Gen. John Bell Hood’s division were elated; they had been given permission to withdraw to the West Woods and cook rations. Prelude to the Bloody Battle in the Cornfield It was dark and wet very early on the morning of September 17, 1862, when my distant cousin Lt. Robert Gaston, 1,2 formed his troops near the Dunker church along the Sharpsburg Pike (Hagerstown Road) near Sharpsburg, Maryland. But just then momentum shifts. 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 Ohioans and Georgians piled into each other so swiftly and furiously that after firing off a round they grappled with muskets, knives and fists. Stonewall Jackson faced the foe with only Hood’s division as reserve. Phelp’s 1st Brigade moved up in close support of Gibbon as the Iron Brigade wheeled through the bloodstained cornfield parallel with Hagerstown Pike and swept the brave remnant of Jones’ and Grigsby’s Confederates with a deadly fire. It seemed doubtful the division would be able to make it up the following day. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 5,000 articles originally published in our various magazines. The 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana led the assault, supported by the 35th and 21st New York. Crawford’s six regiments pressed toward the East Woods. 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. The bravest gathered up wounded messmates and fallen battle flags and returned fire as best they could. Major General A.P. Nearly out of ammunition, Work tried to get permission from Hood to withdraw, but couldn’t reach him. Miller's Cornfield (usually referred to as 'the Cornfield'), is a section of the Antietam battlefield of the American Civil War.. Works’ 1st Texas over to the left to support Hampton’s Legion. At the same time, Ripley got his entire brigade into line of battle after they’d moved north of Smoketown Road. In its 20-minute journey through the cornfield, the brigade had lost nearly 300 men. Neither slackers nor deserters, these were the sick and starving who had been unable to keep up with the swift-marching columns. Duryea’s three regiments made for the cornfield’s southern edge, wavering with each incoming volley fired into them by the Rebels. Hays’ men plowed through the cornfield and fired an enfilading volley into the thinning ranks of the 2nd and 6th Wisconsin. On Law’s left and rear, Colonel William T. Wofford’s renowned Texas Brigade came on with two regiments, picking off fleeing Yankees while the 18th Georgia, 1st Texas and Hampton’s Legion charged due north, firing into the enemy as they came. Jackson’s left and center were in imminent danger of collapse. Few names are as synonymous with Civil War battlefields as The Bloody Cornfield. The 10th Maine, a veteran outfit, held the lead, and though still in column was returning fire on Rebel skirmishers busily harassing their every step. 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. On his left, Brig. Gen. Jubal Early to move his brigade in support of the artillery. In the meantime, Colquitt’s infantry was fully engaged. The two Rebel brigades on their right opened a deadly enfilade fire that swept the ranks of Bragg’s exposed troopers. To the west, John Gibbons iron brigade fares better, marching through and around the cornfield, they enter the west woods, where they withstand vicious Confederate counterattacks. Pelham’s guns on Nicodemus Hill could take any massed infantry moving south out of the North Woods in a murderous flanking fire. The Ohioans prevailed, driving the Georgians out of the East Woods and into the eastern portion of the cornfield. On September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, was fought. Smoke from the artillery and musketry inundated the field. Your tax-deductible gift will help us to preserve this irreplaceable twice-hallowed ground at Gaines' Mill and Cold Harbor — forever. The fighting went back and forth across the cornfield. Divisions of the American Battlefield Trust: The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Antietam – September 1862 Sunrises through gun smoke in the Cornfield at Antietam, Sharpsburg, Md. 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. The pockets and cartridge pouches of the dead and wounded were ransacked, and soldiers handed muskets to those with better shots at the enemy. Two regiments, the 1st and 3rd North Carolina, remained intact, supporting Colquitt and allowing him time to prepare the charge. Immediately, Beal disobeyed Mansfield’s order to stay in column and ordered the command to advance by ‘regimental front.’