Credits. The brigade was helpless when Colonel Richard Coulter’s 3rd Brigade came storming out of the corn stubble, too late to help Duryea, but determined to sweep the field of Rebels. Major General Joseph K.F. The regiment’s casualties were fast approaching 50 percent as the Texans rose up and fired, point-blank, into the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves. 87,164 Union troops (led by McClellan) face off against 38,000 Confederates (led by Lee). Pressed by forced marches and heavy fighting the past few days, the division had long since eaten up all their victuals and were now about as hungry as heavily armed men could get. Repeated Union attacks and equally vicious Confederate counterattacks swept back and forth … Lawton’s and Jones’ skirmish line opened on the cannoneers with galling and accurate musket fire that dropped horses and men with fearful rapidity. In the meantime, Colquitt’s infantry was fully engaged. But just then momentum shifts. (Brief bio on Hooker). Work could see that his supports were under attack and withdrawing and that if he was going to get out at all it would have to be now. The cornstalks were turning from green to brown, ready to be harvested, 30 acres of corn fodder for Miller’s cattle, perhaps a cash crop that would provide a few of the essentials for his family. The bravest gathered up wounded messmates and fallen battle flags and returned fire as best they could. Now it was Lee who was caught short. The fighting in the southwest corner of the cornfield became desperate. September 17, 1862---The Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) SEPTEMBER 17, 1862: ... the Yankees were pushed back from the Dunker Church and back into The Cornfield which became a killing ground again. But Duryea’s brigade was already used up. Men laughed and giggled, screamed and cried. Fog shrouded the field the next morning, and artillerists on both sides had to wait until the rising sun had burnt off enough fog to permit sighting. All that mattered now was the regiment and its colors. The combatants, Americans all, would fight and die en masse. The field of honor had become a sacrificial slaughter pen, with the cornfield as its gory hub. Gen. John Bell Hood’s division were elated; they had been given permission to withdraw to the West Woods and cook rations. Above Dunker Church all that was left of Jackson’s line was a remnant of the old, trusted Stonewall Brigade, under the watchful eye of ‘Old Jack’ himself. Battle of Antietam Creek (Confederate title) or Sharpsburg (Northern title) September 17, 1862 Battle Of The Cornfield: 0530-1000 The battle of the cornfield lasted from approximately 0530 to 1000 hours. The cornfield was a fairly small area of 400 yards wide by 250 deep. While Mansfield slowly maneuvered the corps toward the front, General D.H. Hill, commanding the Confederate center, led Brig. Still, the two Federal batteries threw back the Rebel skirmish line, leaving mangled corpses and wounded scattered throughout the cornfield. The battle would be joined in the morning. The fighting went back and forth across the cornfield. After leading Ripley’s brigade into the cornfield, D.H. Hill returned to the Mumma Farm Lane and ordered Colonel Alfred Colquitt’s brigade into the battle. On Gibbon’s left, Duryea’s brigade debouched from the North Woods nearly at the same time, moving across the clover field purposefully, taking incoming shells and musketry, but still advancing. Dawes’ charge cleared the Texans, who had advanced to within 45 feet of the Union guns, and he ordered several to stay and help the artillerists while the 6th moved on toward the pike. Gen. George Meade’s Pennsylvania Reserves fought particularly hard on the Union right and center. Federal Identification Number (EIN): 54-1426643. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by Historynet LLC, the world's largest publisher of history magazines. At 6 a.m. on the morning of September 17, 1862, Hooker’s division emerged from the woods and began marching across a wide cornfield. This article was written by Robert C. Cheeks and originally appeared in the September 1998 issue of America’s Civil War. They fell there by the score, and within a short time their position became untenable and they withdrew into the West Woods. Ripley’s left opened first, driving the remnant of the 19th Indiana northward along Hagerstown Pike and killing the regiment’s commander, Lt. Col. Alois Bachman. More Americans (22,000) fell in combat that day, most before noon, in what remains the bloodiest single day in the United States’ military history. The 46th Pennsylvania and 28th New York debouched from the East Woods just above the fighting and poured into Miller’s field, while the 128th Pennsylvania, yet another green regiment, came up on the right. Gen. James B. Rickett’s 2nd Division followed the 1st Brigade, commanded by Brig. The Cornfield. The action on September 17, 1862, played out like three separate battles, with major action happening in distinct areas at different parts of the day. At the