Staff Ride Guide

Ted Ballard

Battle

of

Antietam

Staff Ride Guide

Battle

of

Antietam

by

Ted Ballard

Center of Military History

United States Army

Washington, D.C., 2008
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ballard, Ted.

 Battle of Antietam / by Ted Ballard.

 p. cm. — (Staff ride guide)

 1. Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862. 2. Antietam National 

Battlefield (Md.)—Guidebooks. I. Title. II. Series.

E474.65.B325 2006

973.7’336—dc22

2006012153

Cover: Battle of Antietam, Thure de Thulstrup

First Printed 2006—CMH Pub 35–3–1
iii

Foreword

The U.S. Army has long used the staff ride as a tool for professional development, conveying the lessons of the past to 

contemporary soldiers. In 1906 Maj. Eben Swift took twelve officer students from Fort Leavenworth’s General Service and Staff 

School to the Chickamauga battlefield on the Army’s first official staff ride. Since that time Army educators have employed 

the staff ride to provide Army officers with a better understanding of a past military operation, of the vagaries of war, and of 

military planning. It can also serve to enliven a unit’s esprit de 

corps—a constant objective in peacetime or war.

To support the Army’s initiatives, the Center is publishing staff ride guides such as this one on the Battle of Antietam. This account is drawn principally from contemporary and 

after-action reports, as well as from reminiscences of participants, both officers and enlisted men.

The Battle of Antietam provides important lessons in command and control, leadership, and unit training. This small volume should be a welcome training aid for those undertaking an 

Antietam staff ride and valuable reading for those interested in 

the Civil War and in the history of the military art.

Washington, D.C. JOHN S. BROWN

15 September 2005 Brigadier General, USA (Ret.)

Chief of Military History
iv

The Author

Ted Ballard was a historian with the U.S. Army Center of 

Military History from 1980–2004 and a part of the Center’s staff 

ride program since 1986. Battle of Antietam joins his other battlefield guides to Ball’s Bluff and First and Second Bull Run. He was 

a contributor to the Center’s publication The Story of the Noncommissioned Officer Corps; the author of Rhineland, a brochure 

in the Center’s series commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of 

World War II; and a contributor to the U.S. Army Training and 

Doctrine Command publication American Military Heritage and 

to the Virginia Army National Guard publication The Tradition 

Continues: A History of the Virginia National Guard, 1607–1985. 
v

Preface

The Battle of Antietam has been called the bloodiest single 

day in American History. By the end of the evening, 17 September 1862, an estimated 4,000 American soldiers had been killed 

and over 18,000 wounded in and around the small farming community of Sharpsburg, Maryland. Emory Upton, then a captain 

with the Union artillery battery, later wrote, “I have heard of 

‘the dead lying in heaps,’ but never saw it till this battle. Whole 

ranks fell together.” The battle had been a day of confusion, 

tactical blunders, individual heroics, and the effects of just plain 

luck. It brought to an end a Confederate campaign to “liberate” 

the border state of Maryland and possibly to take the war into 

Pennsylvania. A little more than one hundred and forty years 

later, the Antietam battlefield is one of the best-preserved Civil 

War battlefields in the National Park System.

Antietam is ideal for a staff ride, since a continuing goal of 

the National Park Service is to maintain the site in the condition 

in which it was on the day of the battle. The purpose of any staff 

ride is to learn from the past by analyzing the battle through the 

eyes of the men who were there, both leaders and rank-and-file 

soldiers. Antietam offers many lessons in command and control, communications, intelligence, weapons technology versus 

tactics, and the ever-present confusion, or “fog” of battle. We 

hope that these lessons will allow us to gain insights into decision-making and the human condition during combat.

Several persons assisted in the creation of this staff ride 

guide. At the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Katherine 

Epstein edited the manuscript, Sherry Dowdy turned sketch 

maps into finished products, and Henrietta Snowden designed 

the final guide. Thanks also to Paul Chiles, Ted Alexander, Keith 

Snyder, and Brian Baracz, staff historians at the Antietam National Battlefield, who took time out from their busy schedules 

to review the manuscript for historical accuracy.

In the narrative, the names of Confederate personnel and 

units appear in italic type, Union personnel and units in regular 

type. Any errors that remain in the text are the sole responsibility of the author.

Washington, D.C. TED BALLARD

4 May 2006
vi

Contents

Page

Antietam: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Prelude to the Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

The Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Order of Battle, 17 September 1862 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Casualties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Small Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Artillery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Artillery Projectiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Logistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

U.S. Army Bureau System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Supply Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Selected Biographical Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Union Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Confederate Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Suggested Stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Maps

No.

1. Invasion of Maryland and Union Response,

3–13 September 1862 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

2. Confederate Movements per Special Orders 191,

10–13 September 1862 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3. Battle of South Mountain, 14 September 1862 . . . . . . . .14

4. Confederate Situation: Afternoon, 15 September 1862 . . . 16

5. Battlefield Situation, 1530–1600, 16 September 1862 . . . .20

6. Hooker’s Attack, 0600–0630, 17 September 1862 . . . . . . 23

7. Hood’s Attack, 0700–0730, 17 September 1862 . . . . . . . 27

8. Sumner’s Attack, 0900, 17 September 1862 . . . . . . . . . 29

9. Sedgwick’s Retreat, 0930, 17 September 1862 . . . . . . . . 31

10. French’s Attack, 0930–1000, 17 September1862 . . . . . . .33

11. Richardson’s Attack, 1000–1030, 17 September 1862 . . . . 35
vii

Page

12. Collapse of Confederate Center, 1300,

17 September 1862 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

13. Burnside’s Attack, 1000–1100, 17 September 1862 . . . . . .39

14. Burnside’s Attack: 1200–1300, 17 September 1862 . . . . . .41

15. A. P. Hill’s Attack, 1530–Nightfall, 17 September 1862 . . . 43

Tables

No.

1. Army of the Potomac, Casualties during the Battle of

Antietam, 17 September 1862 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

2. Army of Northern Virginia, Casualties during the

Maryland Campaign, 14–19 September 1862 . . . . . . .76

3. Typical Civil War Small Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

4. Typical Civil War Field Artillery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Illustrations

Previous to Antietam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Burnside Bridge from the Union Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Burnside Bridge from the Confederate Side . . . . . . . . . . .21

Battle of Antietam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Confederate Dead along Hagerstown Pike . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Confederate Dead at Dunker Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Sunken Road, Looking Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Sunken Road, Looking Northeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

The Charge across the Burnside Bridge, Antietam . . . . . . . . . .42

George B. McClellan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Ambrose E. Burnside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Joseph Hooker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Edwin V. Sumner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Joseph K. F. Mansfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Robert E. Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

James Longstreet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Thomas J. Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

James E. B. Stuart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Illustrations courtesy of the following: 93, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian 

Institution. All other illustrations from the Library of Congress.

Battle 

of

Antietam

3

Antietam: An Overview

Prelude to the Battle

The year 1862 began with high hopes in Washington that 

the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, would be captured and the war brought to a successful conclusion. A large, 

well-equipped force, the Army of the Potomac, had been organized and in the spring set out for the Union enclave at Fort 

Monroe, Virginia. Commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, the Army of the Potomac then marched up the Virginia 

peninsula to lay siege to Richmond; other smaller commands 

remained in northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley to 

maintain security for the Federal capital.

However, instead of Union success, the spring and summer saw a string of Confederate victories in Virginia. In May 

and June a small Confederate force commanded by Maj. Gen. 

Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson separately defeated three small 

union commands in the Shenandoah Valley, threatening the security of Washington. To better defend the capital and possibly 

assist in the attack on Richmond, President Abraham Lincoln 

ordered that these three commands be consolidated into a force 

to be known as the Army of Virginia.

During the early summer, in the Seven Day’s Battles, the 

Army of the Potomac was driven back from the Confederate 

capital by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee. The Federal government then decided to withdraw the Army of the Potomac and join it with 

the Army of Virginia. However, before both Union commands 

could unite, Lee’s army marched north and in late August defeated the Army of Virginia at the Battle of Second Bull Run, 

thirty-five miles south of the Union capital. As summer came to 

an end, the Union had not captured Richmond and the Confederates appeared poised to capture Washington. 

Although the year had seen one Confederate victory after 

another in Virginia, months of campaigning had taken its toll 

on the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee’s command had suffered 

many casualties who would be difficult to replace. It was also 

short on rations and supplies, and literally thousands of Lee’s 

troops were without sufficient clothing, especially shoes. As the 

Army of Northern Virginia prepared to embark on another major 
4 

campaign, only its military organization prevented it from resembling a mob of hungry vagabonds.

In the days after Second Bull Run, the government in Washington prepared for an expected Confederate assault and Lee

pondered his options. Insufficient numbers of troops, rations, 

ammunition, and other supplies prevented him from either attacking or engaging in a siege of the city. Washington was surrounded by extensive fortifications, bristling with artillery, and 

defended by large numbers of troops. 

Lee could not afford to remain idle. It would be only a matter 

of time before Union forces reorganized and embarked on yet 

another advance into Virginia. To draw the Union Army out of 

its entrenchments around Washington and into the open, Lee

planned to march north of Washington into Maryland. A Confederate movement north of the Potomac River would threaten 

both Washington and Baltimore and force the Federal government to devote large numbers of troops to defend those cities. 

In early September Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis that the Army of Northern Virginia was not properly 

equipped for such a campaign, especially since thousands of 

its men were barefoot. Nevertheless, Lee thought that his army 

was strong enough to keep the enemy occupied north of the 

Potomac until the approach of winter would make an enemy 

advance into Virginia difficult, if not impossible.1 Richmond 

would be safe, at least until the following spring. On 4 September the Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River near 

Leesburg to the martial strains of “Maryland, My Maryland” 

and marched on to Frederick, Maryland.2 (Map 1)

Fifty-five-year-old Virginian Robert E. Lee was the son of Revolutionary War hero General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee. 

Robert E. Lee graduated second in the West Point Class of 1829 

and later served in the Mexican War, in which he was slightly 

wounded. He was superintendent of West Point from 1852 to 

1855. In April 1861 Lee resigned his commission, hoping to remain out of the coming conflict. However, after Virginia seceded from the Union in late May, Lee accepted an appointment as 

commander of Virginia military forces. Later he served as military adviser to Jefferson Davis. On 1 June 1862, Davis assigned 

1 U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official 

Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1887), ser.1, vol. 19 (hereafter cited as OR), pt. 1, p. 

144, and pt. 2, pp. 590–91.

2 Henry Kyd Douglas, I Rode with Stonewall (Marietta, Ga.: R. Bemis Publishing, 1993), p. 620.
5

Lee to command the force defending Richmond, which would 

soon become known as the Army of Northern Virginia. During 

the summer he led that army in the successful Battles of the 

Seven Days and Second Bull Run. Now, in early September, Lee

led the Army of Northern Virginia north to the Potomac and into 

Maryland. He entered Maryland not on horseback but in an ambulance, for almost a week earlier he had fallen and broken a 

small bone in one hand and strained the other. His hands had 

Map 1

J A CKSON

LONGSTREET

J A CKSON

J A CKSON

J A CKSON

Mc L AWS

WA LKER

D . H . H I L L

A R M Y O F

N O RT H E R N V I R G I N I A

L E E

SUMNER

FR ANKL IN

BURNSI D E

A R M Y O F T H E P O T O M A C

M c C L E L L A N

I X

I

I I

X I I

V I

I V ( - )

Shenandoah River

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Potomac River

W E S T

V I R G I N I A

V I R G I N I A

M A R Y L A N D

White's Ford

Williamsport

Hagerstown

Martinsburg Sharpsburg

Boonsboro

Frederick

Rockville

Harper's Ferry

Leesburg

Manassas Junction

Chantilly

Centreville

Alexandria

Middleburg

WASHINGTON

3–13 September 1862

INVASION OF MARYLAND

AND

UNION RESPONSE

0 16

Miles
6 

been placed in splints, with his right arm in a sling. It would be 

another week before he would be able to ride at all, and then 

only with a courier often leading his horse.3

At the beginning of the Maryland Campaign, the Army of 

Northern Virginia was organized into two infantry commands, 

or “wings.”4

Forty-one-year-old Maj. Gen. James Longstreet commanded 

one wing of the army. A native of South Carolina, Longstreet had 

graduated from West Point in 1842. Like Lee, he was wounded in 

the Mexican War. At the beginning of the Civil War, Longstreet

resigned his U.S. Army commission and accepted a commission as brigadier general in the Confederate Army, commanding an infantry division. In October of the same year Longstreet

was appointed major general and during the summer of 1862 

commanded a wing in the Army of Northern Virginia. Longstreet’s 

wing contained the divisions of Maj. Gens. Lafayette McLaws and 

Richard H. Anderson, as well as Brig. Gens. David R. Jones, John B. 

Hood, and John G. Walker.

Thirty-eight-year-old Virginian Stonewall Jackson commanded Lee’s other wing. Jackson had graduated from West Point in 

1846 and resigned his commission almost ten years later to become an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute. When the 

Civil War broke out, Jackson accepted a colonelcy in the Virginia militia. Shortly thereafter, while a brigadier general at the 

First Battle of Bull Run, he earned the sobriquet Stonewall by 

standing firm against Union attacks. Jackson’s wing included 

the divisions of Maj. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, Maj. Gen. Daniel H. 

Hill (Jackson’s brother-in-law), Brig Gen. John R. Jones commanding Jackson’s division, and Brig. Gen. A. R. Lawton commanding 

Ewell’s Division (the name given to the division previously commanded by Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell). Jackson also spent time 

traveling in an ambulance. Shortly after entering Maryland, he 

was injured when his horse reared up and fell on him. Jackson

was severely bruised and unable to ride for several days.5

In addition to the two infantry wings, Lee’s army included a 

cavalry division commanded by 29-year-old Maj. Gen. James E. 

B. Stuart, a Virginian and 1854 graduate of West Point. Stuart’s 

division also included three batteries of artillery commanded by 

Capt. John Pelham.

The artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of 

Antietam totaled approximately 246 guns, at least 82 of which 

3 Ibid., p. 144. See also Robert E. Lee, Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee 

(New York: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1904), pp. 78–79.

4 These two commands were officially designated corps on 6 November.

5 Douglas, I Rode with Stonewall, p. 620.
7

were rifled, organized into batteries of 4–6 guns each. A battalion of several batteries was attached to each division, and four 

battalions of several batteries each were attached to the army’s 

reserve artillery, command by Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton.

