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ANTIETAM National Battlefield · Maryland
ANTIETAM National Battlefield · Maryland
by Frederick Tilberg NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 31 Washington, D.C. · 1960 (Revised 1961) Reprint with minor corrections 1980 The National Park System, of which Antietam National Battlefield Site is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration of its people. Focal point of the early morning attacks, the Dunker Church and some who defended it. From photograph attributed to James Gard
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Across the Potomac
Across the Potomac
On September 4-7, 1862, a ragged host of nearly 55,000 men in butternut and gray splashed across the Potomac River at White’s Ford near Leesburg, Va. This was Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia embarked on the Confederacy’s first invasion of the North. Though thousands of Lee’s men were shoeless, though they lacked ammunition and supplies, though they were fatigued from the marching and fighting just before the historic crossing into Maryland, they felt invincible. Only a week before
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McClellan in Command
McClellan in Command
On that same September 7, another army assembled at Rockville, Md., just northwest of Washington. Soon to be nearly 90,000 strong, this was Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. Its goal: To stay between Lee’s army and Washington, to seek out the Confederate force, and, as President Abraham Lincoln hoped, to destroy it. Hastily thrown together to meet the challenge of Lee’s invasion, this Union army was a conglomerate of all the forces in the Washington vicinity. Some of its men w
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Lee Divides His Forces
Lee Divides His Forces
Maryland was a disappointment to Lee. On September 8, he had issued a dignified proclamation inviting the men of that State to join his command and help restore Maryland to her rightful place among the Southern States. His words concluded with assurance that the Marylanders could make their choice with no fear of intimidation from the victorious Confederate army in their midst. First Virginia Cavalry at a halt during invasion of Maryland. From wartime sketch by Waud. Courtesy, Library of Congres
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The Lost Order
The Lost Order
Lee’s army departed Frederick on September 10. Two days later leading elements of McClellan’s army entered that city. On September 13, came McClellan himself with his usual cavalcade of staff officers. That same afternoon a copy of Lee’s Special Order 191 was discovered in the encampment grounds previously used by the Confederate army. Quickly it was passed to McClellan. The handwriting was recognized as that of Col. R. H. Chilton, Lee’s assistant adjutant general; the document’s authenticity co
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Fighting for Time at South Mountain
Fighting for Time at South Mountain
By September 12, Lee had begun to worry. Stuart’s scouts had reported the Federal approach to Frederick. McClellan was moving too fast. Next evening things looked worse. Jackson had not yet captured Harpers Ferry, and already McClellan’s forward troops were pushing Stuart back toward the South Mountain gaps. Delay at Harpers Ferry made these passes through South Mountain the key to the situation. They must be defended. The Battle of South Mountain. From lithograph by Endicott. Courtesy, Library
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Harpers Ferry Surrenders
Harpers Ferry Surrenders
The village of Harpers Ferry lies at the gateway cut through the mountains by the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, whose waters join there. Situated at the apex of the triangle of land between the rivers, the town is completely dominated by Loudoun and Maryland Heights. By nightfall of September 14, McLaws and Walker had artillery on these heights ready for plunging fire into the town; Jackson had stretched his lines across the base of the triangle between the rivers. Caught in this trap were near
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Lee Takes a Stand on Sharpsburg Ridge
Lee Takes a Stand on Sharpsburg Ridge
Lee’s decision to make his stand on the low ridge extending north and south of Sharpsburg might well have led to disaster for the Confederate army. A large part of his force was still scattered and several miles away. Backed against the coils of the Potomac River, with only the ford near Shepherdstown offering an avenue of withdrawal, a reversal in battle could result in rout and consequent loss of thousands of men and scores of guns. Longstreet voiced disapproval of battle at Sharpsburg. Jackso
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McClellan Concentrates at the Antietam
McClellan Concentrates at the Antietam
Against this pretense of power, General McClellan marched cautiously on the forenoon of the 15th, over good roads and in fine weather. By noon, he arrived at the Confederate front with a force of nearly 75,000 men. McClellan hesitated, and the day wore away. As the early morning fog of the 16th cleared, Lee’s artillerists caught sight of Federal guns on the high bank beyond Antietam Creek. The thunder of a prolonged duel between Lee’s guns and Brig. Gen. Henry Hunt’s powerful Federal batteries s
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The Lines Are Poised for Action
