attacking, chiefly, the right of the Union column under General Cox.
This division was exposed to a fire directly in front, and also to the
rebel batteries on the other side, through which runs the Hagerstown
main road. At four o’clock all the reinforcements were in position, and
the order was given to either silence or take the rebel batteries, by
advancing the whole line upon them. The advance was made with loud
shouts and cheers, and the enemy’s desperate resistance was met with
fierce assaults on the part of the Federals. The rebels charged on the
advancing lines with yells of rage, but meeting such determination from
the opposing ranks, they retreated, and fell back in wild confusion.
Wilson’s division suffered the greatest loss; the General gives the
highest praise to the conduct of the Seventeenth Michigan in this
advance. That regiment had been organized less than a month; but every
man met the enemy like a veteran warrior. The Forty-fifth Pennsylvania
also signalized themselves by their bravery in the same noble charge.
The batteries across the gap still kept up a constant shower of shot and
shell upon the Union lines.
General Sturgis’ division, at about twilight, was moved forward to the
front of General Wilcox’s position; and about dark the enemy made a
sudden, sharp attack upon it; but was almost instantly driven back.
Again, at seven o’clock, the rebels made another effort to regain their
lost ground; and for an hour sharp firing was kept up between the two
sides. They were finally repulsed, and retreated under cover of the
night.
In this engagement Major-General Reno was killed, and General Cox was
placed in command. In General Reno, the country lost one of its very
best general officers. In recording the sad occurrence, General
McClellan says, “He was a skillful soldier, and a brave and honest man.”
The firing ceased entirely about ten o’clock, while the troops slept on
their arms, ready to renew the fight when the morning of another day
should dawn upon the battle-field. During the night the enemy retired
from the front of the Union army, leaving their dead strewn over the
field, and abandoning the wounded to their fate.
The right of the column had been actively engaged under General Hooker,
while these operations were going forward on the left. Hooker’s corps
left the Monocacy early in the morning, and at one o’clock reached the
Catoctin creek. As it approached the battle-ground, the greatest
enthusiasm was manifested for its gallant commander. General Cox, in his
report, gives the following list of his casualties in this well-fought
and bravely-won battle; and bestows merited commendation on both
officers and men:
“Early in the engagement Lieutenant-Colonel R. B. Hayes, commanding the
Twenty-third Ohio, was severely wounded in the arm whilst leading his
regiment forward. He refused to leave the field for some time, however,
till weakness from loss of blood compelled him. Major E. M. Carey of the
Twelfth Ohio, was shot through the thigh late in the action, in which he
had greatly distinguished himself by his gallantry and cool courage.
Captains Skiles and Hunter, and Lieutenants Hood, Smith, Naughton and
Ritter of the Twenty-third Ohio, and Captains Ligget and Wilson of the
Twelfth Ohio, were also wounded in the engagement.
“Lieutenant Croome, commanding a section of McMullen’s battery, was
killed whilst serving a piece in the place of the gunner who had been
killed.
“In the Kanawha division the casualties were five hundred and
twenty-eight, of which one hundred and six were killed, three hundred
and thirty-six wounded, and eighty-six missing, of all of which a full
list will be immediately forwarded.
“I take pleasure in calling attention to the gallantry and efficiency
displayed in the action by Colonels Scammon and Crooks, commanding the
brigades of the division. The manner in which their commands were
handled reflected great credit on them, and entitles them to the highest
praise. I beg leave, also, to mention my indebtedness to Captain E. P.
Fitch, Captain G. M. Barcom, and Lieutenants J. W. Conine, and S. L.
Christie, of my personal staff, for the devotion and courage displayed
by them in the laborious and hazardous duties of the day; also to
Brigade-Surgeon W. W. Holmes, medical director of the division, for his
tireless activity and efficiency in his department. The conduct of both
officers and men was every thing that could be desired, and every one
seemed stimulated with the determination not to be excelled in any
soldierly quality.
