Battle of Antietam
Harper's Weekly Articles
The following article is transcribed from Harper's Weekly Journal of Civilization, dated October 11, 1862:
The Battle of Antietam
The Herald account says:
The army corps which had been under General Banks before he was directed to take charge of the defenses about Washington was assigned to the command of the venerable General Mansfield. It consists of two division, commanded by Generals Williams and Green. The corps advanced to the scene of action in close columns of companies arriving on the field about a couple of hours after the battle was begun. General Williams's division occupied the right and General Green's the left when the command was formed in line. The battle was raging fiercely on the right when this corps came up. With commendable alacrity the divisions were placed in position, ready to push into the contest. Hooker's men were fighting bravely and losing heavily, and assistance was required. Rapidly the regiments wheeled into position and deployed into line. General Mansfield was mortally wounded while directing the formation of his lines. A rebel sharp-shooter, seeing him mounted in front, within range of an excellent rifle and evidently perceiving also, from his venerable appearance, that he was a general officer, took deliberate aim and shot him down. The General fell mortally wounded in the breast, and was carried from the field before his command had become engaged in the important operations of the day, in which the corps bore no inconsiderable part. General Williams, being senior officer, assumed command of the corps, and General Gordon, till then commanding a brigade, took charge of the division. The corps was formed in battle order in the rear of General Hooker, and relieved a portion of that officer's brave but decimated regiments.
Centre of the Fight
The Battle of Antietam - The First Maryland Battery in the Foreground
Sketched by Mr. A. R. Ward
Mr. Waud says: "At this point, in the course of the day, four batteries were posted in turn. I have chosen to represent the First Maryland Battery, which fought here for some hours,doing good service in the work of driving the invader form its native land, testifying to Maryland's loyalty by hard blows for the Union. This battery was raised in Baltimore, and is armed with eight rifled light 3-inch guns. In the picture it occupies the ground upon which one of the rebel division lines was formed, the dead lying so thick as to mark distinctly their position right across the fields. On the right is a church on the edge of the rebel position in the woods. Around this building the loss of life was enormous, the little road in front being filled (as well as the adjacent fields) with corpses. Toward the centre of the sketch is a corn-field and orchard, where there was some awful fighting , the dead lying piled up in groups. The lines were formed along the little hills from which the smoke is seen rising, where McClellan's artillery shelled the rebel positions with a tremendous fire. The rebels had one or two batteries badly used up in the fields near the little white church, among them the Sixth North Carolina: but as four or five batteries claim the honor of their destruction, it will be just as well perhaps to leave it an open question."
Mr. Waud writes: "The burned mills are seen in the centre of the picture. In the fore-ground is the Twelfth new York Volunteers, protected in the bed of the canal (from which most of the water has been run off) from the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters, which the color-bearer is endeavoring to draw. These colors, presented to the regiment by the ladies of Syracuse, bear marks of shot and shell, and are so battle-stained and torn that it would be difficult for the before-mentioned ladies to recognize them now."
Sharpsburg is almost entirely destroyed. A Tribune correspondent says:
In passing through Sharpsburg one is struck with the appearance of the village. You will remember it was exposed for several hours on Wednesday evening to furious shelling by Burnside's artillery. The terrible effects of his shots were instantly seen the moment we entered the village. Scarcely a house remained untouched. Chimneys were knocked down, heavy stone walls smashed in, roofs lifted up and carried off, an almost every form of damage possible to conceive of to a dwelling was to be seen along the main street. The large church, standing upon the hill to the right of the turnpike, was fairly riddled with shot and battered so terribly that a new edifice will have to be erected out of the broken materials. A large brick hotel in the heart of the town had fourteen shots entirely through it. Strange to say that in all this cannonade not a citizen of the village was killed or wounded. All who did not leave sought shelter in the cellars, and were uninjured.