The Lines Are Poised for Action
At 2 p.m. on the 16th, Hooker marched from his camp near Keedysville, crossed the Upper Bridge, and late in the afternoon reached the Hagerstown Pike. Under cover of the North Woods, his divisions formed for the attack on both sides of the pike. A massed force of more than 12,000 men was ready to advance on the Confederates. Union artillery in battery line. From 1863 photograph. Courtesy, Library of Congress. Lee’s thin line, 3 miles long, had been reinforced early on the 16th by the arrival of
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Hooker Strikes at Daybreak
Hooker Strikes at Daybreak
A drizzling rain fell during the night. The morning of the 17th broke gray and misty, but the skies cleared early. As rays of light outlined the fringe of trees about the Dunker Church, restless Federal skirmishers opened fire. A line of rifle fire flashed from the southern muskets far out in front of the church. Soon, powerful Federal guns on the bluffs beyond Antietam Creek poured a raking fire of shot and shell into the Confederate lines. The first stage of McClellan’s plan of crushing Lee—fo
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Mansfield Renews the Attack
Mansfield Renews the Attack
As the remnants of Hooker’s command sought shelter under the cover of powerful Federal batteries in front of East Woods, a new threat faced the Confederates. Mansfield’s XII Corps, which had encamped more than a mile to the rear of Hooker during the night, had marched at the sound of Hooker’s opening guns. At 7:30 a.m., almost an hour and a half later, Mansfield’s force was approaching from the north in heavy columns. Seeing Hooker’s plight, Mansfield now rushed to the forefront of his men, urgi
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Jackson Prepares an Ambush
Jackson Prepares an Ambush
By 9 a.m., 3 hours of killing had passed. The Miller cornfield had become a no-mans’ land, its tall stalks trampled to the ground and strewn with blood-soaked corpses. Firing had been so intense, had so fouled the men’s muskets, that some of them were using rocks to pound their ramrods home. For a moment, the fighting ceased. Then powerful reserves were rushed forward by commanders of both armies to renew the battle. Jackson was in extreme danger. Greene’s Federals still lurked near the Dunker C
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The Fight for the Sunken Road
The Fight for the Sunken Road
Sedgwick may have wondered, in the moments before the Confederate onslaught in the West Woods, why General French was not closely following him. Nor is it clear, in view of French’s instructions, why he did not do so. French’s troops had crossed Pry’s Mill Ford in Sedgwick’s wake. After marching about a mile west, they had veered south toward the Roulette farmhouse, possibly drawn that way by the fire of enemy skirmishers. Continuing to advance, they became engaged with Confederate infantry at t
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Burnside Takes the Lower Bridge
Burnside Takes the Lower Bridge
During the morning of the 17th, Confederate observers on the ridge north of Sharpsburg had spotted masses of Federals moving southward beyond Antietam Creek. These were the four divisions of Burnside’s IX Corps concentrating for the attack on the Lower Bridge. Topography at the Lower Bridge heavily favored the few hundred Georgia men who defended it under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Robert Toombs. The road approaching the east end of the bridge swings on a course paralleling that of Antietam Cr
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A. P. Hill Turns the Tide
A. P. Hill Turns the Tide
But now came a great moment in Confederate military annals. A. P. Hill’s notable Light Division, having hurriedly crossed the Potomac, 3 miles away, was driving hard toward the jubilant Federals charging on Sharpsburg. Some of Hill’s artillery had already arrived from Harpers Ferry with the cheering news that Hill’s brigades of infantry were close by. At Lee’s urgent order, Hill had left Harpers Ferry early. Sensing the critical role they would play, urged on at sword point by their grim command
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Retreat from Sharpsburg
Retreat from Sharpsburg
Seldom had Lee’s army fought a battle so strenuous and so long. “The sun,” a soldier wrote, “seemed almost to go backwards, and it appeared as if night would never come.” From dawn to sunset, the Confederate commander had thrown into battle every organized unit north of the Potomac. Straggling in the days preceding Antietam had reduced Lee’s army from 55,000 to 41,000 men. This small force had sustained five major attacks by McClellan’s 87,000-man army—three in the West Woods and the Miller corn
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The Battle and the Campaign
The Battle and the Campaign
Tactically, Antietam was a draw. Strategically, however, it was a Northern victory because it halted Lee’s invasion. Though McClellan failed to destroy Lee’s army, his contribution was in many ways notable. In the 3 weeks after he was chosen for command on September 3, he provided for Washington’s defense, created a new field army, fought two major actions, compelled Lee’s evacuation of Maryland, and established Federal control of the Potomac River from Washington to Williamsport. That he was no
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The War for the Union Takes on a New Purpose
The War for the Union Takes on a New Purpose