“I cannot close this report without speaking of the meritorious conduct
of First Lieutenant H. Belcher, of the Eighth Michigan, a regiment
belonging to another division. His regiment having suffered severely on
the right, and being partly thrown into confusion, he rallied about one
hundred men and led them to the front. Being separated from the brigade
to which he belonged, he reported to me for duty, and asked a position
where he might be of use till his proper place could be ascertained. He
was assigned a post on the left, and subsequently in support of the
advanced section of Simmons’s battery, in both of which places he and
his men performed their duty admirably.”
SURRENDER OF HARPER’S FERRY.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1862.
Every patriot in the land was filled with astonishment when he read of
the surrender of Harper’s Ferry. This surrender was made by Colonel D.
T. Miles, an officer who had received imperative orders to hold this
important post, to the last extremity. A natural desire to show all
possible gentleness, in judging the act of one no longer living, forbids
us to criticise motives, or censure an act which proved a great loss to
the country, and which was one that history cannot well defend.
The position of Harper’s Ferry, at the junction of the Potomac and
Shenandoah rivers, and on the Ohio and Baltimore railroad, gave it great
military importance. General Wool had directed Colonel Miles to fortify
Maryland Heights, which is the key to Harper’s Ferry, and to hold the
post till McClellan’s arrival. The Heights, however, were left
unfortified, and Colonel Thomas H. Ford, of the Thirty-second Ohio, was
entrusted by Colonel Miles with discretionary power, for the abandonment
of that important position. As soon as he was attacked, therefore, which
occurred on the 13th of September, Colonel Ford withdrew from the
Heights, and retreated to the Ferry. This movement rendered the position
at the Ferry untenable. The Heights were immediately occupied by the
enemy, who, on the 14th, commenced cannonading the works at Harper’s
Ferry. General McClellan was, at this time, rapidly approaching to the
relief of the garrison, which he had been assured by a messenger from
Colonel Miles, could hold out two days longer. But though the victory at
South Mountain had assured the coming of reinforcements, on the morning
of the 15th, after withstanding an attack which lasted from daybreak
till seven o’clock, he caused the white flag to be hoisted in token of
the surrender of his position. But the firing did not immediately cease,
and within the next half hour Colonel Miles was shot, and mortally
wounded. The reasons, whatever they may have been, for thus needlessly
yielding to his country’s foes the possession of so important a post,
went with him to the grave. Eleven thousand five hundred and
eighty-three men were thus captured by the enemy. At eight o’clock on
the 15th of September, the rebels took possession of Harper’s Ferry. A
military commission, held long afterwards at Washington, to inquire into
the conduct of the war, exempted all Colonel Miles’ subordinate officers
from blame, excepting Colonel T. H. Ford, and Major Baird of the One
hundred and Twenty-sixth New York regiment, who were severely censured.
The gallantry of General Julius White, in such defence of Harper’s Ferry
as was made, deserves to be recorded and honorably remembered.
BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1862.
The victors of South Mountain slept upon the field of battle, on the
night of September 14th. On the morning of the 15th, at early dawn, the
Union pickets were pressed forward, and it was found that the dejected
rebels had retired under cover of the night. An immediate pursuit was
ordered. The army moved forward at once, in three columns. The first,
containing the main force of cavalry, and led by Generals Pleasanton,
Sumner, Hooker and Mansfield, advanced along the national turnpike road,
by way of Boonsboro’. The second, led by Generals Burnside and Porter,
moved by the old Sharpsburgh road. The third, led by General Franklin,
went by Pleasant Valley, to occupy Robersville, and relieve Harper’s
Ferry. The latter had not gone far, however, when the cessation of
firing in the direction of the Ferry, gave notice that Colonel Miles had
yielded his post. Still, in all directions, the advance pressed onward.