6

The strength of the Army of Northern Virginia in July was almost 

50,000 men. However, by the Battle of Antietam in mid-September, combat casualties, sickness, and straggling had reduced 

those numbers to roughly 35,000.7

After crossing the Potomac, the main portion of the Army 

of Northern Virginia reached Frederick by 7 September. The following day Lee issued a proclamation to the people of Maryland 

in which he promised “to aid you in throwing off this foreign 

yoke” and to restore sovereignty to the state.8

Meanwhile, the Federal government at Washington was moving to counter Lee’s advance into Maryland. On 5 September the 

Army of Virginia was officially consolidated with the Army of 

Previous to Antietam, Alfred R. Waud. The drawing shows Confederates 

crossing the Potomac, with Union scouts in the foreground.

6 OR, pt.1, p. 835. 7Walter H. Taylor, Four Years with General Lee (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996), pp. 61, 73. See also OR, pt. 2, p. 602. 8 OR, pt. 2, p. 602.
8 

the Potomac, with the whole to be commanded by 35-year-old 

General McClellan. A West Point graduate of 1846 and former 

classmate of General Jackson’s, McClellan had resigned his commission in 1857. He served for a time with the Illinois Central 

Railroad and shortly before the Civil War was president of the 

eastern division of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. When war 

broke out, McClellan offered his services to the military forces 

of Ohio. In late 1861 he was summoned to Washington by President Lincoln, commissioned major general in the Regular Army, 

and appointed as general in chief of the Army.

Although McClellan was an excellent administrator and 

enormously popular with the troops, he was at constant odds 

with the Lincoln administration over military policy. In March 

1862, when McClellan left Washington to accompany the Army 

of the Potomac to Fort Monroe, Lincoln relieved him as general 

in chief. (He retained command of the Army of the Potomac.) 

McClellan’s continued bickering with the administration and 

the failure of his campaign before Richmond led to calls for his 

dismissal. It was, therefore, a surprise to many when Lincoln announced that McClellan would command the reorganized army 

during the Maryland Campaign. Lincoln believed that McClellan alone was capable of the complex task of quickly reorganizing and consolidating the two demoralized armies and then 

leading them immediately into battle. In addition to many regiments and batteries drawn from the defenses of Washington, 

the new elements of McClellan’s army included the North Carolina Expeditionary Force of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s IX 

Corps. Burnside’s command had arrived in northern Virginia in 

July from operations along the coast of the Carolinas. In early 

September Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox’s Kanawha Division, which 

had arrived from western Virginia the previous month, was attached to the IX Corps. 

When the War Department learned that Lee’s army had 

crossed into Maryland, McClellan was ordered to pursue immediately. By 7 September he was leading the Army of the Potomac 

north in search of Lee. 

Lee, unaware of McClellan’s pursuit, contemplated his next 

move at Frederick. He planned to shift his army westward across 

South Mountain to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he could establish a supply line to Winchester, Virginia, in the Shenandoah 

Valley. And, as Lee wrote Davis, “Should the results of the expedition justify it, I propose to enter Pennsylvania.”9 Aside from 

drawing the Union army farther from its base in Washington, 

9 Ibid., p. 592.
9

such a move would allow the Confederates to continue gathering much-needed supplies.

Blocking Lee’s plan to open a line of communications into 

the Shenandoah Valley, however, were two Federal garrisons: 

10,000 men at Harper’s Ferry and about 2,000 at Martinsburg. 

Lee had expected both garrisons to flee westward after the Confederates crossed the Potomac, but instead authorities in Washington had ordered the garrisons to remain in place. Their 

presence meant that Lee would have to capture the enemy garrisons before continuing his march toward Pennsylvania. In a 

discussion with Longstreet, Lee proposed dividing the army into 

several elements to accomplish the mission. Longstreet advised 

against such a move, arguing that the Union army at Washington, though disorganized and demoralized after Second Bull 

Run, was still a threat. He said that he knew a number of Union 

commanders who could “put it in order and march against us, 

if they found us exposed, and make a serious trouble before the 

capture [of Harper’s Ferry] could be accomplished.” Lee spoke 

no more of the proposal to Longstreet, who thought the plan “a 

mere passing thought.”

However, Longstreet’s assessment was premature. Lee, after 

consultation with Jackson, decided to capture the two garrisons.10 On 9 September Lee issued Special Orders 191,11 which 

explained the Harper’s Ferry operation in detail, including the 

routes of march for the various units involved. (See Map 2.) Jackson, with the divisions commanded by J. R. Jones, Lawton, and A. 

P. Hill, was to recross the Potomac River at Williamsport, Maryland, and capture the garrison at Martinsburg. Jackson and his 

command were then to march to Harper’s Ferry, approaching 

the town from the west. Longstreet’s divisions under McLaws, R. 

H. Anderson, and Walker would assist Jackson at Harper’s Ferry. 

McLaws and Anderson were to march directly to Harper’s Ferry 

and occupy the heights north of the Potomac and east of the 

town, while Walker was to cross the Potomac at Point of Rocks 

and occupy the heights south of the town. While Stuart’s cavalry screened the army’s various movements, the division of D. 

H. Hill was to occupy Boonsboro to prevent any Union troops 

in Harper’s Ferry from escaping in that direction. Although the 

order indicated that Longstreet’s command was to halt at Boonsboro, Longstreet, along with Lee and the divisions of D. R. Jones 

and Hood, continued on to Hagerstown. The division of D. H. 

Hill was to halt at Boonsboro as a rear guard. At the successful 

10 James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1896), pp. 201–02.

11 OR, pt. 2, pp. 603–04.
10 

conclusion of the operation, Lee’s army was to reunite at Hagerstown; at that time he would determine whether to continue 

to march north into Pennsylvania. Despite Longstreet’s forebodings about the operation, Lee was certain that McClellan would 

remain for some time near Washington to complete the Union 

LONGSTREE T

LE

J A

E

CKSON

J A CKSON

J A CKSON

J A CKSON

Mc L AWS

WA LKER

D . H . H I L L

UNION

GARRISON

C a t o c t i n M o u n t a i n

S o u t h M o u n t a i n

Antietam Creek

Shenandoah River

Potomac River

W E S T V I R G I N I A

V I R G I N I A

M A R Y L A N D

Williamsport

Hagerstown

Martinsburg

Shepherdstown

Sharpsburg

Boonsboro

Middletown Frederick

Harper's Ferry

Leesburg

Point of Rocks

10–13 September 1862

CONFEDERATE MOVEMENTS

Per Special Orders 191

0 12

Miles
11

Army’s reorganization. Lee also expected the Harper’s Ferry operation to be completed no later than 13 September.12

The Confederate army departed Frederick on 10 September. 

Jackson’s command marched to Williamsport, where it forded 

the Potomac while bands played “Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny.”13 On 12 September, as Jackson approached Martinsburg, 

the Federal garrison there fled to Harper’s Ferry. The following 

morning Jackson resumed his march; by the evening of 13 September, the time by which Lee had hoped the operation would 

be finished, the commands of Jackson, Walker, R. H. Anderson, 

and McLaws were surrounding Harper’s Ferry.

On 12 September, only two days after the Confederate army’s 

departure from Frederick, elements of the Army of the Potomac 

began entering that city. The following day McClellan himself 

arrived. The 80,000-man Union army was organized into three 

wings. Thirty-eight-year-old General Burnside commanded the 

army’s right wing, consisting of the I Corps, led by Maj. Gen. 

Joseph Hooker, and the IX Corps, led by Maj. Gen. Jesse L. Reno. 

Sixty-five-year-old Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner commanded the 

center wing, which included Sumner’s own II Corps and the XII 

Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks. Because Banks 

had been retained in Washington to command the defense of the 

capital, the corps was placed under the temporary command of 

Maj. Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield. Thirty-nine-year-old Maj. Gen. 

William B. Franklin commanded McClellan’s left wing, which included Franklin’s own VI Corps and the division of Maj. Gen. 

Darius Couch. Couch’s division had been part of the IV Corps, 

but that organization had recently been disbanded and Couch’s 

division attached to Franklin’s command. Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton commanded McClellan’s cavalry division, which contained five brigades of cavalry. McClellan’s field artillery consisted 

of approximately 300 guns, typically organized into batteries of 

6 guns, each with several batteries assigned to each division. Almost 60 percent of McClellan’s artillery was rifled.

After McClellan arrived at Frederick on the morning of 13 

September, circumstances intervened on his behalf. That morning a Union enlisted man camping near town found several cigars around which was wrapped a copy of Lee’s Special Orders 

191, which had been lost by a Confederate courier.14 By early 

afternoon the document was in McClellan’s hands.

12 Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 206. 13 Douglas, I Rode with Stonewall, p. 623. 14 Silas Colgrove, “The Finding of Lee’s Lost Order,” in Battles and Leaders of 

the Civil War, ed. Robert U. Johnson and Clarence C. Buel, 4 vols. (New York: 

The Century Co., 1887) (hereafter cited as B&L), 2: 603.
12 

McClellan now knew of Lee’s plan for the capture of Harper’s 

Ferry and of the division of the Confederate army into several 

smaller commands. If McClellan moved quickly, he could cross 

South Mountain, interpose his army between Lee’s forces, and 

defeat them one at a time. McClellan later wrote that he “immediately gave orders for a rapid and vigorous forward movement.”15 But the pursuit did not occur that afternoon. Earlier in 

the day the IX Corps had been sent to cross Catoctin Mountain 

and was approaching Middletown. McClellan ordered the IX 

Corps to continue to Turner’s and Fox’s Gaps on South Mountain the following morning. At 1820 McClellan also ordered 

the VI Corps to cross Crampton’s Gap the following morning. 

Around midnight a confident McClellan sent a telegram to President Lincoln: “I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch 

them in their own trap if my men are equal to the emergency.” 

He added, “Will send you trophies.”16

McClellan’s confidence about confronting Lee’s army, however, came to be tempered by his mistaken belief that Lee’s army 

outnumbered him. From a variety of sources, he was getting 

estimates of Confederate strength ranging from 80,000–200,000 

men.17 Moreover, as McClellan telegraphed Washington, “Everything seems to indicate that they intend to hazard all upon the 

issue of the coming battle. They are probably aware that their 

forces are numerically superior to ours by at least 25 per cent.”18 

Observing that a general battle against such odds “might, to 

say the least, be doubtful,” McClellan asked to be reinforced by 

troops stationed in defense of Washington. The administration 

responded by sending the V Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. 

Fitz John Porter.

On the evening of 13 September Lee received the unwelcome news from Stuart’s cavalry scouts that the Union army 

had reached Frederick. Stuart estimated Union strength to be 

90,000.19 Shortly afterward Lee may have learned from Stuart

that, according to a local citizen, a copy of Special Orders 191 

was in McClellan’s hands.20 With McClellan aware of Lee’s

scattered forces and the Union army approaching the South 

15 George B. McClellan, McClellan’s Own Story (New York: Charles L. Webster 

and Co., 1887), p. 572.

16 OR, pt. 2, p. 281. 17 Ibid., pp. 233, 248.

18 Ibid., p. 254.

19 Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 219. 20 Joseph L. Harsh, Sounding the Shallows: A Confederate Companion for the 

Maryland Campaign of 1862 (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2000), 

pp. 170–71.
13

Mountain gaps, Lee had to act quickly. He ordered D. H. Hill, 

supported by Hood and D. R. Jones, to defend Turner’s and Fox’s 

Gaps. Farther south, McLaws was to continue his role in the 

Harper’s Ferry operation but send a part of his force to defend 

Crampton’s Gap.

On 14 September McClellan’s right wing, commanded by 

Burnside and consisting of Hooker’s I Corps and Reno’s IX 

Corps, fought its way to the top of South Mountain. (See Map 3.) 

By evening the Confederate defenders barely held their ground 

on the crest. During the fighting Reno was killed, and General 

Cox assumed command of the IX Corps. Six miles to the south, 

Franklin’s VI Corps attacked Crampton’s Gap. After a hardfought battle with McLaws’ defenders, Union forces occupied 

the gap. It had taken all day, but McClellan’s army had captured 

one mountain gap and would probably force its way through 

the other two the following morning. McClellan was jubilant. 

He telegraphed the War Department, “It had been a glorious 

victory.” When the results of the Battles of South Mountain 

reached the White House, Lincoln, who only a few days earlier 

had feared a Confederate attack on Washington, telegraphed 

McClellan: “Your dispatch of to-day received. God bless you and 

all with you! Destroy the rebel army, if possible.”21

Having watched the defense of the northern gaps, late in the 

evening Lee determined that the troops at hand were insufficient 

to prevent an expected Union attempt to cross the mountain the 

following morning. Consequently, he decided to end the campaign in Maryland and withdraw the troops then with him to 

Virginia by way of a Potomac River ford at Shepherdstown. But 

shortly thereafter Lee received the news that Union troops had 

taken Crampton’s Gap. If the Union troops crossed through that 

gap the following morning, they could relieve the Union garrison 

at Harper’s Ferry. To guard against the potential Union maneuver, 

Lee decided to halt his retreat near Sharpsburg and threaten any 

enemy force moving against McLaws’ and Anderson’s rear.

On the morning of 15 September Lee, along with Longstreet, 

D. R. Jones’ and D. H. Hill’s divisions, and a portion of Stuart’s

cavalry, reached Sharpsburg on Boonsboro Pike. The town is just 

east of Antietam Creek and only about three miles from the Potomac River. A bridge across the river had been destroyed earlier 

in the war, but the river could be crossed at Boteler’s Ford, less 

than a mile downstream from Shepherdstown. 

Around noon Lee received news of the surrender of the 

Harper’s Ferry garrison. The surrender was announced to the 

21 McClellan, McClellan’s Own Story, p. 583.
Map 3

UNION

GARRISON

R E N O — I X

H O O K E R — I

B U R N S I D E

S U M N E R — I I

P O R T E R — V

M A N S F I E L D — X I I

F R A N K L I N — V I

C O U C H — I V ( - )

M

c L A W S ( - )

W A L K E R

J A C K S O N

M

c L A W S ( - )

L E

E

L O N G S T R E E T

D . H . H I L L

C a t o c t i n M o u n t a i n

S o u t h M o u n t a i n

Fox's Gap

Turner's Gap

Crampton's Gap

Antietam Creek

Potomac River

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

W E S T

V I R G I N I A

V I R G I N I A

M A R Y L A N D

Williamsport

Hagerstown

Shepherdstown

Sharpsburg

Keedysville

Boonsboro

Rohrersville

Middletown

Frederick

Harper's Ferry

Point of Rocks

14 September 1862

Note: Roads are approximate.

BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN

0 12

Miles
15

army, which, according to Lee, “reanimated the courage of the 

troops.”22 A short time later Stuart arrived to inform Lee of the 

large number of Union prisoners captured at Harper’s Ferry 

and the vast amounts of supplies. With thousands of his men 

barefoot, Lee quickly responded, “General, did they have any 

shoes?” Pointing to a Confederate unit standing barefoot nearby, Lee told Stuart, “These good men need shoes.”23

With Harper’s Ferry captured and the Confederate victors 

now marching to rejoin the army at Sharpsburg, Lee elected to 

remain in Maryland a little longer. Lee made a risky decision to 

remain north of the Potomac River and confront an enemy he 

believed to outnumber his army by two to one. On 15 September Lee had on hand at Sharpsburg only about 25,000 men. The 

Confederates at Harper’s Ferry might add another 15,000 men, 

but it would be a day at least before these troops might rejoin 

the army at Sharpsburg. At Lee’s back was the Potomac River. If 

Lee was driven back to Boteler’s Ford by an aggressive enemy, 

it might mean disaster for the Confederates. Still, Lee was reluctant to withdraw from Maryland so soon after his “liberating” entry only a week earlier. And even though his command 

might be outnumbered, he had confidence that his men could 

hold their own against the Army of the Potomac. He decided to 

make a stand at Sharpsburg.

In 1862 three narrow stone bridges crossed Antietam Creek 

in the vicinity of Sharpsburg. A road from Keedysville on 

Boonsboro Pike crossed the stream at the northernmost, or upper, bridge near the mill of Philip Pry. A mile south of the upper 

bridge, Boonsboro Pike crossed over the middle bridge (now 

replaced by a modern highway bridge). A mile south of Sharpsburg, the lower bridge, now called Burnside Bridge, crossed the 

stream. Antietam Creek could also be crossed at Pry’s Mill Ford, 

a half-mile south of the upper bridge; at Snavely’s Ford, a mile 

south of the lower bridge; and at several other smaller farm 

fords.

Lee deployed his small command around Sharpsburg. (See Map 4.) 

The division of D. R. Jones was placed on high ground east of 

the town and south of Boonsboro Pike. The small brigade of 

Brig. Gen. Robert Toombs was assigned to guard the lower bridge. 

Farther south, a portion of Stuart’s cavalry guarded the army’s 

right flank. Northeast of town, D. H. Hill’s division was placed 

22 Clifford Dowdey, ed., The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee (Boston: Little, 

Brown and Co., 1961), p. 318.

23 Ezar A. Carman, Unpubl Narrative History of the Battle, copy on file at 

Antietam National Battlefield, ch. 9, p. 55.
Map 4





L E E

H O O D

L

O

N

G

S

T

R E E T

D.

R. J O N E S

T O O M B S

D. H. H I L L

C A V A L R Y

C A V A L R Y

525

475

525

525

575

575

575

575

525

475

425

525

475

475

525

525

475

425

425

575

525 475

42

375

5

475

525

Antietam

Creek

Ford

Burnside Bridge

(Lower Bridge)

The North Woods

The Cornfield

The West Woods

The East Woods

Middle Bridge

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

B O O N S B O R O P I K E

H A R P E R S F E R R Y R O A D

Smoketown

John Poffenberger

Ground Squirrel Church

Nicodemus D.R. Miller

Jos. Poffenberger

S. Poffenberger M. Miller

Hoffman

A. Poffenberger

Dunker Church

Mumma

Roulette

Stone Mill

J. Otto H. Rohrbach

Sherrick

H. Piper

Morrison

S H A R P S B U R G

15 September 1862

CONFEDERATE SITUATION

Afternoon

0 1200

Yards
17

between the middle bridge and Dunker Church. (Also known as 

Dunkard Church, the small white structure belonged to a pacifist sect known as the Church of the Brethren. Outsiders called 

the congregation Dunkers or Dunkards because of a doctrine 

of three total immersions during baptism.) Hood’s division was 

placed near Dunker Church. Surrounding Hood’s command were 

three woodlots known as the West, North, and East Woods and 

a gently rolling farmland of cornfields, plowed fields, and pastures. On the opposite side of the pike from the church almost 

half a mile farther north was a thirty-acre cornfield that would 

gain notoriety in the battle. To guard the army’s left flank, another portion of Stuart’s cavalry was placed northwest of Dunker 

Church near the bend in the Potomac River. Lee established his 

headquarters in a tent on the western edge of town on Boonsboro Pike. 

McClellan’s army began crossing the northern gaps of South 

Mountain on the morning of 15 September and marched toward Sharpsburg. To the south, Franklin’s VI Corps, followed by 

Couch’s division, crossed at Crampton’s Gap. Franklin’s mission 

had been to relieve the Harper’s Ferry garrison; but some time 

after noon the mission changed when, as McClellan later wrote, 

“the total cessation of firing in the direction of Harper’s Ferry 

indicated but too clearly the shameful and premature surrender 

of the post.”24 McClellan ordered Franklin and Couch to halt at 

the western foot of South Mountain and await further orders. 

McClellan’s army began arriving on the east side of Antietam 

Creek on the afternoon of 15 September. Although a force of 

Confederates could be seen halted on the west side of the creek, 

McClellan believed that the enemy was in full retreat and would 

cross the Potomac River back into Virginia that night.25 McClellan established his headquarters on Boonsboro Pike about a mile 

south of Keedysville. While the cavalry halted on the heights 

east of the middle bridge, Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson’s and 

Brig. Gen. George Sykes’ divisions took positions opposite the 

bridge and Hooker’s I Corps halted east of the upper bridge. 

Sumner, with Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick’s and Brig. Gen. William 

French’s divisions and Mansfield’s XII Corps, halted at Keedysville. McClellan later said that he had hoped to make an attack 

that afternoon; but “after a rapid examination of the position, I 

found it was too late to attack that day.”26 Instead, he spent the 

afternoon waiting for more troops to arrive, assigning positions 

for the troops to camp that night, and placing artillery batteries, 

24 OR, pt. 1, p. 29. 25 Carman, Unpubl Narrative History, ch. 13, p. 5.

26 OR, pt. 1, p. 29.
18 

including long-range rifled artillery, on the ridge overlooking the 

creek. That evening Cox’s IX Corps arrived and was placed opposite the lower bridge. During the day McClellan had suspended 

the organization of Burnside’s right wing and ordered Hooker 

to report directly to him rather than to Burnside.27 Burnside was 

assigned command of the left wing of the army, which consisted 

of only the IX Corps. 

On the morning of 16 September McClellan, still expecting 

the Confederates to be mostly across the river in Virginia, wrote 

to his wife: “Have reached thus far and have no doubt delivered 

Penna and Maryland. All well and in excellent spirits.”28 McClellan also sent a telegram to Washington: “This morning a 

heavy fog has thus far prevented our doing more than to ascertain that some of the enemy are still there. Do not yet know in 

what force. Will attack as soon as situation of the enemy is developed.”29 When the fog cleared, McClellan spent most of the 

morning riding along his line, “examining the ground, finding 

fords, clearing approaches, and hurrying up ammunition and 

supply-trains.”30 Around noon Maj. Gen. George W. Morell’s division of the V Corps arrived, accompanied by Porter himself, 

and was halted near Keedysville.

While McClellan continued to prepare to attack, Jackson and 

the divisions of J. R. Jones and Lawton arrived at Sharpsburg, 

rejoining Jackson’s third division, commanded by D. H. Hill. 

Jackson’s fourth division, that of A. P. Hill, remained at Harper’s 

Ferry to secure captured property and parole the large number of prisoners (about 12,000). Walker’s division of Longstreet’s 

command also arrived from Harper’s Ferry and halted a short 

distance south of the town. 

By 1330 McClellan was finally ready to go on the offensive, 

but he was reluctant to commit a large portion of his army to 

a frontal attack. Instead, he ordered Hooker’s I Corps, stationed 

by the upper bridge, to cross Antietam Creek and if possible to 

turn Lee’s left flank. McClellan later started in his report of the 

battle: 

My plan for the impending 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 matters look 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 

27 Ibid. See also p. 418.

28 Stephen W. Sears, ed., The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected 

Correspondence, 1860–1865 (New York: Ticknor and Fields, 1989), p. 566. 29 OR, pp. 307–08. 30 McClellan, McClellan’s Own Story, p. 590.
19

carried their position, to press along the crest towards our right; and 

whenever either of these flank movements should be successful, to 

advance our center with all the forces then disposable.31

However, if McClellan had indeed formulated such a plan 

before the battle, he apparently failed to impart it to Hooker, 

who was under the impression that the I Corps with roughly 

8,500 men was acting alone. Hooker’s corps consisted of three 

divisions commanded by Brig. Gens. Abner Doubleday, James B. 

Ricketts, and George G. Meade. It was not until approximately 

1530 or 1600 that the divisions of Meade and Ricketts crossed at 

the upper bridge and began marching toward Hagerstown Pike 

while Doubleday’s division crossed nearby Pry’s Mill Ford. (See 

Map 5.)

Hooker’s command had not gone much over half a mile 

when Hooker began to have doubts about attacking the Confederates with only his corps. Hooker informed McClellan that 

if he were not reinforced, or unless a simultaneous attack was 

made on the Confederate right flank, “the rebels would eat me 

up.”32 McClellan promised reinforcements and ordered Sumner’s XII Corps, commanded by Mansfield, from Keedysville to 

support Hooker. Sumner was also to be prepared to send the II 

Corps from Keedysville for the same purpose the next morning. To be closer to the impending action, McClellan moved his 

headquarters to the home of Philip Pry, about half a mile south 

of the upper bridge, just west of Boonsboro Pike.

Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson were meeting in the center of 

Sharpsburg when a courier brought word that Union troops 

were crossing Antietam at the upper bridge. Around the same 

time they also received news of enemy movements near the 

The Lower, or Burnside, Bridge from the Union Side

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid., p. 217.
Map 5





J. R. J O N E S

S. D. L E E

H O O D

L A W T O N

P E L H A M

J

A

C

K S O N

L O

N

G

S

T

R

E

E

T

D. R. J O N E S

W A L K E R

T O O M B S

D . H . H I L L

L E E

C A V A L R Y

C A V A L R Y

M E A D E

R I C K E T T S

D O U B L E D A Y

PLEASONTON

M c C L E L L A N

R I C H A R D S O N S Y K E S

W I L L C O X

R O D M A N

K A N A W H A

S T U R G I S

H O O K E R

B

U

R

N S I D E

( C

O

X )

525

475

525

150

575

575

525

475

425

525

525

525 475

425

475

525

425 375

475

425

375

525

Antietam

Creek Burnside Bridge

(Lower Bridge)

Snavely's Ford

The North Woods

The Cornfield

The West

Woods

The East Woods

Middle Bridge

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

B O O N S B O R O P I K E

Smoketown

Porterstown

S H A R P S B U R G

16 September 1862

BATTLEFIELD SITUATION

1530–1600

0 1600

Yards
21

lower bridge. To meet the northern threat, Lee sent Jackson with

J. R. Jones’ command toward Dunker Church to join with Hood. 

Lawton was initially ordered to support Toombs’ brigade at the 

lower bridge; but after Lee determined that there was no Union 

attempt to cross the lower bridge, Lawton was sent to join Jackson. Walker’s command remained south of Sharpsburg, available 

to support Toombs if necessary. 

Shortly before dark Hooker’s columns, preceded by skirmishers from Meade’s division, reached the East Woods. Hood’s division opened a lively skirmish with Meade’s men, but darkness 

and a drizzling rain ended the confrontation. Hood then withdrew to the West Woods, south of Dunker Church. Jackson extracted a promise from Hood that his division would return to 

the front the moment it was called upon. 

Leaving Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour’s brigade of Meade’s 

division in the East Woods, the remainder of Hooker’s corps 

moved into bivouac just east of Hagerstown Pike and north 

of the Joseph Poffenberger home. Hooker, still nervous about 

confronting an enemy that he believed to outnumber him, informed McClellan that his attack would begin at dawn. He also 

asked that reinforcements be sent to him before the attack. 

During the night McClellan ordered Franklin’s VI Corps, 

still near Crampton’s Gap, to join the main army at Sharpsburg. 

Couch’s division was ordered to remain in place. Around midnight, per McClellan’s orders, the 7,500-man XII Corps crossed 

Antietam Creek and by 0200 encamped about two miles north 

of the East Woods, joining Hooker’s I Corps. 

Facing the threat of an attack the following morning, Lee

ordered A. P. Hill’s division at Harper’s Ferry to march for Sharpsburg at first light. Hill was to leave a small force behind to complete the removal of captured property. 

Burnside Bridge, a Confederate View
22

The Battle

Shortly before daylight on 17 September Hooker’s corps began to stir, initiating heavy firing between the pickets of both 

sides. By roughly 0600 the rain had ceased, and the I Corps began its advance south through a low-lying morning mist. (Map 

6) Hooker stated that this immediate objective was to reach 

high ground almost a mile to the south (site of the present-day 

Visitor Center).33 While Doubleday’s division marched south 

along Hagerstown Pike, Ricketts’ division moved west of Smoketown Road. The brigades of Col. Albert L. Magilton and Lt. 

Col. Robert Anderson of Meade’s division waited in reserve near 

the North Woods. Seymour’s brigade, also of Meade’s division, 

remained in an advanced position in the southwest corner of 

the East Woods. In addition to Hooker’s own artillery placed 

on high ground near the Joseph Poffenberger farm, his advance 

was also supported by long-range rifled guns on the heights east 

of Antietam Creek. These guns enfiladed Jackson’s lines, dropping rounds randomly along Hagerstown Pike. 

Under heavy fire from Union artillery, Jackson’s command 

waited. The division of J. R. Jones was west of Hagerstown Pike, 

about 500 yards north of Dunker Church. Farther west, the brigade of Brig. Gen. Jubal A. Early, part of Lawton’s division, supported Stuart’s cavalry. East of the pike, on the southern edge of 

the Cornfield, Lawton extended Jackson’s line toward the East 

Woods. South of this position, near the home of Samuel Mumma, a portion of Lawton’s command protected Jackson’s right 

flank. 