. On the left flank, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. First Division commander Abner Doubleday ordered Brig. The colonel got his lines dressed under a murderous crossfire and ordered the command forward. The regiment’s casualties were fast approaching 50 percent as the Texans rose up and fired, point-blank, into the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves. On Sunday night, September 14, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee issued orders for his much scattered commands to rally at Sharpsburg, Maryland. His heavy 20-pound Parrott rifles were sending case shot across the creek, feeling out the enemy. Mansfield had officially taken over command of the Union XII Corps two days earlier. This article was written by Robert C. Cheeks and originally appeared in the September 1998 issue of America’s Civil War. Command of the 6th Wisconsin devolved on Major Rufus Dawes, a native of Marietta, Ohio, and a fighting officer if ever there was one. American Battlefield Trust's map of the Battle of Antietam - Fight for the Cornfield At dawn on September 17, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps mounted a powerful assault on Robert E. Lee’s left flank from the Joseph Poffenberger farm near the North Woods, initiating the Battle of Antietam. Gen. George S. Greene’s 2nd Division. The beginning of the Battle of Antietam, in the early morning, consisted of a stunningly violent clash in a cornfield. A few hundred yards southwest, someone retrieved the four Federal regiments that 30 minutes earlier had sallied into the West Woods, and directed them toward the left flank. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to America’s Civil War magazine today! Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The corps, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Bank’s old command, had suffered mightily at the hands of Jackson a few months earlier in the Shenandoah Valley, and its losses had been made up with green regiments, some with only 30 days training, and most from Pennsylvania. Gen. William E. Starke. 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. Brigadier General Alpheus Williams’ 1st Division led the advance, followed by Brig. Hays’ Louisiana Brigade had done its usual ferocious fighting in support of Lawton, but their right-wheel maneuver had exposed their right flank and the fighting had depleted their ammunition pouches. While the Cornfield became a bloody stalemate, a Union advances a few hundred yards to the west was more successful. Now it was Lee who was caught short. Both Jackson and Hooker had one brigade left that hadn’t been heavily used–beyond that the flower of their commands lay strewn among the blood-splattered corn stubble, the fields north and south of the cornfield, the Hagerstown Pike and the East Woods. Gen. John Walker began to arrive, taking up the Confederate line on the left along the Hagerstown Pike near Dunker Church, north of town, then sweeping southeasterly to a worn farm lane on the Mumma property a mile away. Across Hagerstown Pike, Jackson sat on his horse in perfect Christian peace as bullets and shell fragments whizzed and whined about him. (Brief bio on Hooker). 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. The assault of the two Confederate brigades petered out under a hail of shot and ball on the west side of the pike, where the infantrymen formed behind the fence bordering the road. Gen. John R. Jones’ soldiers took up the line sweeping across the cornfield and Hagerstown Pike into the northern tip of the West Woods. Gen. Roswell Ripley’s brigade into the void created by the withdrawl of Hood’s decimated division. However, the men of Brig. 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. At great sacrifice, Doubleday’s 1st Division had punched a salient in Jackson’s line, its epicenter in the southwest corner of the cornfield. He gave the order just as the 9th, 11th and 12th Pennsylvania Reserves fired a volley into his decimated line. Every purchase supports the mission. Works soon lost control of the 1st Texas as the men outraced the line and charged straight for Anderson’s position. During the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam, casualties piled almost too high to count. The regimental colors were brought up, the line eagerly formed, and the men sent forward on the double-quick. As the movement was being made, Patrick picked up the 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana, adding weight to the assault. The field of honor had become a sacrificial slaughter pen, with the cornfield as its gory hub. On the morning of Tuesday, September 16, McClellan had nearly 60,000 soldiers facing Lee’s 15,000. A fight that I’ll hardly ever forget was my venture into the infamous Cornfield at Antietam with the 4th Texas Infantry (yes, I was a Confederate, but only once). Meyer Amschel Rothschild, banker and founder of the Rothschild dynasty in Europe. The command had given all that they had–of the 858 effectives in the Texas Brigade, 472 would be listed as casualties in what may well have been the grandest charge of the entire war. The pungent smell of trampled vegetation, sweat, powder and bodies imposed a surrealistic perception that survivors carried with them the rest of their lives. He’d selected an excellent defensive field in which to fight. East of the Hagerstown Pike, Brig. The cornfield was a fairly small area of 400 yards wide by 250 deep. Meanwhile, the 4th Alabama shot off its last rounds and made for the safety of the West Woods, while the 6th North Carolina moved into position to the left of the 21st Georgia, still contesting the Federal advance. 