It soon became evident that the rebels were taking up a strong position
in front, and that a general battle was impending. General McClellan
immediately went forward, examined the ground, to direct the formation
of the Union line of battle. The rebels had fortified themselves on the
west bank of Antietam creek, where they displayed their infantry,
cavalry and artillery, in large force. The Union corps were massed on
and near the Sharpsburgh road. During the 15th and 16th, both armies
manœuvred for advantages of position; but the general battle—one of the
most important that was fought during the war—did not commence until
daybreak of the 17th. At this time, the relative positions of the
combatants were as follows: Hooker, with his corps, consisting of
General Rickett’s, Meade’s and Doubleday’s divisions, had crossed
Antietam creek on the afternoon of the previous day; and, after some
sharp skirmishing with the enemy, had gained the desired position, and
bivouacked for the night. General Mansfield’s corps consisting of the
divisions of William and Green, had crossed the creek during the night,
and taken up position, a mile in rear of General Hooker. On the right of
the turnpike, near the creek, was posted a division of General Sumner’s
corps, under command of General Richardson; and, on the left, in line
with Richardson, a division of General Porter’s corps, under command of
General Sykes. The batteries of Captain Taft, Langrel, Von Kleiner, and
of Lieutenant Weaver, each of twenty-pounder Parrott guns, were placed
in front of the Sharpsburgh turnpike. Captain Weed’s three-inch, and
Lieutenant Benjamin’s twenty-pounder batteries were on the crest of the
hill, in the rear and right of bridge number three that crossed the
creek; and the division of General Couch with General Franklin’s corps,
in front of Brownsville, in Pleasant Valley,—with a large force of the
enemy directly in front.
The position of the enemy was a very favorable one. It is thus described
by General McClellan:
“The masses of his troops were still concealed behind the opposite
heights. Their left and centre were upon and in front of the Sharpsburgh
and Hagerstown turnpike, hidden by woods and irregularities of the
ground; their extreme left resting upon a wooded eminence near the cross
roads to the north of J. Miller’s farm: their left resting upon the
Potomac. Their line extended south, the right resting upon the hills to
the south of Sharpsburgh, near Shaveley’s farm.
“The bridge over the Antietam, described as No. 3, near this point, was
strongly covered by riflemen protected by rifle-pits, stone fences,
etc., and enfiladed by artillery. The ground in front of this line
consisted of undulating hills, their crests in turn commanded by others
in the rear. On all favorable points the enemy’s artillery was posted,
and their reserves, hidden from view by the hills, on which their line
of battle was formed, could manœuvre unobserved by our army, and from
the shortness of their line could rapidly reinforce any point threatened
by our attack. Their position, stretching across the angle formed by the
Potomac and Antietam, their flanks and rear protected by these streams,
was one of the strongest to be found in this region of country, which is
well adapted to defensive warfare.”
At dawn of the 17th, skirmishing by the Pennsylvania reserves opened the
battle for the day. General Hooker’s entire corps was soon engaged. The
right of General Pickett’s line, and the left of General Meade’s
reserve, opened fire at about the same moment. A battery was pushed
forward into the middle of an open field, where some of the deadliest
struggles of the bloody battle subsequently took place. For half an
hour, the line did not swerve a hair’s-breadth from the right to the
left. At the close of the half hour, the enemy began to fall slowly
back. Their first receding movement inspired the brave patriots before
them. Forward! was the cry; and the whole line moved forward, with a
cheer and a rush; while the rebels in full retreat, running over
corn-fields, crossing roads and leaping fences, fled before them.
Close upon the footsteps of the foe, passing over the dead and
wounded—for these the rebels were compelled to leave in their
wake—followed the soldiers of the Union, till at length the enemy
disappeared within a wood. Still the Federals pressed on, and gallantly
threw themselves upon the cover; when suddenly, from out the gloom and
shadow of the trees, was hurled a fearful volley of fire, that caused
their undaunted front to waver, bend and break, and sent them,
panic-stricken, many yards back. But, almost instantly closing up their
shattered lines, they quickly recovered from this temporary confusion;
and, though they could not attempt another advance, their ammunition
being expended, those who were left to oppose the advancing masses of
the enemy retreated in good order, very slowly, their ranks so thinned
that, where brigades had been, scarcely regiments remained—little more
than a brigade, where had been a whole victorious division. A
contemporary account of the battle speaks as follows of the unexpected
reverse, there and then encountered by the gallant patriots.