While Union artillery kept up a steady fire into Jackson’s 

position, Confederate guns quickly responded. Along Nicodemus Hill, fourteen guns of Pelham’s artillery opened fire into 

Brig. Gen. John Gibbon’s brigade of Doubleday’s division. One 

of Hood’s artillery battalions, commanded by Col. Stephen D. 

Lee and directly in the path of the Union advance, fired from a 

knoll just east of Hagerstown Pike and opposite Dunker Church. 

As the gunners on both sides kept up a lively fire, a civilian 

spectator noted, “The cannonade, reverberating from cloud to 

mountain and from mountain to cloud, became a continuous 

roar, like the unbroken roll of a thunder-storm.”34

Jackson’s men did not have long to wait. Doubleday’s and 

Ricketts’ divisions soon reached the Miller farm and halted 

north of the Cornfield. The corn stood six feet high, but Hooker 

33 Ibid., p. 218.

34 Charles C. Coffin, “Antietam Scenes,” in B&L, p. 682.
Map 6



L A W T O N ( - )

S T A R K E

S. D. L E E

J. R. J O N E S

H O O D

L A W T O N ( - )

E A R L Y P E L H A M

J A C K S O N

M E A D E ( - )

M E A D E ( - )

P H E L P S

D U R Y E A

H A R T S U F F

C H R I S T I A N

P A T R I C K

G I B B O N S

D O U B L E D A Y

R I C

K

E

T T S

H O O K E R

575

575

525

525

475

525

525

525

525

525

525

575 575

575

T h e N o r t h Wo o d s

T h e C o r n f i e l d

T h e We s t Wo o d s

T h e

E a s t Wo o d s

Nicodemus Hill

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

L A N D I N G R O A D

S U N K E N R O A D

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

Jos. Poffenberger

Nicodemus

Mumma

A. Poffenberger

Hauser

Dunker

Church

17 September 1862

HOOKER'S ATTACK

0600–0630

0 500

Yards
24 

deduced from the bayonets protruding above the corn that the 

field contained a large number of Confederate troops. Hooker 

ordered two batteries of artillery forward from the Joseph Poffenberger farm, and the guns began raking the Cornfield with 

round after round of canister. Hooker vividly described the 

scene: “In the time I am writing 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 stood in their ranks a few moments before. It was never my 

fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battle-field.”35

Shortly afterward, the infantry advance resumed. As Ricketts’ division approached the Cornfield, two of his three brigades halted when the commander of one was seriously wounded and the other lost his nerve. The result was that only one of 

Ricketts’ brigades entered the Cornfield to confront Lawton’s division. After a short but bitter standup fight, the Union brigade 

was driven back with heavy losses. Ricketts’ remaining two brigades, now under new commanders, attacked Lawton; but the 

assaults were uncoordinated and each in turn was driven from 

the Cornfield.

35 OR, pt. 1, p. 218.

Battle of Antietam, Thure de Thulstrup, Showing the Union Advance on the 

Dunker Church
25

While Ricketts’ brigades fought in the eastern portion of the 

Cornfield, Doubleday’s division fought in the western portion. 

An officer in Doubleday’s command afterward wrote, “Men, 

I cannot say fell; they were knocked out of the ranks by dozens.”36 Near Hagerstown Pike, Doubleday’s men struck the left 

of Lawton’s command and drove the Confederates back. A portion of J. R. Jones’ division then attacked Doubleday, but it was 

driven back. After losing many casualties, Lawton’s command 

also fell back to join D. R. Jones. The bloody Cornfield was in 

Union hands. 

By 0700 over half of Jackson’s command had been killed or 

wounded. J. R. Jones left the field after being stunned by the explosion of artillery shell. Brig. Gen. William E. Starke, a brigade 

commander in Jones’ command, was killed, the first Confederate general to be killed or mortally wounded during the battle. 

With his line collapsing, Jackson called on Hood’s division for 

assistance. 

Hood’s men were preparing breakfast in the West Woods 

southwest of Dunker Church when they received orders to move 

36 Rufus R. Dawes, Service with the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers (Marietta, Ga.: E. 

R. Alderman and Sons, 1890), p. 90.

Confederate Dead along the West Side of Hagerstown Pike. The Cornfield is 

to the right.
26

at once to the front. The command quickly departed the woods 

and headed north with Col. William T. Wofford’s brigade on 

the left and Col. Evander M. Law’s brigade on the right. (Map 7) 

Doubleday’s and Ricketts’ divisions had resumed their advance 

when they were suddenly attacked by Hood’s men. A Union Officer remembered, “A long and steady gray line, unbroken by the 

fugitives who fly before us, comes sweeping down through the 

woods around the church. They raise the yell and fire. It is like 

a scythe running through our line. ‘Now save, who can.’ It is a 

race for life that each man runs for the cornfield.”37

The left of Hood’s division drove into the Cornfield, where 

another round of violence exploded. Hood later wrote, “It was 

here that I witnessed the most terrible clash of arms, by far, 

that has occurred during the war.”38 As his men pressed forward, Hood’s left flank came under fire from Doubleday’s troops, 

who had fallen back to the west side of Hagerstown Pike. Battery B, 4th U.S. Artillery, also west of the pike, opened fire on 

the Confederates. The guns fired canister at a range of less than 

twenty-five yards, throwing splintered pieces of fence rails and 

men alike into the air. The Confederates who survived the blast 

began shooting down the gunners. 

While part of Hood’s command fought along the pike, the 

1st Texas Infantry pushed through the Cornfield toward the 

Miller farmhouse, where Magilton’s and Anderson’s brigades of 

Meade’s division had arrived earlier. The one-sided confrontation resulted in the Texans’ suffering over 80 percent casualties 

and retreating to the Cornfield. 

Meanwhile, the right of Hood’s division entered the East 

Woods. There, it confronted Mansfield’s newly arrived XII 

Corps, which McClellan had ordered to support Hooker the day 

before. Mansfield, thinking that his command was firing on 

Hooker’s men, rode in front of his line to halt the firing and was 

mortally wounded. Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams, one of Mansfield’s division commanders, assumed command of the corps 

and launched a counterattack into the Cornfield. Hood’s command was driven back to the West Woods. 

While Williams’ division halted in the Cornfield, the other 

division of the XII Corps, commanded by Brig. Gen. George S. 

Greene, detached one brigade to support Williams. Greene’s two 

remaining brigades continued south on Smoketown Road. Colonel Lee’s guns quickly withdrew, and Greene halted on a plateau 

east of Dunker Church. It was around this time that Hooker 

received a slight wound in the foot and turned over command 

37 Ibid.

38 OR, pt. 1, p. 923.
Map 7



L A W T O N

H O O D

E A R L Y

L A W

W

O F F O R D

P E L H

A

M

J

A

C K S O N

S. D. L E E

J. R. J O N E S

W I L L I A M S

G R E E N E

M E A D E ( - )

M E A D E ( - )

R I C K E T T S M A N S F I E L D

H O O K E R

B-4th US

D O U B L E D

A Y

575

575

525

525

525

475

475

525

525

525

525

525

575

575

575

575

T h e N o r t h W o o d s

T h e C o r n f i e l d

T h e W e s t W o o d s

T h e

E a s t

W o o d s

Nicodemus Hill

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

L A N D I N G R O A D

S U N K E N R O A D

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

Jos. Poffenberger

Mumma

A. Poffenberger

Hauser

Dunker

Church

Nicodemus

17 September 1862

HOOD'S ATTACK

0700–0730

0 500

Yards
28

of the I Corps to Meade. Meade, believing that the XII Corps 

was arriving to relieve Hooker’s corps, began withdrawing the I 

Corps toward the North Woods. 

As the fighting momentarily paused, McClellan ordered 

Sumner to send two of his three divisions to support Hooker. 

Sumner led Sedgwick’s and French’s divisions across the creek 

at Pry’s Mill Ford and headed for the battlefield. Sumner’s third 

division, commanded by Richardson, remained east of the creek 

guarding artillery.

Shortly before 0900 Sumner’s two divisions reached the 

East Woods. After a brief halt, the command resumed its advance, which did not progress in a unified manner. (Map 8) It 

split first around Greene’s division, which held the open plateau 

near Dunker Church, with Sedgwick’s three brigades moving to 

Greene’s right into the West Woods and French’s three brigades 

moving to Greene’s left. Then, within the advance of Sedgwick’s 

division on the West Woods, one of Brig. Gen. Willis A. Gorman’s regiments, the 34th New York Infantry, became detached 

and ended up near Dunker Church. There, it found the 125th 

Pennsylvania Infantry, which had become separated from Williams’ division and had entered the West Woods some time earlier. Thus, Sumner’s two divisions did not attack together.

Sumner personally led Sedgwick’s division to Hagerstown 

Pike, where the men climbed post-and-rail fences on either side 

of the road and entered the West Woods. Sedgwick’s leading brigade, commanded by Gorman and minus the stray 34th New 

York Infantry, reached the far side of the woods and quickly 

opened fire on the remnants of Jackson’s command to the west. 

The other two brigades, commanded by Brig. Gens. Napoleon 

J. T. Dana and Oliver O. Howard, lay down in the woods and 

awaited orders. As Gorman’s men appeared at the western edge 

of the woods, troops from the commands of Lawton and J. R. 

Jones opened fire. Gorman later wrote, “Instantly my whole 

brigade became hotly engaged, giving and receiving the most 

deadly fire it has ever been my lot to witness.”39

The Confederates rushed to meet the new Union threat in 

the West Woods. Early’s brigade left its position to the west and 

moved into the West Woods. Earlier in the morning, Pelham’s

artillery had shifted south from Nicodemus Hill to a position on 

the heights west of the A. Poffenberger farm. Lee sent Walker’s 

division from its reserve position south of Sharpsburg and the 

division of McLaws newly arrived from Harper’s Ferry. Joining 

these divisions was the brigade of Col. George T. Anderson of D. 

R. Jones’ division.

39 Ibid., p. 311.
Map 8

 L A

W T O N

H O O D

E A R L Y

P E L H A M

J.

R.

 J O N E S

W I L L I A M S

S E D G

W

I C K

F R E N C H

3 4 N Y

1 2 5 PA

S U M N E R

H

O

O

K E R

( D i s p e r s e d )

G R E E N E

575

525

575

525

525

525

475

525

525

525

525

525

575

575

475

200

575

The North Woods

The Cornfield

The West Woods

The East Woods

Nicodemus Hill

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

L A N D I N G R O A D

S U N K E N R O A D

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

Jos. Poffenberger

D.R. Miller

S. Poffenberger

Morrison

Mumma

Roulette

Clipp

A. Poffenberger

Hauser

Dunker

Church

Nicodemus

17 September 1862

SUMNER'S ATTACK

0900

0 500

Yards
30

These Confederates, almost 8,000 strong, charged into the 

West Woods, first overrunning the isolated 34th New York and 

125th Pennsylvania Infantries, then striking the left and rear of 

Sedgwick’s division. (Map 9) Dana’s and Howard’s brigades leapt 

to their feet and tried to meet the attack, but it was too late. Like 

dominoes, they began to tumble northward with the Confederates in close pursuit. Gorman’s brigade was also attacked, but it 

had more time to react and turned to meet the threat. Acting as 

a rear guard, Gorman’s command withdrew northward, stopping now and then to fire a volley at its pursuers. 

The remnants of Sedgwick’s division fled across the Miller 

farm, where they sought the protection of Hooker’s I Corps artillery. Williams’ division in the Cornfield and Union artillery 

stopped the Confederates and drove them back to the West 

Woods. Sumner’s attack into the West Woods had been a disaster. In less than thirty minutes, Sedgwick had been wounded 

and more than 40 percent of his division had been either killed 

or wounded. 

As Sedgwick’s division was collapsing, French’s 5,700-man 

division, having split to the left of Sedgwick’s advance into the 

West Woods and cheered on by the martial music of regimental 

bands, crossed the Mumma and Roulette farms and advanced 
Map 9



G. T. A N D E R S O N

H O O D

M c L A

W A L K E R

W S

L A

W T O N

E A R L Y

P E L H A M

J.

R.

 J O

N

E S

W I L L I A M S

F R E N C H

H

O

O

K E R

( D i s p e r s e d )

G R E E N E

1 2 5 PA

3 4 N Y

G

O

R M

A N

D A N A

H O W

A R D

S E D G W I C K

575

525

575

525

525

525

475

525

525

525

525

575

575

575

525

575

T h e N o r t h W o o d s

T h e C o r n f i e l d

T h e

W e s t

W o o d s

T h e E a s t W o o d s

Nicodemus Hill

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

L A N D I N G R O A D

S U N K E N R O A D

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

Jos. Poffenberger

D.R. Miller

Morrison

Mumma

Clipp

A. Poffenberger

Dunker

Church

Nicodemus

17 September 1862

SEDGWICK'S RETREAT

0930

0 500

Yards
32

toward an old farm road, now known as the Sunken Road or 

Bloody Lane. (Map 10)

The Sunken Road joins Hagerstown Pike 500 yards south 

of Dunker Church, runs east about a thousand yards, and then 

turns south to Boonsboro Pike. Waiting in the road were almost 

2,500 men of D. H. Hill’s division. The left of Hill’s line contained the brigade of Brig. Gen. Robert E. Rodes, which extended 

from near Hagerstown Pike to the lane leading to the William 

Roulette home. On Rodes’ left, connecting with the pike, were 

remnants of the brigades of Brig. Gen. Roswell S. Ripley, Col. D. K. 

McRae, and Col. A. H. Colquitt, which had fought in the Cornfield earlier in the morning. On Rodes’ right, the brigade of Brig. 

Gen. George B. Anderson continued the line another 200–300 

yards. Hill’s headquarters was about 300 yards south of the road, 

at the home of Henry Piper. As French’s division approached, 

the Confederates strengthened their position by piling up fence 

rails while Hill sent urgent messages to Lee for more troops. 