After Antietam there was no serious threat of foreign recognition or intervention on behalf of the Confederacy. And the repulse inflicted on Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia gave Abraham Lincoln the opportunity he had sought: On September 22—just 5 days after the battle—the President issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It declared that upon the first day of January next all slaves within any State or district then in rebellion against the United States “... shall be then, thenceforw
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Clara Barton at Antietam
Clara Barton at Antietam
At Antietam, also, was Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. On this field of desolation, long after the guns had ceased, Miss Barton was still busily rendering care to the wounded and dying. Having arrived early in the day in the northern area of battle, she witnessed the wounded men of Sedgwick’s depleted ranks streaming to the cover of North and East Woods. By midmorning her wagonload of supplies, donated by the citizens of Washington, had arrived. She worked tirelessly with army s
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Antietam National Battlefield and Cemetery
Antietam National Battlefield and Cemetery
The Antietam National Battlefield was established August 30, 1890, to commemorate the significant events of September 17, 1862, and to preserve the important features of the battlefield. Administered by the War Department until 1933, the site was transferred that year to the U.S. Department of the Interior to be administered by the National Park Service. Clara Barton. Courtesy, Library of Congress. Citizen volunteers assisting the wounded at Antietam. From wartime sketch by Waud. Courtesy, Libra
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Administration
Administration
The Antietam National Battlefield is a part of the National Park System, owned by the people of the United States and administered for them by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Communications should be addressed to the Superintendent, Antietam National Battlefield, P.O. Box 158, Sharpsburg, Maryland 21782....
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Suggested Readings
Suggested Readings
Bradford, Ned , editor, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War . Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1956. These selections from the original four volume 1887-88 edition are excellent for on-the-spot impressions of participants. Should be used with caution concerning historical accuracy. Catton, Bruce , Mr. Lincoln’s Army . Doubleday & Company, Garden City, 1951. Popular well-written interpretive study with colorful battle accounts. Descriptions of camplife are very good. Commager, Henry S.
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APPENDIX The Emancipation Proclamation
APPENDIX The Emancipation Proclamation
On August 22, 1862, just one month before Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, he wrote a letter to Horace Greeley, abolitionist editor of the New York Tribune. The letter read in part: I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be “the Union as it was.” If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save Slavery, I do
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Antietam National Battlefield Maryland National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior
Antietam National Battlefield Maryland National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior
The Federal attack across Burnside Bridge, as portrayed (somewhat fancifully) in a postwar chromolithograph by Kurz & Allison. Library of Congress...
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The Bloodiest Day of the Civil War
The Bloodiest Day of the Civil War
The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) on September 17, 1862, climaxed the first of Confederate Gen. 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 Gen. George B. McClellan. And when the fighting ended, the course of the American Civil War had been greatly altered. After his great victory at Manassas in August, Lee had marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, hoping to find vi
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About Your Visit
About Your Visit
Antietam National Battlefield lies north and east of Sharpsburg, along Md. 34 and 65. Both routes intersect either U.S. 40 or 40A and Int. 70. The visitor center is north of Sharpsburg on Md. 65 and is open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day. All visitor center facilities and most tour route exhibits are wheelchair accessible. There are interpretive markers at Turner’s, Fox’s, and Crampton’s Gaps on South Mountain (scenes of preliminary fighting) and at the Shepherdstown (W.
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Touring Antietam Battlefield
Touring Antietam Battlefield
Before starting your tour, stop at the visitor center where exhibits and audio-visual programs provide an introduction to the battle and the Maryland Campaign. The numbered tour stops below are arranged according to the sequence of the battle. Morning Phase (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) 1 Dunker Church This was the focal point of repeated clashes as both armies sought to occupy and hold the high ground around it. Leveled by a storm in 1921, the church was rebuilt in 1962. 2 North Woods General Hooker launc
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