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. The fighting became frenzied, neither side knowing when the enemy might suddenly appear out of the fog. The Union soldiers moved forward, heads bent against the torrent of shells and musketry being poured into them, their regimental flags being shot to pieces and friends and messmates knocked down with every step. McRae reported that ‘this produced great confusion. Ripley’s assault struck Meade’s Pennsylvanians and initially drove them back. Law sent his videttes well to the north and east, keeping a close eye on the Upper Bridge. On the east side of the cornfield the two Union brigades were in full retreat. On Dawes’ left, Duryea’s brigade was pulling back from the fence along Smoketown Road through the cornfield–Gibbon’s flank was in the air. The 2nd and 6th Regiments of Wisconsin were at the front of the Iron Brigade. Men laughed and giggled, screamed and cried. As Longstreet ordered a vigorous response– more for bluff than effect–Lee realized his one chance for salvation lay with McClellan’s reverting to his old, timid behavior. The rear ranks carried their rifles over their shoulders to prevent injuring those in front. Just after midnight it began to rain, a drizzle at first, then a cloudburst that drenched both armies and made everyone miserable. On the northwest corner of the cornfield, the 1st Texas lay dying. Fighting with an open front, advancing a few feet at a time, the New Englanders were having some success shoving the three Confederate regiments out of the woods. The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point tells for the first time the full story of the exciting struggle to control “the Cornfield,” the action on which the costly battle of Antietam turned, in a thorough yet readable narrative. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. Throughout the night, the sudden flash of musketry or the roar of cannon deprived everyone of a decent night’s rest. 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. Gen. James B. Rickett’s 2nd Division followed the 1st Brigade, commanded by Brig. Confederates, individually and in groups, crept through the bloodstained stubble, fog and battlesmoke, laying ambushes, killing at point-blank range, and escaping into the gray-white mist to repeat their deadly game. The Federals’ opening volley hit Hays’ line, piling corpses one atop the other. The regiment never faltered, however, closing ranks and continuing forward. Maj. Gen. Joseph Mansfield’s XII Corps supported Hooker’s left, attacking Jackson’s Confederates from the East Woods, Mansfield was killed near the Smoketown Road. W.E.B. The heavy, close-in fighting completely halted Gibbon’s advance. 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. Gen. Harry Hays’ five Louisiana regiments, swept across the southern section of the cornfield toward the Smoketown Road, where Brig. I Corps gains had been swiftly wiped out, and all that stood between it and annihilation was Meade’s 3rd Division. 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. Now they too were low on ammunition and forced to scour the cartridge pouches of the dead and wounded. The rattle of skirmish fire and the thunderous roar of salvos fired by battalion filled the air as the Union I Corps entered the North Woods. Just south of their position, Hooker had detected the flash of sunlight reflecting off bayonets and ordered up two batteries of Federal artillery. 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. Hood would have to go in–he was the only reserve available. Credits. The division commander, General Jones, was with the brigade, trying desperately to hold when he was wounded by shrapnel, and command of the division devolved on Brig. Just after dawn, the Confederate guns at Dunker Church, Nicodemus Hill and the North Woods, and the Federal reserve artillery across Antietam Creek, opened with a cacophonous roar, sounding the knell for America’s bloodiest day. The opposing soldiers made peace with their God, wrote letters to loved ones, and waited. Pelham’s canoneers quickly got the range on Gibbon’s leading regiments. Battery F, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, and the Independent Pennsylvania Battery each boasted four 3-inch rifled guns. But Ripley’s right was exposed in the attack, and Crawford’s 12th Corps brigade fired coordinated volleys into his exposed flank, splintering and fragmenting the attack. Erich Kastner, German poet, novelist and children's author (Emil and the Detectives). 