When French’s men appeared on the high ground above the 

Sunken Road, the Confederates let loose a volley that staggered 

and halted the Union line. Both sides then settled down to pouring volley after volley into each other’s ranks. Many officers on 

both sides soon found themselves on foot, their horses killed or 

wounded. G. B. Anderson received a wound in the foot that would 

lead to his death about one month after the battle. When a regimental commander stepped forward to replace Anderson, he was 

shot and killed. With casualties mounting on both sides, some of 

Rodes’ men left the road several times and charged French’s line; 

but the uncoordinated attacks were driven back. 

Responding to Hill’s pleas for assistance, Lee sent Maj. Gen. 

Richard H. Anderson’s division, which had arrived from Harper’s 

Ferry that morning. Anderson’s men advanced rapidly through 

town and at roughly 1000 joined Hill’s men in the Sunken Road. 

(See Map 11.) Shortly afterward, Richardson’s division, which McClellan had ordered to march to the battlefield from guarding 

artillery east of the Antietam, arrived on the left of French’s command. 

Among the first of Richardson’s units to reach the Sunken Road 

was Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Meagher’s Irish Brigade, composed of 

immigrants recruited in New York City and Massachusetts. “On 

coming into close and fatal contact with the enemy,” according 

to Meagher, “the officers and men of the brigade waved their 

swords and hats and gave three hearty cheers for their general, 

George McClellan, and the Army of the Potomac.”40 The Irishmen fired several volleys at the Confederates in the Sunken 

40 OR, p. 294.
Map 10



G. B. A N D E R S O N

M I X E D

U N I T S

R O D E S

D. H. H I L L

W E B E R

M O R R I S

K I M B A L L

G R E E N E

F R E N C H

575

575

575

150

525

525

475

525

525

475

T h e E a s t W o o d s

T h e

W e s t

W o o d s

T h e C o r n f i e l d

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

S U N K E N R O A D

Mumma

H. Piper

Roulette

Dunker

Church

17 September 1862

FRENCH'S ATTACK

0930–1000

0 500

Yards
Sunken Road, Looking Southeast, toward the Present-Day Stone Observation 

Tower
Map 11



G. B. A N D E R S O N

R. H. A N D E R S O N

M I X E D

U N I T S

R O D E S

D. H. H I L L

F R E N C H

M E A G H E R

C A L D W E L L

B R O O K E

G R E E N E

R I C

H

A

R

D

S

O

N

575

575

575

525

525

525

475

475

525

525

475

475

T h e E a s t W o o d s

T h e

W e s t

W o o d s

T h e C o r n f i e l d

H A G E R S T O W N P I K E

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

S U N K E N R O A D

Mumma

Morrison

Clipp

H. Piper

Roulette

Dunker

Church

17 September 1862

RICHARDSON'S ATTACK

1000–1030

0 500

Yards
36

41 James Longstreet, “The Invasion of Maryland,” in B&L, p. 669.

Road then charged up to the road and continued the fight at 

close range. Standing in the open, entire ranks of Meagher’s 

men were shot down. Meagher, injured when his stricken horse 

fell on him, was carried from the field. Of the 1,400 men in 

Meagher’s brigade when it arrived on the field, almost 1,000 lay 

dead or wounded. The remainder of Richardson’s division soon 

arrived to join the fray. 

While French’s and Richardson’s divisions fought along the 

Sunken Road, Greene’s division charged into the West Woods, 

driving back elements of Walker’s division. For roughly two 

hours Greene held his advanced position; but concerned that 

his command might be surrounded in the woods and not receiving requested support, the division fell back to the East 

Woods.

Upon Greene’s retreat, Walker’s men quickly reoccupied the 

West Woods. Greene’s withdrawal also exposed the right flank 

of French’s division, which the 3d Arkansas and 27th North Carolina Infantries, joined by groups from the mixed commands to 

the left of Rodes’ brigade, attacked. (Map 12) French halted his 

attack on the Sunken Road and quickly faced westward to meet 

the threat. His command was soon joined by a portion of Richardson’s division. The arrival near the East Woods of Maj. Gen. 

William F. Smith’s division of the IV Corps caused the Confederates to withdraw. A portion of Smith’s division pursued them 

into the West Woods but was driven back. 

Around 1230, suffering from heavy casualties, lack of ammunition, and a misunderstanding of orders, the Confederates 

in the Sunken Road began to withdraw toward Sharpsburg. As 

Richardson’s command crossed the road, now filled with the 

bodies of its former defenders, Richardson was mortally wounded by a fragment of shell. 

The Confederate retreat from the Sunken Road uncovered a 

great gap in the center of Lee’s line. According to Longstreet, after the loss of the Sunken Road, “The Confederate army would 

be cut in two and probably destroyed, for we were already badly 

whipped and were only holding our ground by sheer force of 

desperation.”41 Very few Confederates now stood in the way of 

a Union advance from the Sunken Road. Seeing two abandoned 

Confederate cannon south of the road, Longstreet had his staff 

man the guns while he led their horses. D. H. Hill grabbed a 

musket and, with roughly 200 Confederates, led an unsuccessful counterattack. 
Map 12



R. H. A N D E R S O N

G. B. A N D E R S O N

M I X E D

U N I T S

R O D E S

2 7 N C

3 A R

D. H. H I L L

L

O

N

G

S

T

R E E T

F R E N C H

R I C H A R D S O N ( - )

S M I T H

R I C H A R D S O N ( - )

575

575

575

150

525

475

475

525

525

475

T h e

E a s t

W o o d s

T h e

W e s t

W o o d s

T h e C o r n f i e l d

H A G E R S T O W

N P I K E

S M O K E T O W N R O A D

S U N K E N R O A D

Mumma

Clipp

H. Piper

Roulette

Dunker

Church

17 September 1862

COLLAPSE OF CONFEDERATE CENTER

1300

0 500

Yards
38

42 OR, p. 377. 43 Ibid., p. 279.

44 McClellan, McClellan’s Own Story, p. 603.

With the Confederate center broken, one great Union push 

might have destroyed what was left of Lee’s army. Franklin’s IV 

Corps, Porter’s V Corps, and the army’s cavalry division stood 

poised for action. But McClellan made no attempt to capitalize 

on the Union success. “It would not be prudent to make the attack,” he said, “our position on the right being ... considerably 

in advance of what it had been in the morning.”42 Instead of 

continuing to advance, McClellan ordered Richards’ division to 

halt and to “hold that position against the enemy.”43 Lee’s center was safe. 

While the attack against the Sunken Road was in progress, Burnside’s IX Corps, commanded by Cox, was attacking 

Toombs’ command at the lower bridge. (Map 13) Toombs had 

only 400 men to hold the bridge, supported by another 100 

from Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Drayton’s brigade and a company of 

men from Jenkins’ brigade, commanded by Col. Joseph Walker, 

both of D. R. Jones’ division. The Union attack began about 

1000, but the assaults were piecemeal, with only one or two 

regiments attacking at a time. The 11th Connecticut Infantry 

of Col. Edward Harland’s brigade of Brig. Gen. Isaac P. Rodman’s division began the assault; but after suffering heavy casualties, including the death of its commander, the regiment 

withdrew. While the 11th Connecticut Infantry attack was 

taking place, the rest of Rodman’s division, along with a brigade of the Kanawha Division, searched for a ford south of 

the bridge. Rodman had been informed that a ford existed less 

than a mile below the bridge, but he discovered the crossing to 

be impracticable, being at the foot of a steep bluff rising more 

than 160 feet on the side of the creek. Rodman’s command 

continued south and crossed at the waist-deep Snavely’s Ford, 

two-thirds of a mile below the bridge. 

After the withdrawal of the Connecticut troops, an aide from 

McClellan arrived near the bridge to check on the status of the 

attack. He reported to McClellan that there had been little progress. McClellan ordered Burnside “to assault the bridge at once 

and carry it at all hazards.”44 Around 1100 Burnside ordered the 

2d Maryland and 6th New Hampshire Infantries of Brig. Gen. 

Samuel D. Sturgis’ division to cross the bridge. Toombs’ defenders, however, quickly drove them back.

Around noon McClellan’s aide once again reported that 

Burnside’s troops had yet to cross the bridge. McClellan sent 

the army’s inspector general, Col. Delos B. Sackett, to order 
T

O

O

M B S

R O D M A N

S T U R G I S

2 M

6 

D

N H

50

100

525

475

475

150

475

475

375

525

475

475

475

475

475

475

425

425

525

425

425

425

425

425

375

375

Antietam

Creek

Burnside Bridge

(Lower Bridge)

Snavely's Ford

T H E L O W E R B R I D G E R O A D

J. Otto

H. Rohrbach

Sherrick

17 September 1862

BURNSIDE'S ATTACK

1000–1100

0 500

Yards
40

45 OR, p. 138. 46 Ibid., p. 981.

47 Ibid., p. 1000.

Burnside, at the point of the bayonet if necessary, to capture 

the bridge immediately. McClellan instructed Sackett to remain 

with Burnside until the attack was successful. 

Burnside next ordered the 51st New York and 51st Pennsylvania Infantries, also of Sturgis’ division, to attempt to cross the 

bridge. Around 1300 the two regiments, supported by a howitzer 

positioned near the bridge abutment, charged across the bridge 

and reached the opposite bank. (Map 14) About the same time, 

Rodman’s division made its crossing at Snavely’s Ford. North 

of the bridge, several companies of the 28th Ohio Infantry of 

the Kanawha Division waded across the creek to the west bank. 

With the crossing of Burnside’s troops at the bridge and other 

Union troops crossing above and below, Toombs’ defense ended 

and the remnants of his command fell back toward Sharpsburg.

It had taken three hours for the IX Corps to secure a crossing, and it would be another two hours before Burnside could 

get the entire corps across the creek. McClellan was unhappy 

with the delay and ordered Burnside to continue his attack. 

Around 1500 the IX Corps began climbing the slopes toward 

Sharpsburg. As the troops approached the town, a Union signal 

detachment east of Antietam Creek signaled to Burnside, “Look 

out well on your left; the enemy are moving a strong force in 

that direction.”45 It is unknown whether Burnside actually saw 

the warning message.

The approaching Confederates were elements of A. P. Hill’s 

division arriving from Harper’s Ferry. Hill had left the brigade of 

Brig. Gen. Edward L. Thomas at Harper’s Ferry to continue removing captured supplies, but he himself headed toward Sharpsburg 

with his five remaining brigades. Around 1430, after a seventeen-mile forced march, the head of Hill’s command reached 

Sharpsburg; Lee quickly ordered it toward Burnside’s advancing 

columns. (See Map 15.) While the brigades of Col. J. M. Brockenbrough and Brig. Gen. William D. Pender guarded Hill’s right, the 

brigades of Brig. Gens. L. O’B. Branch, Maxcy Gregg, and J. J. Archer charged into Burnside’s left. The strenuous march had seriously depleted their strength, however, and the three attacking 

Confederate brigades numbered fewer than 2,000 men.46 In fact, 

Archer’s brigade alone numbered only 350 men.47

While Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Willcox’s division, on the right 

of Burnside’s attack, continued its advance to the outskirts of 

Sharpsburg, the sudden attack on the Union left halted Rodman’s division. A portion of the Kanawha Division was ordered 
Map 14

T O O M B S

S T U R G I S

5 1 N Y

2 8 O H

5 1 P A

R O D M A N

50

100

475

475

375

525

475

475

475

475

475

475

475

475

100

425

425

425

425

425

425

375

375

525

525

Antietam

Creek

Burnside Bridge

(Lower Bridge)

Snavely's Ford

T H E L O W E R B R I D G E R O A D

Stone Mill

J. Otto

H. Rohrbach

Sherrick

Snavely

17 September 1862

BURNSIDE'S ATTACK

1200–1300

0 500

Yards
42

up the slope to support Rodman, but the troops had difficulty distinguishing friend from foe in the battle smoke. Troop 

identification was made even more difficult because some of 

Hill’s men were wearing portions of Union uniforms captured 

at Harper’s Ferry. In the confusion the portion of the Kanawha 

Division ordered to support Rodman was outflanked by Gregg

and fell back. 

For the IX Corps’ effort to climb the hill to Sharpsburg, it 

suffered 2,000 casualties, including General Rodman, killed early in the attack. Rodman was the third Union general officer 

to be killed or mortally wounded this day. Toward the end of 

the fighting, Branch was killed, bringing to three the number of 

Confederate general officers killed or mortally wounded in the 

battle. 

It was now around 1700 and growing dark. Unsure of the 

size of the Confederate force attacking his left, Burnside ordered 

the IX Corps to withdraw to the creek. As the sun set on what 

would become known as the bloodiest single day of the war, 

the IX Corps established a defensive perimeter near the lower 

bridge. Lee’s exhausted troops on the heights above the bridge 

were content to remain in place. 

The Charge across the Burnside Bridge, Antietam,
Map 15

A . P. H I L

L

D.

R.

 J O N E S

B R O C K E N B R O U G H

P E N D E R

G R E G G

B R A N C H

A

R C H

E R

T O O M B S

W

I L L C O X

R O D M A N

S T U R G I S

K A N A W H A ( - )

K A N A W H A ( - )

525

475

475

475

425

375

525

575

575

Antietam Creek

Snavely's Ford

B O O N S B O R O P I K E

H A R P E R S F E R R Y R O A D

Stone Mill

J. Otto

Magraw

Avey

Sherrick

Snavely

S H A R P S B U R G

17 September 1862

A. P. HILL'S ATTACK

1530–Nightfall

0 500

Yards
44 

The following morning, 18 September, the two armies remained in position. McClellan wrote, “To renew the attack 

again on the 18th or defer it, with the chance of the enemy’s 

retirement after a day of suspense, were the questions before 

me.”48 McClellan decided to wait and issued orders to renew 

the attack on 19 September. Lee, however, was ready to keep 

up the fight. An additional 5,000–6,000 stragglers had caught 

up with the army; according to one of Lee’s officers, the Confederate commander hoped to turn McClellan’s flank near the 

bend of the Potomac River west of Nicodemus Hill. Due to the 

large amount of Union artillery in the area, the plan was abandoned.49 Unable to outflank McClellan on the Maryland side of 

the river, Lee withdrew his army to Virginia during the night of 

18 September, hoping to recross the Potomac at Williamsport 

and attack McClellan’s rear. The plan, however, was thwarted by 

the poor physical condition of his army; Lee decided to remain 

in Virginia.50

On the morning of 19 September McClellan discovered that 

the Confederates had withdrawn. A feeble Union pursuit resulted in a sharp fight at Boteler’s Ford the following day, but McClellan was content to remain in Maryland and claim victory. 

