Hearts Touched by Fire

by Harold Holzer

  DOUBLEDAY’S DIVISION OF HOOKER’S CORPS CROSSING THE UPPER FORDS OF THE ANTIETAM. FROM A SKETCH MADE AT THE TIME.

  The morning of Wednesday, the 17th, broke fresh and fair. The men were astir at dawn, getting breakfast and preparing for a day of battle. The artillery opened on both sides as soon as it was fairly light, and the positions which had been assigned us in the dusk of the evening were found to be exposed in some places to the direct fire of the Confederate guns, Rodman’s division suffering more than the others. Fairchild’s brigade alone reported thirty-six casualties before they could find cover. It was not till 7 o’clock that orders came to advance toward the creek as far as could be done without exposing the men to unnecessary loss. Rodman was directed to acquaint himself with the situation of the ford in front of him, and Sturgis to seek the best means of approach to the stone bridge. All were then to remain in readiness to obey further orders.

  When these arrangements had been made, I rode to the position Burnside had selected for himself, which was upon a high knoll north-east of the Burnside Bridge, near a hay-stack which was a prominent landmark. Near by was Benjamin’s battery of 20-pounder Parrotts, and a little farther still to the right, on the same ridge, General Sturgis had sent in Durell’s battery. These were exchanging shots with the enemy’s guns opposite, and had the advantage in range and weight of metal.

  Whatever the reason, McClellan had adopted a plan of battle which practically reduced Sumner and Burnside to the command of one corps each, while Hooker had been sent far off on the right front, followed later by Mansfield, but without organizing the right wing as a unit so that one commander could give his whole attention to handling it with vigor. In his preliminary report, made before he was relieved from command, McClellan says:

  “The design was to make the main attack upon the enemy’s left—at least to create a diversion in favor of the main attack, with the hope of something more, by assailing the enemy’s right—and, as soon as one or both of the flank movements were fully successful, to attack their center with any reserve I might then have in hand.”

  McClellan’s report covering his whole career in the war, dated August 4th, 1863 (and published February, 1864, after warm controversies had arisen and he had become a political character), modifies the above statement in some important particulars. It says:

  “My plan for the impending general engagement was to attack the enemy’s left with the corps of Hooker and Mansfield, supported by Sumner’s, and if necessary by Franklin’s, and as soon as matters looked favorably there to move the corps of Burnside against the enemy’s extreme right upon the ridge running to the south and rear of Sharpsburg, and having carried their position, to press along the crest toward our right, and whenever either of these flank movements should be successful, to advance our center with all the forces then disposable.”

  The opinion I got from Burnside as to the part the Ninth Corps was to take was fairly consistent with the design first quoted, viz., that when the attack by Sumner, Hooker, and Franklin should be progressing favorably, we were “to create a diversion in favor of the main attack, with the hope of something more.” It would also appear probable that Hooker’s movement was at first intended to be made by his corps alone, taken up by Sumner’s two corps as soon as he was ready to attack, and shared in by Franklin if he reached the field in time, thus making a simultaneous oblique attack from our right by the whole army except Porter’s corps, which was in reserve, and the Ninth Corps, which was to create the “diversion” on our left and prevent the enemy from stripping his right to reënforce his left. It is hardly disputable that this would have been a better plan than the one actually carried out. Certainly the assumption that the Ninth Corps could cross the Antietam alone at the only place on the field where the Confederates had their line immediately upon the stream which must be crossed under fire by two narrow heads of column, and could then turn to the right along the high ground occupied by the hostile army before that army had been broken or seriously shaken elsewhere, is one which would hardly be made till time had dimmed the remembrance of the actual positions of Lee’s divisions upon the field.