“In ten minutes, the fortune of the day seemed to have changed; it was
the rebels now who were advancing, pouring out of the woods in endless
lines, sweeping through the corn-field from which their comrades had
just fled. Hooker sent in his nearest brigade to meet them, but it could
not do the work. He called for another. There was nothing close enough,
unless he took it from his right. His right might be in danger if it was
weakened, but his centre was already threatened with annihilation. Not
hesitating one moment, he sent orders to Doubleday: ‘Give me your best
brigade instantly.’
“The best brigade came down the hill to the right on a run, went through
the timber in front swept by a storm of shot and bursting shell and
crashing limbs, over the open field beyond and straight into the open
corn-field, passing as they went the fragments of three brigades
shattered by the rebel fire and streaming to the rear. They passed by
Hooker, whose eyes lighted as he saw these veteran troops, led by a
soldier whom he knew he could trust. ‘I think they will hold it,’ he
said.
“General Hartsuff took his troops very steadily, but, now that they were
under fire, not hurriedly, up the hill from which the corn-field begins
to descend, and formed them on the crest. Not a man who was not in full
view—not one who bent before the storm. Firing at first in volleys, they
fired then at will with wonderful rapidity and effect. The whole line
crowned the hill and stood out darkly against the sky, but lighted and
shrouded ever in flame and smoke. They were the Twelfth and Thirteenth
Massachusetts and another regiment—old troops all of them.
“There, for half an hour, they held the ridge, unyielding in purpose,
exhaustless in courage. There were gaps in the line, but it nowhere
bent. Their General was severely wounded, early in the fight, but they
fought on. Their supports did not come—they determined to win without
them. They began to go down the hill and into the corn; they did not
stop to think that their ammunition was nearly gone; they were there to
win that field, and they won it. The rebel line for the second time fled
through the corn and into the woods. I cannot tell how few of Hartsuff’s
brigade were left when the work was done; but it was done. There was no
more gallant, determined, heroic fighting, in all this desperate day.
General Hartsuff is very severely wounded, but I do not believe he
counts his success too dearly purchased.
“The crisis of the fight at this point had arrived. Rickett’s division,
vainly endeavoring to advance and exhausted by the effort, had fallen
back. Part of Mansfield’s corps was ordered to their relief, but
Mansfield’s troops came back again, and their General was mortally
wounded. The left nevertheless was too extended to be turned, and too
strong to be broken. Rickett sent word he could not advance, but could
hold his ground. Doubleday had kept his guns at work on the right, and
had finally silenced a rebel battery that for half an hour had poured in
a galling enfilading fire along Hooker’s central line. There were woods
in front of Doubleday’s hill which the rebels held, but so long as those
guns pointed toward them they did not care to attack.
“With his left, then, able to take care of itself, with his right
impregnable, with two brigades of Mansfield still fresh and coming
rapidly up, and with his centre a second time victorious, General Hooker
determined to advance. Orders were sent to Crawford and Gordon—the two
Mansfield brigades—to move forward at once, the batteries in the centre
were ordered to advance, the whole line was called on, and the General
himself went forward.
“To the right of the corn-field and beyond it was a point of woods. Once
carried and firmly held, it was the key of the position. Hooker
determined to take it. He rode out in front of his furthest troops on a
hill, to examine the ground for a battery. At the top he dismounted and
went forward on foot, completed his reconnoissance, returned, and
remounted. The musketry fire from the point of woods was all the while
extremely hot. As he put his foot in the stirrup a fresh volley of rifle
bullets came whizzing by. The tall, soldierly figure of the General, the
white horse which he rode, the elevated place where he was, all made him
a dangerously conspicuous mark. So he had been all day, riding often
without a staff-officer or an orderly near him—all sent off on urgent
duty—visible everywhere on the field. The rebel bullets had followed him
all day, but they had not hit him, and he would not regard them.
