In mid-September, Starke's Brigade was part of the force under Stonewall Jackson that captured the large Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, after which they marched into Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 16. A strong Union attack on the morning of September 17 drove back the Confederate lines. Starke was shot three times and died within an hour. He was one of six generals killed or mortally wounded at Antietam.