  The evidence that the plan did not originally include the wide separation of two corps to the right, to make the extended turning movement, is found in Hooker’s incomplete report, and in the wide interval in time between the marching of his corps and that of Mansfield. Hooker was ordered to cross the Antietam at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the 16th by the bridge in front of Keedysville and the ford below it. He says that after his troops were over and in march, he rode back to McClellan, who told him that he might call for reënforcements and that when they came they should be under his command. Somewhat later McClellan rode forward with his staff to observe the progress making, and Hooker again urged the necessity of reënforcements. Yet Sumner did not receive orders to send Mansfield to support Hooker till evening, and the Twelfth Corps marched only half an hour before midnight, reaching its bivouac, about a mile and a half in rear of that of Hooker, at 2 A.M. of the 17th. Sumner was also ordered to be in readiness to march with the Second Corps an hour before day, but his orders to move did not reach him till nearly half-past 7 in the morning. By this time, Hooker had fought his battle, had been repulsed, and later in the morning was carried wounded from the field. Mansfield had fallen before his corps was deployed, and General Alpheus S. Williams who succeeded him was fighting a losing battle at all points but one—where Greene’s division held the East Wood.

  After crossing the Antietam, Hooker had shaped his course to the westward, aiming to reach the ridge upon which the Hagerstown turnpike runs, and which is the dominant feature of the landscape. This ridge is some two miles distant from the Antietam, and for the first mile of the way no resistance was met. However, Hooker’s progress had been observed by the enemy, and Hood’s two brigades were taken from the center and passed to the left of D. H. Hill. Here they occupied an open wood (since known as the East Wood), north-east of the Dunker Church. Hooker was now trying to approach the Confederate positions, Meade’s division of the Pennsylvania Reserves being in the advance. A sharp skirmishing combat ensued and artillery was also brought into action on both sides, the engagement continuing till after dark. On our side Seymour’s brigade had been chiefly engaged, and had felt the enemy so vigorously that Hood supposed he had repulsed a serious effort to take the wood. Hooker was, however, aiming to pass quite beyond the flank, and kept his other divisions north of the hollow beyond the wood, and upon the ridge which reaches the turnpike near the largest reëntrant bend of the Potomac, which is here only half a mile distant. Here he bivouacked upon the northern slopes of the ridge, Doubleday’s division resting with its right upon the turnpike, Ricketts’s division upon the left of Doubleday, and Meade covering the front of both with the skirmishers of Seymour’s brigade. Between Meade’s skirmishers and the ridge were the farm-house and barn of J. Poffenberger on the east of the road, where Hooker made his own quarters for the night. Half a mile farther in front was the farm of D. R. Miller, the dwelling on the east, and the barn surrounded by stacks on the west of the road.2 Mansfield’s corps, marching as it did late in the night, kept farther to the right than Hooker’s, but moved on a nearly parallel course and bivouacked upon the farm of another J. Poffenberger near the road which, branching from the Hagerstown turnpike at the Dunker Church, intersects the one running from Keedysville through Smoketown to the same turnpike about a mile north of Hooker’s position.

  GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH IN KEEDYSVILLE, USED AS A UNION HOSPITAL. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 1886.

  THE FIELD OF ANTIETAM.

  On the afternoon of September 16th, Hooker’s corps crossed at the two fords and the bridge north of McClellan’s headquarters.

  A. From near sunset till dark Hooker engaged Hood’s division (of Longstreet’s corps) about the “East Wood,” marked A on the map. Hood was relieved by two brigades of Jackson’s corps, which was in and behind the Dunker Church wood (or West Wood), C.
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  B. At dawn on the 17th, Hooker and Jackson began a terrible contest which raged in and about the famous corn-field, B, and in the woods, A and C. Jackson’s reserves regained the corn-field. Hartsuff’s brigade, of Hooker’s corps, and Mansfield’s corps charged through the corn-field into the Dunker Church wood, General Mansfield being mortally wounded in front of the East Wood.

  Jackson, with the aid of Hood, and a part of D. H. Hill’s division, again cleared the Dunker Church wood. J. G. Walker’s division, taken from the extreme right of the Confederate line, charged in support of Jackson and Hood.

  C. Sumner’s corps formed line of battle in the center, Sedgwick’s division facing the East Wood, through which it charged over the corn-field again, and through Dunker Church wood to the edge of the fields beyond. McLaws’s division (of Longstreet’s corps), just arrived from Harper’s Ferry, assisted in driving out Sedgwick, who was forced to retreat northward by the Hagerstown pike.