“Remounting on this hill, he had not ridden five steps when he was
struck in the foot by a ball. Three men were shot down at the same
moment by his side. The air was alive with bullets. He kept on his horse
a few minutes, though the wound was severe and excessively painful, and
would not dismount till he had given his last order to advance. He was
himself in the very front. Swaying unsteadily on his horse, he turned in
his seat to look about him. “There is a regiment to the right. Order it
forward! Crawford and Gordon are coming up. Tell them to carry those
woods and hold them—and it is our fight!”
“It was found that the bullet had passed completely through his foot.”
General Hooker being disabled, General Meade was placed in command of
Hooker’s Corps. Gordon and Crawford were sent to the woods, where they
fought slowly against a rebel force far outnumbering their own; General
Sedgwick’s division was rapidly moving to the aid of Crawford and
Gordon, who required the coming assistance, for rebel reinforcements
were constantly arriving. Observing that the struggle for the works was
about to recommence, General Sumner sent the divisions of French and
Richardson to the left of Crawford. General Sedgwick, with the eye of
practiced generalship, quickly saw, as he moved his troops in column
through the rear of the woods, that, with so broad a space as was
between him and the nearest division, he stood in danger of being
outflanked, if the rebel line were completed. Under a dreadful fire he
was obliged to order the Thirty-fourth New York to move by the left
flank, and the consequence was that the regiment broke. The enemy, not
slow to perceive his advantage, came round on the weak point, and
obliged Crawford to give way on the right. The routed troops poured
through the ranks of Sedgwick’s advance brigade, causing great
confusion, and forcing it back on the second and third lines; still the
enemy’s fire grew hotter, while they steadily advanced upon the
disordered Union forces. General Sedgwick, wounded in the shoulder, the
leg, and the wrist, still bravely kept his seat, nor thought of leaving
the field while any chance remained of saving it. But the position could
not be held; and General Sumner, having in vain attempted to stop the
confusion and disorder, himself withdrew the division to the rear,
abandoning the field to the enemy.
While the conflict to the right was hotly raging, General French was
pushing the rebels severely on the left. This division crossed Antietam
creek, in three columns, and marched a mile, to the ford. Then, facing
to the left, it moved direct upon the enemy. The division was assailed
by a brisk artillery fire, but it steadily advanced, driving back the
rebel skirmishers, to a group of houses on a piece of land called
Roulette’s farm, where the Federals encountered the rebel infantry in
large force, but soon drove them from their position. The brigade of
General Kimball was next pushed forward, by General French, in obedience
to orders received from his corps commander. This brigade drove the
enemy before it, to the crest of the hill; but the rebels were there
encountered in much stronger force, protected in a natural rifle-pit
formed by a sunken road running in a northwesterly direction. Beyond
this, in a corn-field, there was yet another body of rebels; and, as the
Union line came forward, a severe fire was poured upon them from the
corn-field and from the rifle-pit. When the Federals reached the crest
of the hill, volleys of musketry burst from both lines, and the fight
raged hotly, and with dreadful carnage. An effort of the enemy to turn
the left of the line was met and signally repulsed by the Seventh
Virginia, and One Hundred and Thirty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers: on
being foiled in this effort, the rebels assaulted the Union front, but
were again driven back with severe loss, the Unionists capturing three
hundred men and several stands of colors. Another attack was made on the
right of French’s division, but was met by the Fourteenth Indiana and
Eighth Ohio Volunteers, and by a storm of canister from Captain
Tompkins’ battery, First Rhode Island Artillery. The enemy now gave up
all attempts to regain this ground; and the division, which had been
under very hot fire for more than four hours, and had expended nearly
all its ammunition, took position below the crest of the heights which
they had so nobly won. During this time, Richardson’s division had been
engaged on the left. General Richardson was badly wounded in the
shoulder. General Meagher’s brigade fought so as to increase its well
deserved reputation for courage, and strewed the ground with the foe,
till its ammunition gave out, and its brave leader was disabled by a
wound, and by having his horse shot under him. The Irish brigade was
then ordered to give place to that of General Caldwell; and the second
line was formed by General Brooks’ brigade.