Lee’s army withdrew into the Shenandoah Valley to continue to 

gather supplies.

Weeks passed. In early October Lincoln visited the Union 

army near Sharpsburg to urge McClellan to cross into Virginia 

and give battle. McClellan, however, insisted that he needed 

more men and supplies before beginning another campaign. On 

6 October Lincoln telegraphed McClellan to “cross the Potomac 

and give battle to the enemy or drive him south.”51

On 10 October, while the Army of the Potomac remained 

in the Sharpsburg area, 1,800 men of Stuart’s cavalry crossed 

the Potomac near Williamsport and reentered Maryland on an 

armed reconnaissance. The troops rode to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, then eastward, gathering intelligence and much-needed horses while pursued by McClellan’s cavalry. After circling 

around McClellan’s encamped army, Stuart’s men recrossed the 

Potomac near Leesburg on 12 October. 

McClellan was still at Sharpsburg on 25 October, when he 

wired to Washington that he remained unable to move because 

his horses were suffering from sore-tongue and fatigue. An exasperated Lincoln responded: “I have just read your dispatch 

48 Ibid., p. 32.

49 Harsh, Sounding the Shallows, pp. 214–15. 50 OR, pt. 2, p. 626. 51 Ibid., p. 72.
45

52 Ibid., p. 485.

53 Sears, Papers of George B. McClellan, p. 469. 54 Report on the Conduct of the War, 8 vols. (Wilmington: Broadfoot Publishing 

Co., 1998), 1: 368.

55 Douglas Southall Freeman, R. E. Lee: A Biography, 4 vols. (New York: Charles 

Scribner’s Sons, 1935), 4: 168–69.

about sore-tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for 

asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle 

of Antietam that fatigues anything?”52

The Army of the Potomac finally began to cross the Potomac 

River on 26 October but did not complete the crossing for almost a week. Lincoln finally reached the end of his patience and 

on 7 November relieved McClellan of command and replaced 

him with Ambrose Burnside.

Summary

For the North, the fight along Antietam Creek became known 

as the Battle of Antietam. In the South, it became known as the 

Battle of Sharpsburg. Of the nearly 70,000 Federal troops actually engaged in the battle, nearly 13,000 were killed, wounded, 

or missing; the approximately 35,000 Confederates engaged lost 

almost as many.

Writing to his wife, McClellan said, “Those in whose judgment I rely tell me that I fought the battle splendidly and that is 

was a masterpiece of art.”53 In truth, however, McClellan missed 

a series of opportunities. By failing to commit his forces to battle 

on 15 and 16 September, McClellan squandered a chance to exploit his numerical superiority. On 17 September McClellan’s 

piecemeal commitment of only a portion of his command during the battle—“in driblets,” as General Sumner later described 

it54—failed to deliver a knockout blow to destroy the Army of 

Northern Virginia. McClellan’s decision not to renew the battle 

on 18 September, with the same if not greater opportunity of 

success as the previous day, as well as his failure to energetically 

pursue the Confederate army on 19 September, allowed Lee to 

withdraw to the safety of the Virginia shore. 

Lee, like McClellan, generally believed that the role of an 

army commander was to bring his army to the battlefield and allow his subordinates to handle the tactical details.55 But the desperate situation on 17 September forced Lee to become actively 

involved in the battle, despite injuries to both his hands. He 

spent most of the day on the heights in the area of the presentday National Cemetery, where he watched the progress of the 
46 

56 Sears, Papers of George B. McClellan, p. 473.

battle and personally dispatched various units to endangered 

portions of the field. He sent the commands of Walker, McLaws, 

and G. T. Anderson just in time to halt Sedgwick’s advance on 

the Confederate left flank; rushed R. H. Anderson to support D. 

H. Hill’s defense of the Confederate center; and, when A. P. Hill’s 

division began arriving at Sharpsburg in the afternoon, hurried 

Hill’s command to save the Confederate right flank. 

Although the Confederates had been forced out of Maryland, Lee’s campaign had been a partial success. Jackson’s capture 

of Harper’s Ferry provided the Confederates with a large amount 

of supplies, including clothing, shoes, thousands of small arms 

and ammunition, and over seventy pieces of artillery. In addition, another major Federal offensive in Virginia had been delayed, albeit only briefly. In mid-December Burnside, now commanding The Army of the Potomac, attempted to interpose his 

command between Lee and Richmond. The maneuver culminated in a Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Although Antietam was not the decisive Union victory for 

which Lincoln had hoped, it did give the president an opportunity to strike at the Confederacy politically, psychologically, and 

economically. On 22 September Lincoln issued the preliminary 

Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that the Federal government would after 1 January 1863 consider slaves in any state in 

rebellion against the Federal government to be free. The proclamation had no immediate effect behind Confederate lines, nor 

did it free any slaves in states still in the Union. Nevertheless, 

Lincoln’s proclamation would be the Federal government’s first 

official step toward the abolition of human slavery. 

Shortly after the battle, McClellan wrote that Confederate 

dreams of invading Pennsylvania had dissipated forever.56 During the coming months, however, Lee would wait for another 

opportunity to cross his army north of the Potomac. The summer of 1863 would find the Army of Northern Virginia and the 

Army of the Potomac, the latter commanded by the recently 

promoted Maj. Gen. George Meade, confronting each other at 

the small Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. 
47

Further Readings

Bradford, Ned, ed. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. New York: 

Grammercy Books, 2001.

Harsh, Joseph L. Confederate Tide Rising: Robert E. Lee and the 

Making of Southern Strategy. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University 

Press, 1998.

———. Sounding the Shallows: A Confederate Companion for the 

Maryland Campaign of 1862. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2000.

———. Taken at the Flood: Lee and Confederate Strategy in the 

Maryland Campaign. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 

1999.

Murfin, James V. The Gleam of Bayonets: The Battle of Antietam 

and Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign, 1862. Baton Rouge: 

Louisiana State University Press, 2004.

Sears, Stephen W. Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam.

Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, 1988.

U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation 

of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 

vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1893, 

ser. 1, vol. 19, pts. 1 and 2.
48 

CHRONOLOGY

Times are approximate and based on those given in the afteraction reports by unit commanders or in postwar reminiscences.

4–7 September 1862

The Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. 

Lee, crosses the Potomac River near Leesburg and marches to 

Frederick, Maryland.

The Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. 

McClellan, leaves Washington in pursuit of Lee. 

9 September

Lee issues Special Orders 191, detailing his plan to capture Union 

garrisons at Martinsburg and Harper’s Ferry.

10 September

Lee and Maj. Gen. James Longstreet march to Hagerstown. Maj. 

Gen. D. H. Hill’s division halts at Boonsboro as rear guard. 

Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson marches to capture the Union garrison at Martinsburg. 

The divisions of Maj. Gens. Lafayette McLaws and Richard H. Anderson approach Harper’s Ferry from the east.

Brig. Gen. John G. Walker’s division crosses the Potomac River 

into Virginia and approaches Harper’s Ferry from the south.

12 September

The Army of the Potomac begins arriving at Frederick.

Jackson reaches Martinsburg, but the Union garrison flees to 

Harper’s Ferry. 
49

13 September

McClellan arrives at Frederick.

A soldier in McClellan’s army finds a copy of Lee’s Special Orders 

191. The document is given to McClellan, who plans to attack 

the Confederates the following day at South Mountain.

Jackson marches from Martinsburg to Harper’s Ferry.

In the evening Lee receives information from Maj. Gen. James E. 

B. Stuart that McClellan’s army has arrived at Frederick.

To delay an expected Union advance, Lee orders D. H. Hill to 

defend Turner’s and Fox’s Gaps on South Mountain. Longstreet is 

sent to support Hill. McLaws sends a portion of his command to 

defend Crampton’s Gap. 

14 September

The siege of Harper’s Ferry begins. 

The Battle of South Mountain occurs. Union forces take Crampton’s Gap.

During the night Lee decides to withdraw his outnumbered 

forces from Turner’s and Fox’s Gaps and falls back to Sharpsburg. 

15 September

Lee, along with Longstreet, the divisions of Brig. Gen. D. R. Jones

and D. H. Hill, and part of Stuart’s cavalry, arrives at Sharpsburg.

Harper’s Ferry surrenders. Lee orders the Confederate troops 

there to march to Sharpsburg as soon as possible. Maj. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill’s division remains at Harper’s Ferry to parole prisoners and gather supplies.

The Army of the Potomac arrives near Sharpsburg. McClellan 

replaces Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside with Maj. Gen. Joseph 

Hooker in command of the army’s right wing and puts Burnside 

in command of the left wing. 
50 

16 September

0730: Jackson’s command reaches Sharpsburg, reuniting with D. 

H. Hill’s division.

Walker’s division arrives at Sharpsburg.

1530–1600: Hooker’s I Corps crosses Antietam Creek north 

of Sharpsburg to turn Lee’s left flank. A portion of Brig. Gen. 

George G. Meade’s division, leading Hooker’s corps, skirmishes 

with Brig. Gen. John B. Hood’s division near the East Woods.

In response to Hooker’s request for reinforcements, McClellan orders Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner’s XII Corps, commanded by Maj. 

Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield, from the center to the right wing. 

Lee sends Jackson, with his divisions commanded by Brig. Gens. 

John R. Jones and A. R. Lawton, to support Hood. Walker’s division 

remains in reserve south of the town.

1930: McClellan, after learning that Harper’s Ferry has surrendered, orders Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin’s VI Corps to join 

the army at Sharpsburg.

2400: Mansfield’s XII Corps crosses Antietam Creek to join 

Hooker’s I Corps.

17 September

0600: McLaws’ and R. H. Anderson’s divisions arrive at Sharpsburg.

Hooker’s I Corps begins its attack south on Hagerstown Pike 

and Smoketown Road, initially meeting with great success at 

the Cornfield.

0700: Called to assist by Jackson, whose lines are collapsing, 

Hood’s division launches a counterattack from the West Woods 

against Hooker’s I Corps in the Cornfield.

0730: Acting on orders received the night before, A. P. Hill’s division begins a forced march from Harper’s Ferry to Sharpsburg. 

Mansfield’s XII Corps arrives in the East Woods. Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams’ division of the XII Corps drives Hood’s divi-
51

sion from the Cornfield back into the West Woods. Mansfield 

is mortally wounded, and Williams assumes command of the 

division. 

0800: Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick’s and Brig. Gen. William H. 

French’s divisions of Sumner’s II Corps cross Antietam Creek to 

support Hooker’s I Corps. Sumner leaves behind his third division, command by Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson, to guard 

artillery.

0900: Sedgwick’s division attacks into the West Woods. French’s 

division attacks at the Sunken Road against the division of D. H. 

Hill. Hill sends an urgent request to Lee for reinforcement.

One of Sedgwick’s regiments, the 34th New York Infantry, becomes separated from the rest of the division and halts near 

Dunker Church, where it finds the 125th Pennsylvania Infantry 

of Williams’ division, which had ended up there some time earlier.

Brig. Gen. Isaac P. Rodman’s division of Burnside’s IX Corps is 

sent to outflank the lower bridge by crossing Antietam Creek at 

Snavely’s Ford.

Brig. Gen. George S. Greene’s division of the XII Corps reaches 

the plateau east of the West Woods. 

Hooker is slightly wounded, and Meade assumes command of 

the I Corps.

0930: Sedgwick’s division is driven out of the West Woods by 

the division of Walker, sent from its reserve position south of 

Sharpsburg; the division of McLaws, newly arrived from Harper’s 

Ferry; the brigade of Brig. Gen Jubal A. Early, from its station west 

of the West Woods; and the brigade of Col. G. T. Anderson of D. 

R. Jones’ division. The Confederate advance into the Cornfield 

is stopped by Union artillery and Williams’ division, which had 

remained in the Cornfield. 

1000: D. H. Hill’s division, defending the Sunken Road against 

French’s attack, is reinforced by the division of R. H. Anderson, 

which had just arrived from Harper’s Ferry.

Spearheaded by the 11th Connecticut Infantry, the IX Corps 

attack on Brig. Gen. Robert Toombs’ brigade at the lower bridge 

begins. 
52 

1030: After crossing Antietam Creek, Richardson’s division of 

the II Corps joins French’s attack on the Sunken Road.

Greene’s division occupies the West Woods.

1100: The 2d Maryland and 6th New Hampshire Infantries of 

the IX Corps unsuccessfully attempt to cross the lower bridge.

Greene’s division withdraws from the West Woods and falls back 

to the East Woods. Walker’s division reoccupies the West Woods. 

The 27th North Carolina and 3d Arkansas Infantries, along with 

portions of other Confederate commands, attack the right flank 

of French’s division. Maj. Gen. William F. Smith’s division of the 

VI Corps drives the Confederates into the West Woods.

1230: D. H. Hill’s Confederates withdraw from the Sunken Road. 

Richardson’s division pursues them, but McClellan orders it to 

halt its advance, inadvertently saving Lee’s center.

1300: The 51st New York and 51st Pennsylvania Infantries of 

the IX Corps cross the lower bridge. The remainder of the IX 

Corps begins to cross the bridge.

South of the lower bridge, Rodman’s division crosses Antietam 

Creek at Snavely’s Ford.

North of the lower bridge, elements of the 28th Ohio Infantry 

cross Antietam Creek. 

With Union troops above, below, and across from him, Toombs

withdraws to Sharpsburg. 

1430: A. P. Hill’s division begins arriving near Sharpsburg.

1500: Having finished crossing Antietam Creek, the IX Corps 

advances on Sharpsburg. 

1600: A. P. Hill’s division attacks the left flank of the IX Corps 

and successfully halts the Union advance toward the town.

1700: The IX Corps falls back to the lower bridge. 
53

18 September

McClellan decides not to attack this day but instead issues orders to attack on 19 September.

Lee wishes to renew the fight, but he calculates that the odds 

are too much against him and withdraws his army back into 

Virginia during the night.

19 September

In the morning McClellan learns that the Confederates withdrew during the night. He chooses not to pursue them. 
54 

Order of Battle, 17 September 18621

Army of the Potomac, United States Army

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan

I Corps (Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker)

1st Division (Brig. Gen. Abner Doubleday)

 1st Brigade (Col. Walter J. Phelps, Jr.)

