 and 156 coverage and we'll be back with another video uh before long to show you more of unknown antietam thank you for watching and go thank a jackass you

Channel: American Battlefield Trust

Views: 4,474

Rating: 4.9820628 out of 5

Keywords: American Battlefield Trust, Civil War Trust, antietam video tour, antietam battlefield tour, 159th anniversary of antietam, unknown antietam, unknown civil war

Id: kpJWnlclaVQ

Length: 11min 42sec (702 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021