  D. About the time that Sedgwick charged, French and Richardson, of Sumner’s corps, dislodged D. H. Hill’s line from Roulette’s house.

  E. Hill re-formed in the sunken road, since known as the “Bloody Lane,” where his position was carried by French and Richardson, the latter being mortally wounded in the corn-field, E.

  F. Irwin and Brooks, of Franklin’s corps, moved to the support of French and Richardson. At the point F, Irwin’s brigade was repelled.

  G. D. H. Hill, reënforced by R. H. Anderson’s division of Longstreet’s corps, fought for the ground about Piper’s house.

  H. Stuart attempted a flank movement north of the Dunker Church wood, but was driven back by the thirty guns under Doubleday.

  J. Pleasonton, with a part of his cavalry and several batteries, crossed the Boonsboro’ bridge as a flank support to Richardson, and to Burnside on the south. Several battalions of regulars from Porter’s corps came to his assistance and made their way well up to the hill which is now the National Cemetery.

  K. Toombs (of Longstreet) had defended the lower bridge until Burnside moved Rodman and Seammon to the fords below.

  L. Then Toombs hurried south to protect the Confederate flank. Sturgis and Crook charged across the Burnside Bridge and gained the heights. Toombs was driven away from the fords.

  M. After 3 o’clock, Burnside’s lines, being re-formed, completed the defeat of D. R. Jones’s division (of Longstreet), and on the right gained the outskirts of Sharpsburg. Toombs, and the arriving brigades of A. P. Hill, of Jackson’s corps, saved the village and regained a part of the lost ground.—EDITORS.

  On the Confederate side, Hood’s division had been so severely handled that it was replaced by Jackson’s (commanded by J. R. Jones), which, with Ewell’s, had been led to the field from Harper’s Ferry by Jackson, reaching Sharpsburg in the afternoon of the 16th. These divisions were formed on the left of D. H. Hill and almost at right angles to his line, crossing the turnpike and facing northward. Hood’s division, on being relieved, was placed in reserve near the Dunker Church, and spent part of the night in cooking rations, of which its supply had been short for a day or two. The combatants on both sides slept upon their arms, well knowing that the dawn would bring bloody work.

  When day broke on Wednesday morning, the 17th, Hooker, looking south from the Poffenberger farm along the turnpike, saw a gently rolling landscape, of which the commanding point was the Dunker Church, whose white brick walls appeared on the west side of the road backed by the foliage of the West Wood, which came toward him, filling a slight hollow which ran parallel to the turnpike, with a single row of fields between. Beyond the Miller house and barns, the ground dipped into a little depression. Beyond this was seen a large corn-field between the East Wood and the turnpike, rising again to the higher level. There was, however, another small dip beyond, which could not be seen from Hooker’s position; and on the second ridge, near the church, and extending across the turnpike eastward into the East Wood, could be seen the Confederate line of gray, partly sheltered by piles of rails taken from the fences. They seemed to Hooker to be at the farther side of the corn-field and at the top of the first rise of ground beyond Miller’s. It was plain that the high ground about the little white church was the key of the enemy’s position, and if that could be carried Hooker’s task would be well done.

  THE PRY HOUSE, GENERAL MCCLELLAN’S HEADQUARTERS AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 1886.