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. Lawton’s and Jones’ skirmish line opened on the cannoneers with galling and accurate musket fire that dropped horses and men with fearful rapidity. His ambitious plans to cut the railroad bridge near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, had been thwarted by Major General George McClellan’s unusually quick response to his raid into Maryland. Gen. George Meade’s 3rd Division stood ready to support the advance. On the 128th’s left, among the trees and bushes of the East Woods, the 10th Maine was making headway. Jackson’s men held a rise on which stood a white-washed Dunker Church. They halted momentarily and volleyed into Gibbon’s line, reloaded and fired again. It was a hard march that left stragglers all the way from Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg–even Stonewall referred to it as’severe.’. The battle lines closed over the fallen as the colors moved across the bloodstained cornfield. Their combined musketry soon swept the left flank of the 18th Georgia, Hampton’s Legion and the 4th Texas. The Federals staggered to the left and made for the fence along the Smoketown Road. Grigsby’s brigade formed a line running west toward the Potomac River, with Colonel B.T. Gen. Marsena Patrick to move his brigade across the pike and drive into the West Woods. 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 Cornfield, Antietam's Bloody Turning Point, is a book that goes beyond the minie balls and the shrapnel that soldiers experienced. The front ranks of Duryea’s Federal brigade came on steadily through the cornfield, with their muskets leveled at the waist. Couriers and staff officers ran to and from their commander as he sat immobile, seemingly immune to human frailties. The Battle of Antietam (/ æ n ˈ t iː t əm /), also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War, fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. Gen. George Meade’s Pennsylvania Reserves fought particularly hard on the Union right and center. The combatants, Americans all, would fight and die en masse. All spring and summer the Confederate Army had stymied its blue-frocked adversaries, first in the Peninsula Campaign, where McClellan’s Army of the Potomac was repulsed before Richmond, and then during the summer at Cedar Mountain and Second Manassas, where Maj. Gen. John Pope’s ill-starred Army of Virginia was routed by the swift-marching Rebels. 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 American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 53,000 acres in 24 states! East of the Hagerstown Pike, Lawton’s brigade of Georgians, commanded by Colonel Marcellus Douglas, followed by Brig. Repeated Union attacks and equally vicious Confederate counterattacks swept back and forth … Williams and officers from other regiments finally got the 128th Pennsylvania into a good line, and when the 3rd North Carolina advanced on them the soldiers, just a few weeks from civilian life, opened fire, sweeping the Rebel line with accurate and murderous musketry. The federal troops prepared to meet the Army of North Virginia’s shock force, the Texas Brigade. The hard-hit Rebels broke and ran the Union gauntlet toward sanctuary in the West Woods. Lee’s ranks had been thinned by casualties, sickness and large-scale desertions, but he had the advantage of position. It is remembered as the site of some of the most savage fighting of the Battle of Antietam, which itself was the bloodiest single-day action of the Civil War.Where the Union and Confederates fought in the cornfield, many being wounded. Not only had Colquitt’s charge been broken, but now he was hard pressed on his front. . The charge swept northwesterly across the cornfield, picking up speed and ferocity as soldiers were cut down by ball and shell. Gen. John Gibbon’s Iron Brigade and Brig. 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. 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. South of his position, the 18th Georgia, Hampton’s Legion and the 4th Texas were also quitting the field. Gen. Evander M. Law’s brigade had taken position in the East Woods. 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. 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. It was the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, with 3,650 dead and more than 19,000 wounded , missing or captured. The Federal assault was quickly renewed, and Law’s left was uncovered, rendering his line untenable and forcing his withdrawal. The Rebels challenging Beal’s 10th Maine were from the 21st Georgia, commanded by Captain James Nisbet. Victor Fleming, film director (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind). (A historical marker located in Sharpsburg in Washington County, Maryland.) It was now just before 7 a.m. Doubleday’s 1st Division had been halted on the south end of the cornfield near Hagerstown Pike, while on his left Rickett’s 2nd Division was being fed into the battle piecemeal and taking a terrible pounding from the Confederates who’d been able to rush troops to trouble spots.