same time, Ripley got his entire brigade into line of battle after they’d moved north of Smoketown Road. The entire color guard was shot down, while all along their line Rebel artillery walked salvos of case shot. While this looked propitious to McClellan and his staff as they watched through binoculars from the Pry House across the creek, the fact remained that the Federal position within the salient had not been solidified, and four Confederate brigades were still putting up a stiff resistance. It was the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, with 3,650 dead and more than 19,000 wounded , missing or captured. McClellan did not disappoint him. The hard-hit Rebels broke and ran the Union gauntlet toward sanctuary in the West Woods. In permitting Hood’s withdrawal from the line during the night, Jackson had secured a promise from the brigadier that his command would come without delay when summoned. The charge swept northwesterly across the cornfield, picking up speed and ferocity as soldiers were cut down by ball and shell. Gen. George Gordon’s 3rd Brigade toward the North Woods. Start studying The Battle of Antietam: September 1862. Gen. George S. Greene’s 2nd Division. At great sacrifice, Doubleday’s 1st Division had punched a salient in Jackson’s line, its epicenter in the southwest corner of the cornfield. Brig. Pelham’s guns on Nicodemus Hill could take any massed infantry moving south out of the North Woods in a murderous flanking fire. The matter became a question solely of survival, and the Southerners broke into small groups and ran the gauntlet in much the same manner as their fellow Confederates had done earlier. Miller's Cornfield (usually referred to as 'the Cornfield'), is a section of the Antietam battlefield of the American Civil War.. The two Rebel brigades quickly deteriorated, struck from three sides by musketry and artillery, and the order to withdraw was quickly given and carried out. His boys would pay dearly for their general’s indecisiveness. The Ohioans prevailed, driving the Georgians out of the East Woods and into the eastern portion of the cornfield. Across the creek, the commander of the Federal Army rode about on his horse, Dan Webster, taking the salutes of his admiring infantry and superbly equipped artillery. The single, bloodiest day in … Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, thinly spread across south-central Maryland and northeastern Virginia, faced the very real threat of being beaten in detail. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms As Union soldiers stepped out of the Cornfield at dawn, September 17, 1862, Confederate troops unleashed a horrific volley. Hill’s famed ‘Light Division’ had been assigned the responsibility of paroling Federal prisoners taken at Harpers Ferry and shipping captured war materiel south. It would be the first time in nearly three days that the case-hardened soldiers would have the opportunity to eat a warm meal. The 12th Massachusetts, which had fought bravely, took a staggering 67 percent casualties in less than 30 minutes. Lee’s ranks had been thinned by casualties, sickness and large-scale desertions, but he had the advantage of position. The pungent smell of trampled vegetation, sweat, powder and bodies imposed a surrealistic perception that survivors carried with them the rest of their lives. (‘Jeb’) Stuart placed Brig. Jackson’s men held a rise on which stood a white-washed Dunker Church. He’d selected an excellent defensive field in which to fight. It explains what happened in Antietam’s Cornfield and why. Now they too were low on ammunition and forced to scour the cartridge pouches of the dead and wounded. It was a hard march that left stragglers all the way from Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg–even Stonewall referred to it as’severe.’. It was originally submitted on February 21, 2008, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. His heavy 20-pound Parrott rifles were sending case shot across the creek, feeling out the enemy. One of the casualties was Colonel Henry Strong, commanding the 6th Louisiana, who was killed while mounted on his beautiful horse. Across Hagerstown Pike, Jackson sat on his horse in perfect Christian peace as bullets and shell fragments whizzed and whined about him. it [the brigade] commenced to break and a general panic ensued.’. The gray lines were swept with heavy musket and cannon fire. The 7th and 66th Ohio advanced with the 5th as Colquitt’s line passed across their front. On the 128th’s left, among the trees and bushes of the East Woods, the 10th Maine was making headway. On the left, the Union Corps under Joseph Hooker attacked Jackson’s corps who were hidden behind a cornfield. The rout could not be halted. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. For those soldier participants in the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, the September 17, 1862, fighting that engulfed the Antietam Valley was likely one of those days they never forgot, for better or worse. The beginning of the Battle of Antietam, in the early morning, consisted of a stunningly violent clash in a cornfield. Soldiers in the thick of the fight were covered with the black, greasy stain of burnt powder, which gave a deadly, ghostlike appearance to the participants. Throughout the night, the sudden flash of musketry or the roar of cannon deprived everyone of a decent night’s rest. East of the Hagerstown Pike, Brig. The Majority of our funds go directly to Preservation and Education. Lieutenant Colonel Bragg was hit by musketry and severely wounded. 22,717 men killed, wounded or captured in twelve hours of fighting on September 17, 1862. Nisbet’s plan was to fire and fall back, drawing the 10th into an ambush. A Union infantryman commandeered the colonel’s gloves, and following the battle Alexander Gardner, famed Civil War photographer, captured the colonel’s dead horse for posterity. The regiment never faltered, however, closing ranks and continuing forward. Meade got his remaining two brigades, Colonel Thomas Gallagher’s 3rd and Colonel Albert Magilton’s 2nd, in line and pushed them straight for the 1st Texas. With Law’s retreat the cornfield was ceded to the I Corps. This represented 25% of the Federal force and 31% of the Confederate. On his left, Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, moving parallel with the Hagerstown Pike. First Division commander Abner Doubleday ordered Brig. All sense of time was lost, and even the desire for survival was set aside. Hood’s 2,300 men swarmed into the field north of their position at Dunker Church. Immediately in the rear, Brig. (The Dunkers were a pacifist German sect, so named because they baptized adults by immersion.) It seemed doubtful the division would be able to make it up the following day. Just after midnight it began to rain, a drizzle at first, then a cloudburst that drenched both armies and made everyone miserable. On September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, was fought. On the left flank, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Lee’s guns at Dunker Church would be able to strike them head-on, and both positions would easily be able to bracket any troops within the area of the cornfield. The Rebels challenging Beal’s 10th Maine were from the 21st Georgia, commanded by Captain James Nisbet. Just as the 128th broke through the tree line of the East Woods, the 4th Alabama poured a devastating fire into their ranks, killing their colonel and second-in-command. . Few names are as synonymous with Civil War battlefields as The Bloody Cornfield. Antietam - Cornfield - September 17, 1862 - 8:00-8:30am (November 2019), BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust's map of the Battle of Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust’s map of the Battle of Antietam (West Woods), Maryland on September 17, 1862, BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust’s map of the Battle of Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust's map of the 1862 Maryland Campaign, Antietam - Cornfield - September 17, 1862 - 8:00-8:30am (October 2019), Help Save 110 Acres at Three Civil War Battlefields, Preserve 108 Acres of the Most Important Unprotected Battlefield Land, Kentuckians: Support Battlefield Preservation Legislation, Virginians: Support Battlefield Preservation Legislation, American Battlefield Trust's Map Reprint Permission Policy, Antietam - The Final Assault - September 17, 1862 - 3pm to Dark, Antietam - The West Woods - September 17, 1862 - 9am to 11:30am, Antietam - Sunken Road - September 17, 1862 - 9am to 12pm, Antietam - Fight for the Cornfield - 6:00am to 7:00am, Antietam - Fight for the Cornfield - 7:00 to 7:40am. Jackson’s left and center were in imminent danger of collapse. Stonewall Jackson faced the foe with only Hood’s division as reserve. In its 20-minute journey through the cornfield, the brigade had lost nearly 300 men. At dawn on September 17, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee’s left flank from the Joseph Poffenberger farm near the North Woods. Gen. George Meade’s 3rd Division stood ready to support the advance. Casualties are 12,410 and 10,316 respectively. This page was last revised on December 7, 2017. Crawford’s six regiments pressed toward the East Woods. The ubiquitous Joe Hooker came riding up and shouted to Colonel George Beal, commanding the 10th, that they must hold the woods at all costs. But Hood had given his word to Jackson to bring up the command as soon as the request was made and now Jackson was calling. The 2nd Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Zouaves d’Afrique, posted at the Miller Farm, now formed a line just south of Miller’s backyard and went on the double-quick into the smoke-filled cornfield. Regimental color companies with their prized battle flags took the lead, while taut-faced infantrymen with their kepis and slouch hats pushed hard against their heads, marched deliberately across Mr. Miller’s clover field toward the cornfield and their destiny.

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