  The Confederates opened the engagement by a rapid fire from a battery near the East Wood as soon as it was light, and Hooker answered the challenge by an immediate order for his line to advance. Doubleday’s division was in two lines, Gibbon’s and Phelps’s brigades in front, supported by Patrick and Hofmann. Gibbon had the right and guided upon the turnpike. Patrick held a small wood in his rear, which is upon both sides of the road a little north of Miller’s house. Some of Meade’s men were supposed to be in the northernmost extension of the West Wood, and thus to cover Gibbon’s right flank as he advanced. Part of Battery B, 4th United States Artillery (Gibbon’s own battery), was run forward to Miller’s barn and stack-yard on the right of the road, and fired over the heads of the advancing regiments. Other batteries were similarly placed more to the left. The line moved swiftly forward through Miller’s orchard and kitchen garden, breaking through a stout picket fence on the near side, down into the moist ground of the hollow, and up through the corn, which was higher than their heads, and shut out everything from view. At the southern side of the field they came to a low fence, beyond which was an open field, at the farther side of which was the enemy’s line. But Gibbon’s right, covered by the corn, had outmarched the left, which had been exposed to a terrible fire, and the direction taken had been a little oblique, so that the right wing of the 6th Wisconsin, the flanking regiment, had crossed the turnpike and was suddenly assailed by a sharp fire from the West Wood on its flank. They swung back into the road, lying down along the high, stout post-and-rail fence, keeping up their fire by shooting between the rails. Leaving this little band to protect their right, the main line, which had come up on the left, leaped the fence at the south edge of the corn-field and charged across the open at the enemy in front. But the concentrated fire of artillery and musketry was more than they could bear. Men fell by scores and hundreds, and the thinned lines gave way and ran for the shelter of the corn. They were rallied in the hollow on the north side of the field. The enemy had rapidly extended his left under cover of the West Wood, and now made a dash at the right flank and at Gibbon’s exposed guns. His men on the right faced by that flank and followed him bravely, though with little order, in a dash at the Confederates, who were swarming out of the wood. The gunners double-charged the cannon with canister, and under a terrible fire of both artillery and rifles the enemy broke and sought shelter.

  Patrick’s brigade had come up in support of Gibbon, and was sent across the turnpike into the West Wood to cover that flank. They pushed forward, the enemy retiring, until they were in advance of the principal line in the corn-field, upon which the Confederates were now advancing. Patrick faced his men to the left, parallel to the edge of the wood and to the turnpike, and poured his fire into the flank of the enemy, following it by a charge through the field and up to the fence along the road. Again the Confederates were driven back, but only to push in again by way of these woods, forcing Patrick to resume his original line of front and to retire to the cover of a ledge at right angles to the road near Gibbon’s guns.

  Farther to the left Phelps’s and Hofmann’s brigades had had similar experience, pushing forward nearly to the Confederate lines, and being driven back with great loss when they charged over open ground against the enemy. Ricketts’s division entered the edge of the East Wood; but here, at the salient angle, where D. H. Hill and Lawton joined, the enemy held the position stubbornly, and the repulse of Doubleday’s division made Ricketts glad to hold even the edge of the East Wood, as the right of the line was driven back.

  It was now about 7 o’clock, and Mansfi
eld’s corps (the Twelfth) was approaching, for that officer had called his men to arms at the first sound of Hooker’s battle and had marched to his support. The corps consisted of two divisions, Williams’s and Greene’s. It contained a number of new and undrilled regiments, and in hastening to the field in columns of battalions in mass, proper intervals for deployment had not been preserved, and time was necessarily lost before the troops could be put in line. General Mansfield fell mortally wounded before the deployment was complete, and the command devolved on General Williams. Williams had only time to take the most general directions from Hooker, when the latter also was wounded.3 The Twelfth Corps attack seems to have been made obliquely to that of Hooker, and facing more to the westward, for General Williams speaks of the post-and-rail fences along the turnpike being a great obstruction in their front. Greene’s division, on his left, moved along the ridge leading to the East Wood, taking as the guide for his extreme left the line of the burning house of Mumma, which had been set on fire by D. H. Hill’s men. Doubleday, in his report, notices this change of direction of Williams’s division, which had relieved him, and says Williams’s brigades were swept away by a fire from their left and front, from behind rocky ledges they could not see.4 Our officers were deceived in part as to the extent and direction of the enemy’s line by the fact that the Confederate cavalry commander, Stuart, had occupied a commanding hill west of the pike and beyond our right flank, and from this position, which, in fact, was considerably detached from the Confederate line, he used his batteries with such effect as to produce the belief that a continuous line extended from this point to the Dunker Church.5 Our true lines of attack were convergent ones, the right sweeping southward along the pike and through the narrow strip of the West Wood, while the division which drove the enemy from the East Wood should move upon the commanding ground around the church. This error of direction was repeated with disastrous effect a little later, when Sumner came on the ground with Sedgwick’s corps.