Sept. 17 1862 Battle Of Antieam/Sharpsburg

[Valin]

Civil War home

The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) on September 17, 1862, climaxed the first of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's two attempts to carry the war into the North. About 40,000 Southerners were pitted against the 87,000-man Federal Army of the Potomac under Gen. George B. McClellan. And when the fighting ended, the course of the American Civil War had been greatly altered.

After his great victory at Manassas in August, Lee had marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, hoping to find vitally needed men and supplies. McClellan followed, first to Frederick (where through rare good fortune a copy of the Confederate battle plan, Lee's Special Order No. 191, fell into his hands), then westward 12 miles to the passes of South Mountain. There on September 14, at Turner's, Fox's, and Crampton's gaps, Lee tried to block the Federals. But because he had split his army to send troops under Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry, Lee could only hope to delay the Northerners. McClellan forced his way through, and by the afternoon of September 15 both armies had established new battle lines west and east of Antietam Creek near the town of Sharpsburg. When Jackson's troops reached Sharpsburg on the 16th, Harpers Ferry having surrendered the day before, Lee consolidated his position along the low ridge that runs north and south of the town.

The battle opened at dawn on the 17th when Union Gen. Joseph Hooker's artillery began a murderous fire on Jackson's men in the Miller cornfield north of town. "In the time I am writing," Hooker reported, "every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before." Hooker's troops advanced, driving the Confederates before them, and Jackson reported that his men were "exposed for near an hour to a terrific storm of shell, canister, and musketry."

 

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Battle of Antietam
Date: September 17, 1862

Location: Maryland
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George B. McClellan
Confederate Forces Engaged: 51,844
Union Forces Engaged: 75,316
Winner: Inconclusive (Strategic Union Victory)
Casualties: 26,134 (12,410 Union and 13,724 Confederate)

[Valin]

 

 

And The 1st Minnesota Was There!

 

[Valin]

 

[Draggingtree]

1 hour ago, Valin said:

 

Very good post

[Draggingtree]

Just now, Draggingtree said:

Very good post all three

 

[Valin]

Draggingtree

 

I recall during the Iraq war, the media and the Left (but I repeat myself)  would have a fit if 3 solders died in a week. Always though of this battle...actually that whole war. Marye's Heights, Pickets charge, talk about Big Brass ones!

[Draggingtree]

Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson

By Brion McClanahan on Jan 21, 2015

This essay is part of the chapter “Southerners” in Brion McClanahan’s The Politically Incorrect Guide to Real American Heroes.

The Northern essayist and Republican partisan E.L. Godkin wrote following the death of “Stonewall” Jackson in 1863 that Jackson was “the most extraordinary phenomenon of this extraordinary war. Pure, honest, simple-minded, unselfish, and brave, his death is a loss to the whole of America, for, whatever be the result of this war, the United States will enjoy the honor of having bred and educated him.” Godkin claimed him because he recognized that Jackson was more than a representative of the South, he was an American hero, pure and simple.

Jackson was born in 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia. While the Jacksons had a solid reputation in America, they came from humble beginnings. Both his great-grandfather and great-grandmother arrived in America as indentured servants having both been convicted of theft. They fell in love on the voyage over, and once they had satisfied their indentures, married and moved to the frontier where they acquired vast tracts of land. Both Jackson’s great-grandfather and grandfather served with distinction in the American War for Independence and has great-grandmother used the Jackson homestead as a refuge for dislocated American settlers during the war.    https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/thomas-j-stonewall-jackson/