 22d New York Infantry

 24th New York Infantry

 30th New York Infantry

 84th New York Infantry (14th Militia)

 2d U.S. Sharpshooters

 2d Brigade (Col. William P. Wainwright)

 7th Indiana Infantry

 56th New York Infantry

 76th New York Infantry

 95th New York Infantry

 3d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Marsena R. Patrick)

 21st New York Infantry

 23d New York Infantry

 35th New York Infantry

 80th New York Infantry (20th Militia)

 4th Brigade (Brig. Gen. John Gibbon)

 19th Indiana Infantry 

 2d Wisconsin Infantry

 6th Wisconsin Infantry

 7th Wisconsin Infantry

 Artillery (Capt. J. Albert Monroe)

 New Hampshire Light, 1st Battery

 1st New York Light, Battery L

 1st Rhode Island Light, Battery D

 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery B

1 U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official 

Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1893), ser. 1, vol. 19, pt. 1 (hereafter cited as OR), pp. 

169–80, 803–10.
55

2d Division (Brig. Gen. James B. Ricketts)

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Abram Duryea)

 97th New York Infantry

 104th New York Infantry

 105th New York Infantry

 107th New York Infantry

 2d Brigade (Col. William A. Christian)

 26th New York Infantry

 94th New York Infantry

 88th Pennsylvania Infantry

 90th Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Brig. Gen. George L. Hartsuff)

 16th Maine Infantry (on detached duty)

 12th Massachusetts Infantry

 13th Massachusetts Infantry

 83d New York Infantry (9th Militia)

 11th Pennsylvania Infantry

 Artillery

 1st Pennsylvania Light, Battery F

 Pennsylvania Light, Battery C

3d Division (Brig. Gen. George G. Meade)

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour)

 1st Pennsylvania Infantry

 2d Pennsylvania Infantry

 5th Pennsylvania Infantry

 6th Pennsylvania Infantry

 13th Pennsylvania Infantry

 2d Brigade (Col. Albert L. Magilton)

 3d Pennsylvania Infantry

 4th Pennsylvania Infantry

 7th Pennsylvania Infantry

 8th Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Col. Thomas F. Gallagher)

 9th Pennsylvania Reserves

 10th Pennsylvania Reserves

 11th Pennsylvania Reserves

 12th Pennsylvania Reserves
56 

 Artillery

 1st Pennsylvania Light, Batteries A and B

 1st Pennsylvania Light, Battery G

 (on detached duty) 

 5th U.S. Artillery, Battery C

II Corps (Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner)

1st Division (Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson)

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. John C. Caldwell)

 5th New Hampshire Infantry

 7th New York Infantry

 61st New York Infantry

 64th New York Infantry

 81st Pennsylvania Infantry

 2d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Meagher)

 29th Massachusetts Infantry

 63d New York Infantry

 69th New York Infantry

 88th New York Infantry

 3d Brigade (Col. John R. Brooke)

 2d Delaware Infantry

 52d New York Infantry

 57th New York Infantry

 66th New York Infantry

 53d Pennsylvania Infantry

 Artillery

 1st New York Light, Battery B

 4th U.S. Artillery, Batteries A and C

2d Division (Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick)

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Willis A. Gorman)

 15th Massachusetts Infantry

 1st Minnesota Infantry

 34th New York Infantry (2d Militia)

 82d New York Infantry

 Massachusetts Sharpshooters, 1st 

 Company

 Minnesota Sharpshooters, 2d Company

 2d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Oliver O. Howard)

 69th Pennsylvania Infantry

 71st Pennsylvania Infantry
57

 72d Pennsylvania Infantry

 106th Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Napoleon J. T. Dana)

 19th Massachusetts Infantry

 20th Massachusetts Infantry

 7th Michigan Infantry

 42d New York Infantry

 59th New York Infantry

 Artillery

 1st Rhode Island Light, Battery A

 1st U.S. Artillery, Battery I

3d Division (Brig. Gen. William H. French)

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Nathan Kimball)

 14th Indiana Infantry

 8th Ohio Infantry

 132d Pennsylvania Infantry

 7th West Virginia Infantry

 2d Brigade (Col. Dwight Morris)

 14th Connecticut Infantry

 108th New York Infantry

 130th Pennsylvania Infantry

 

 3d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Max Weber)

 1st Delaware Infantry

 5th Maryland Infantry

 4th New York Infantry

 Unassigned Artillery

 1st New York Light, Battery G

 1st Rhode Island Light, Batteries B and G

V Corps (Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter)

1st Division (Maj. Gen. George W. Morell)

 1st Brigade (Col. James Barnes)

 2d Maine Infantry

 18th Massachusetts Infantry

 22d Massachusetts Infantry

 1st Michigan Infantry

 13th New York Infantry

 25th New York Infantry

 118th Pennsylvania Infantry

 Massachusetts Sharpshooters, 2d Company
58 

 2d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin)

 2d District of Columbia Infantry

 9th Massachusetts Infantry

 32d Massachusetts Infantry

 4th Michigan Infantry

 14th New York Infantry

 62d Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Col. T. B. W. Stockton)

 20th Maine Infantry

 16th Michigan Infantry

 12th New York Infantry

 17th New York Infantry

 44th New York Infantry

 83d Pennsylvania Infantry

 Michigan Sharpshooters, Brady’s Company

 Artillery

 Massachusetts Light, Battery C

 1st Rhode Island Light, Battery C

 5th U.S. Artillery, Battery D

 Undersigned

 1st U.S. Sharpshooters

2d Division (Brig. Gen. George Sykes)

 1st Brigade (Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan)

 3d U.S. Infantry

 4th U.S. Infantry

 12th U.S. Infantry (2 battalions)

 14th U.S. Infantry (2 battalions)

 2d Brigade (Maj. Charles S. Lovell)

 1st U.S. Infantry

 2d U.S. Infantry

 6th U.S. Infantry

 10th U.S. Infantry

 11th U.S. Infantry

 17th U.S. Infantry

 3d Brigade (Col. Gouverneur K. Warren)

 5th New York Infantry

 10th New York Infantry
59

 Artillery

 1st U.S. Artillery, Batteries E and G

 5th U.S. Artillery, Batteries I and K

3d Division (Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys)2

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Erastus B. Tyler)

 91st Pennsylvania Infantry

 126th Pennsylvania Infantry

 129th Pennsylvania Infantry

 134th Pennsylvania Infantry

 2d Brigade (Col. Peter H. Allabach)

 123d Pennsylvania Infantry

 131st Pennsylvania Infantry

 133d Pennsylvania Infantry

 155th Pennsylvania Infantry

 

 Artillery (Capt. Lucius N. Robinson)

 1st New York Light, Battery C

 1st Ohio Light, Battery L

 Artillery Reserve (Lt. Col. William Hays)

 1st Battalion, New York Light, Batteries A,

 B, C, and D

 New York Light, 5th Battery

 1st U.S. Artillery, Battery K

 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery G

VI Corps (Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin)

1st Division (Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum)

 1st Brigade (Col. Alfred T. A. Torbert)

 1st New Jersey Infantry

 2d New Jersey Infantry

 3d New Jersey Infantry

 4th New Jersey Infantry

 2d Brigade (Col. Joseph J. Bartlett)

 5th Maine Infantry

 16th New York Infantry

 27th Pennsylvania Infantry

 96th Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Brig. Gen. John Newton)

 18th New York Infantry

2 This division did not arrive on the battlefield until early on the morning of 

18 September.
60 

 31st New York Infantry

 32d New York Infantry

 95th New York Infantry

 

 Artillery (Capt. Emory Upton)

 Maryland Light, Battery A

 Massachusetts Light, Battery A

 New Jersey Light, Battery A

 2d U.S. Artillery, Battery D

2d Division (Maj. Gen. William F. Smith)

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock)

 6th Maine Infantry

 43d New York Infantry

 49th New York Infantry

 137th Pennsylvania Infantry

 5th Wisconsin Infantry

 

 2d Brigade (Brig. Gen. W. T. H. Brooks)

 2d Vermont Infantry

 3d Vermont Infantry

 4th Vermont Infantry

 5th Vermont Infantry

 6th Vermont Infantry

 3d Brigade (Col. William H. Irwin)

 7th Maine Infantry

 20th New York Infantry

 33d New York Infantry

 49th New York Infantry

 77th New York Infantry

 Artillery (Capt. Romeyn B. Ayres)

 Maryland Light, Battery B

 New York Light, 1st Battery

 5th U.S. Artillery, Battery F

Couch’s Division (Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch)3

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Charles Devens, Jr.)

 7th Massachusetts Infantry

3 This division was previously part of the IV Corps. That corps was disbanded 

in August 1862, and its divisions were separated and assigned to various commands. The 1st Division (Couch) was assigned to support the IV Corps during 

the Maryland Campaign. It did not arrive on the Antietam battlefield until 

early in the morning on 18 September.
61

 10th Massachusetts Infantry

 36th Massachusetts Infantry

 2d Rhode Island Infantry

 2d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Albion P. Howe)

 62d New York Infantry

 93d Pennsylvania Infantry

 98th Pennsylvania Infantry

 102d Pennsylvania Infantry

 139th Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Brig. Gen. John Cochrane)

 65th New York Infantry

 67th New York Infantry

 122d New York Infantry

 23d Pennsylvania Infantry

 61st Pennsylvania Infantry

 82d Pennsylvania Infantry

 Artillery

 New York Light, 3d Battery

 1st Pennsylvania Light, Batteries C and D

 2d U.S. Artillery, Battery G

IX Corps (Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox)4

1st Division (Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Willcox)

 1st Brigade (Col. Benjamin C. Christ)

 28th Massachusetts Infantry

 17th Michigan Infantry

 79th New York Infantry

 50th Pennsylvania Infantry

4 In mid-September 1862 Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, commanding the IX 

Corps, was assigned command of the right wing of the Army of the Potomac, 

composed of the IX and I Corps. The IX Corps was temporarily placed under 

the command of Maj. Gen. Jesse L. Reno. After Reno was killed on14 September, Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox assumed temporary command of the corps. The 

following day, 15 September, the organization of the right wing of the army 

was suspended; the I Corps commander, General Hooker, was ordered to report directly to General McClellan. General Burnside was assigned command 

of the left of the army, which consisted only of the IX Corps. Orders from 

general headquarters were forwarded through Burnside to General Cox. OR, 

pp. 290, 297.
62 

 2d Brigade (Col. Thomas Welch)

 8th Michigan Infantry

 46th New York Infantry

 45th Pennsylvania Infantry

 100th Pennsylvania Infantry

 

 Artillery

 Massachusetts Light, 8th Battery

 2d U.S. Artillery, Battery E

2d Division (Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis)

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. James Nagle)

 2d Maryland Infantry

 6th New Hampshire Infantry

 9th New Hampshire Infantry

 48th Pennsylvania Infantry

 

 2d Brigade (Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero)

 21st Massachusetts Infantry

 35th Massachusetts Infantry

 51st New York Infantry

 51st Pennsylvania Infantry

 Artillery

 Pennsylvania Light, Battery D

 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery E

3d Division (Brig. Gen. Isaac P. Rodman)

 1st Brigade (Col. Harrison S. Fairchild)

 9th New York Infantry

 89th New York Infantry

 103d New York Infantry

 2d Brigade (Col. Edward Harland)

 8th Connecticut Infantry

 11th Connecticut Infantry

 16th Connecticut Infantry

 4th Rhode Island Infantry

 Artillery

 5th U.S. Artillery, Battery A

Kanawha Division (Col. Eliakim P. Scammon) 

 1st Brigade (Col. Hugh Ewing)

 12th Ohio Infantry
63

 23d Ohio Infantry

 30th Ohio Infantry

 Ohio Light Artillery, 1st Battery

 Gilmore’s Company, West Virginia Cavalry

 Harrison’s Company, West Virginia Cavalry

 2d Brigade (Col. George Crook)

 11th Ohio Infantry

 28th Ohio Infantry

 36th Ohio Infantry

 Schambeck’s Company, Chicago Dragoons

 Kentucky Light Artillery, Simmond’s Battery

 Unassigned

 6th New York Cavalry (8 companies)

 Ohio Cavalry, 3d Independent Company

 3d U.S. Artillery, Batteries L and M

XII Corps (Maj. Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield)

1st Division (Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams)5

 1st Brigade (Brig. Gen Samuel W. Crawford)

 5th Connecticut Infantry (on detached

 duty)

 10th Maine Infantry

 28th New York Infantry

 46th Pennsylvania Infantry

 124th Pennsylvania Infantry

 125th Pennsylvania Infantry

 128th Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Brig. Gen. George H. Gordon)

 27th Indiana Infantry

 2d Massachusetts Infantry

 13th New Jersey Infantry

 107th New York Infantry

 3d Wisconsin Infantry

 Zouaves d’Afrique (Pennsylvania)6

2d Division (Brig. Gen. George S. Greene)

 1st Brigade (Lt. Col. Hector Tyndale)

 5th Ohio Infantry

5 Prior to the Battle of Antietam, the organization of the 2d Brigade was ended 

and all regiments of the brigade were transferred to the 1st and 3d Brigades.

6 No officers being present, the enlisted men were attached to the 2d Massachusetts Infantry.
64 

 7th Ohio Infantry

 29th Ohio Infantry

 66th Ohio Infantry

 28th Pennsylvania Infantry

 

 2d Brigade (Col. Henry J. Stainrook)

 3d Maryland Infantry

 102d New York Infantry

 109th Pennsylvania Infantry

 (on detached duty)

 111th Pennsylvania Infantry

 3d Brigade (Col. William B. Goodrich)

 3d Delaware Infantry

 Purnell Legion (Maryland)

 60th New York Infantry

 78th New York Infantry

 

 Artillery (Capt. Clermont L. Best)

 Maine Light, 4th Battery

 Maine Light, 6th Battery

 1st New York Light, Battery M

 New York Light, 10th Battery

 Pennsylvania Light, Batteries E and F

 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery F

Cavalry Division (Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton)

 1st Brigade (Maj. Charles J. Whiting)

 5th U.S. Cavalry

 6th U.S. Cavalry

 2d Brigade (Col. John F. Farnsworth)

 8th Illinois Cavalry

 3d Indiana Cavalry

 1st Massachusetts Cavalry

 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry

 3d Brigade (Col. Richard H. Rush)

 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry

 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry

 4th Brigade (Col. Andrew T. McReynolds)

 1st New York Cavalry

 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry
65

 5th Brigade (Col. Benjamin F. Davis)

 8th New York Cavalry

 3d Pennsylvania Cavalry

 Artillery

 2d U.S. Artillery, Batteries A, B, L, and M

 3d U.S. Artillery, Batteries C and G

 Unassigned

 1st Maine Cavalry (on detached duty)

 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry (Detachment)

Army of Northern Virginia, Confederate States Army

General Robert E. Lee

Longstreet’s Command (Maj. Gen. James Longstreet)7

McLaws’ Division (Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws)

 Kershaw’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. J. B. Kershaw)

 2d South Carolina Infantry

 3d South Carolina Infantry

 7th South Carolina Infantry

 8th South Carolina Infantry

 Cobb’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Howell Cobb)

 16th Georgia Infantry

 24th Georgia Infantry

 Cobb’s (Georgia) Legion

 15th North Carolina Infantry

 Semmes’ Brigade (Brig. Gen. Paul J. Semmes)

 10th Georgia Infantry

 53d Georgia Infantry

 15th Virginia Infantry

 32d Virginia Infantry

 Barksdale’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. William Barksdale)

 13th Mississippi Infantry

 17th Mississippi Infantry

 18th Mississippi Infantry

 21st Mississippi Infantry

7 Organized on 14 March 1862 as Longstreet’s command, it officially became 

the I Corps on 6 November. OR, pp. 698–99.
66 

 Artillery (Maj. S. P. Hamilton)

 Manly’s (North Carolina) Battery

 Pulaski (Georgia) Artillery

 Richmond (Fayette) Artillery

 Richmond Howitzers, 1st Company

 Troup (Georgia) Artillery

Anderson’s Division (Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson)

 Wilcox’s Brigade (Col. Alfred Cumming)

 8th Alabama Infantry

 9th Alabama Infantry

 10th Alabama Infantry

 11th Alabama Infantry

 Mahone’s Brigade (Col. William A. Parham)

 6th Virginia Infantry

 12th Virginia Infantry

 16th Virginia Infantry

 41st Virginia Infantry

 61st Virginia Infantry

 Featherston’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Winfield S. Featherston)

 12th Mississippi Infantry

 16th Mississippi Infantry

 19th Mississippi Infantry

 2d Mississippi Battalion

 Armistead’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead)

 9th Virginia Infantry

 14th Virginia Infantry

 38th Virginia Infantry

 53d Virginia Infantry

 57th Virginia Infantry

 Pryor’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Roger A. Pryor)

 14th Alabama Infantry

 2d Florida Infantry

 8th Florida Infantry

 3d Virginia Infantry

 Wright’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. A. R. Wright)

 44th Alabama Infantry

 3d Georgia Infantry

 22d Georgia Infantry

 48th Georgia Infantry
67

 Artillery (Maj. John S. Saunders)

 Donaldsonville (Louisiana) Artillery

 Huger’s (Virginia) Battery

 Moorman’s (Virginia) Battery

 Thompson’s (Grimes’) (Virginia) Battery

Jones’ Division (Brig. Gen. David R. Jones)

 Toombs’ Brigade (Brig. Gen. Robert Toombs)

 2d Georgia Infantry

 15th Georgia Infantry

 17th Georgia Infantry

 20th Georgia Infantry

 Drayton’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Drayton)

 50th Georgia Infantry

 51st Georgia Infantry

 15th South Carolina Infantry

 Pickett’s Brigade (Col. Eppa Hunton)

 8th Virginia Infantry

 18th Virginia Infantry

 19th Virginia Infantry

 28th Virginia Infantry

 56th Virginia Infantry

 Kemper’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. J. L. Kemper)

 1st Virginia Infantry

 7th Virginia Infantry

 11th Virginia Infantry

 17th Virginia Infantry

 24th Virginia Infantry

 Jenkins’ Brigade (Col. Joseph Walker)

 1st South Carolina Infantry

 2d South Carolina Rifles

 5th South Carolina Infantry

 6th South Carolina Infantry

 4th South Carolina Battalion

 Palmetto (South Carolina) Sharpshooters

 Anderson’s Brigade (Col. George T. Anderson)

 1st Georgia Infantry (Regulars)

 7th Georgia Infantry

 8th Georgia Infantry

 9th Georgia Infantry

 11th Georgia Infantry
68 

 Artillery 

 Fauquier (Virginia) Artillery*

 Loudoun Virginia) Artillery*

 Turner (Virginia) Artillery*

 Wise (Virginia) Artillery

 *On detached duty.

Walker’s Division (Brig. Gen. John G. Walker)

 Walker’s Brigade (Col. Van H. Manning)

 3d Arkansas Infantry

 27th North Carolina Infantry

 46th North Carolina Infantry

 48th North Carolina Infantry

 30th Virginia Infantry

 French’s (Virginia) Battery

 Ransom’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Robert Ransom, Jr.)

 24th North Carolina Infantry

 25th North Carolina Infantry

 35th North Carolina Infantry

 49th North Carolina Infantry

 Branch’s Field Artillery (Virginia)

Hood’s Division (Brig. Gen. John B. Hood)

 Hood’s Brigade (Col. W. T. Wofford)

 18th Georgia Infantry

 Hampton (South Carolina) Legion

 1st Texas Infantry

 4th Texas Infantry

 5th Texas Infantry

 Law’s Brigade (Col. E. M. Law)

 4th Alabama Infantry

 2d Mississippi Infantry

 11th Mississippi Infantry

 6th North Carolina Infantry

 Artillery (Maj. B. W. Forbel)

 German (South Carolina) Artillery

 Palmetto (South Carolina) Artillery

 Rowan (North Carolina) Artillery

 Evans’ Brigade (Brig. Gen. Nathan G. Evans)

 17th South Carolina Infantry

 18th South Carolina Infantry

 22d South Carolina Infantry
69

 23d South Carolina Infantry

 Holcombe (South Carolina) Legion

 Macbeth (South Carolina) Artillery

 Artillery 

 Washington (Louisiana) Battalion (Col. J. B.

 Walton) (4 companies)

 Lee’s Battalion (Col. S. D. Lee)

 Ashland (Virginia) Artillery

Bedford (Virginia) Artillery

Brooks’ (South Carolina) Artillery

Eubanks’ (Virginia) Artillery

Madison (Louisiana) Artillery

Parker’s (Virginia) Battery

 

Jackson’s Command (Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson)8

Ewell’s Division (Brig. Gen. A. R. Lawton)

 Lawton’s Brigade (Col. M. Douglass)

 13th Georgia Infantry

 26th Georgia Infantry

 31st Georgia Infantry

 38th Georgia Infantry

 60th Georgia Infantry

 61st Georgia Infantry

 Early’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Jubal A. Early)

 13th Virginia Infantry

 25th Virginia Infantry

 31st Virginia Infantry

 44th Virginia Infantry

 49th Virginia Infantry

 52d Virginia Infantry

 58th Virginia Infantry

 Trimble’s Brigade (Col. James A. Walker)

 15th Alabama Infantry

 12th Georgia Infantry

 21st Georgia Infantry

 21st North Carolina Infantry

 1st North Carolina Battalion (attached to

 21st North Carolina Infantry)

8 Organized as Jackson’s command on 14 March 1862, it officially became the 

II Corps on 6 November.
70 

 Hay’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays)

 5th Louisiana Infantry

 6th Louisiana Infantry

 7th Louisiana Infantry

 8th Louisiana Infantry

 14th Louisiana Infantry

 Artillery (Maj. A. R. Courtney)

 Charlottesville (Virginia) Artillery*

 Chesapeake (Maryland) Artillery*

 Courtney (Virginia) Artillery*

 Johnson’s (Virginia) Battery

 Louisiana Guard Artillery

 1st Maryland Battery*

 Staunton (Virginia) Artillery*

 *On detached duty.

Hill’s Light Division (Maj. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill)

 Branch’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. L. O’B. Branch)

 7th North Carolina Infantry

 18th North Carolina Infantry

 28th North Carolina Infantry

 33d North Carolina Infantry

 37th North Carolina Infantry

 Gregg’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Maxcy Gregg)

 1st South Carolina Infantry (Provisional Army)

 1st South Carolina Rifles

 12th South Carolina Infantry

 13th South Carolina Infantry

 14th South Carolina Infantry

 Field’s Brigade (Colonel J. M. Brockenbrough)

 40th Virginia Infantry

 47th Virginia Infantry

 55th Virginia Infantry

 22d Virginia Battalion

 Archer’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. J. J. Archer)

 5th Alabama Battalion

 19th Georgia Infantry

 1st Tennessee Infantry (Provisional Army)

 7th Tennessee Infantry

 14th Tennessee Infantry
71

 Pender’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. William D. Pender)

 16th North Carolina Infantry

 22d North Carolina Infantry

 34th North Carolina Infantry

 38th North Carolina Infantry

 Thomas’ Brigade (Col. Edward L. Thomas)

 14th Georgia Infantry

 35th Georgia Infantry

 45th Georgia Infantry

 49th Georgia Infantry

 Artillery (Maj. R. L. Walker)

 Branch (North Carolina) Artillery*

 Crenshaw’s (Virginia) Battery

 Fredericksburg (Virginia) Artillery

 Letcher (Virginia) Artillery*

 Middlesex (Virginia) Artillery*

 Pee Dee (South Carolina) Artillery

 Purcell (Virginia) Artillery

 *On detached duty.

Jackson’s Division (Brig. Gen. John R. Jones)

 Winder’s Brigade (Col. A. J. Grigsby)

 2d Virginia Infantry

 4th Virginia Infantry

 5th Virginia Infantry

 27th Virginia Infantry

 33d Virginia Infantry

 Taliaferro’s Brigade (Col. E. T. H. Warren)

 47th Alabama Infantry

 48th Alabama Infantry

 10th Virginia Infantry

 23d Virginia Infantry

 37th Virginia Infantry

 Jones’ Brigade (Col. B. T. Johnson)

 21st Virginia Infantry

 42d Virginia Infantry

 48th Virginia Infantry

 1st Virginia Battalion

 Starke’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. William E. Starke)

 1st Louisiana Infantry

 2d Louisiana Infantry

 9th Louisiana Infantry
72 

 10th Louisiana Infantry

 15th Louisiana Infantry

 Coppens’ (Louisiana) Battalion

 

Artillery (Maj. L. M. Shumaker)

 Alleghany (Virginia) Artillery

 Brockenbrough’s (Maryland) Battery

 Danville (Virginia) Artillery

 Hampden (Virginia) Artillery

 Lee (Virginia) Battery

 Rockbridge (Virginia) Artillery

Hill’s Division (Maj. Gen. Daniel H. Hill)

 Ripley’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Roswell S. Ripley)

 4th Georgia Infantry

 44th Georgia Infantry

 1st North Carolina Infantry

 3d North Carolina Infantry

 Rodes’ Brigade (Brig. Gen. R. E. Rodes)

 3d Alabama Infantry

 5th Alabama Infantry

 6th Alabama Infantry

 12th Alabama Infantry

 26th Alabama Infantry

 Garland’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland, Jr.)

 5th North Carolina Infantry

 12th North Carolina Infantry

 13th North Carolina Infantry

 20th North Carolina Infantry

 23d North Carolina Infantry

 Anderson’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. George B. Anderson)

 2d North Carolina Infantry

 4th North Carolina Infantry

 14th North Carolina Infantry

 30th North Carolina Infantry

 Colquitt’s Brigade (Col. A. H. Colquitt)

 13th Alabama Infantry

 6th Georgia Infantry

 23d Georgia Infantry

 27th Georgia Infantry

 28th Georgia Infantry
73

 Artillery (Major Pierson)

 Hardaway (Alabama) Battery

 Jeff. Davis (Alabama) Artillery

 Jones’ (Virginia) Battery

 King William (Virginia) Artillery

Reserve Artillery (Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton)

 Brown’s Battalion (Col. J. Thompson Brown)

 Powatan Artillery

 Richmond Howitzer, 2d and 3d Companies

 Salem Artillery

 Williamsburg Artillery

 Cutts’ Battalion (Lt. Col. A. S. Cutts)

 Blackshears’ (Georgia) Battery

 Irwin (Georgia) Artillery

 Lloyd’s (North Carolina) Battery

 Patterson’s (Georgia) Battery

 Ross’ (Georgia) Battery

 Jones’ Battalion (Maj. H. P. Jones)

 Morris (Virginia) Artillery

 Orange (Virginia) Artillery

 Turner’s (Virginia) Artillery

 Wimbish’s (Virginia) Battery

 Nelson’s Battalion (Maj. William Nelson)

 Amherst (Virginia) Artillery

 Fluvanna (Virginia) Artillery

 Huckstep’s (Virginia) Battery

 Johnson’s (Virginia) Battery

 Milledge (Georgia) Artillery

 Miscellaneous Artillery

 Cutshaw’s (Virginia) Battery

 Dixie (Virginia) Artillery

 Magruder (Virginia) Artillery

 Rice’s (Virginia) Battery

 Thomas (Virginia) Artillery (on detached duty)

Cavalry (Maj. Gen. James E. B. Stuart)

 Hampton’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton)

 1st North Carolina Cavalry

 2d South Carolina Cavalry

 10th Virginia Cavalry

 Cobb’s (Georgia) Legion

 Jeff. Davis Legion
74 

 Lee’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee)

 1st Virginia Cavalry

 3d Virginia Cavalry

 4th Virginia Cavalry

 5th Virginia Cavalry

 9th Virginia Cavalry

 

 Robertson’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. B. H. Robertson)

 2d Virginia Cavalry

 6th Virginia Cavalry

 7th Virginia Cavalry

 12th Virginia Cavalry

 17th Virginia Battalion

 Horse Artillery (Capt. John Pelham)

 Chew’s (Virginia) Battery

 Hart’s (South Carolina) Battery

 Pelham’s (Virginia) Battery
75

Casualties

Estimates of numbers engaged in Civil War battles vary; 

statistics on killed, wounded, captured, and missing are incomplete. The reports of casualties at the Battle of Antietam shown 

in the official records are certainly inaccurate. Often these reports are qualified by “about,” “not over,” or “less than.” In addition, they do not show numbers of wounded who later died 

or the missing who later returned to duty or had been captured. The casualty estimates shown below are drawn from reports in the submitted one to several months after the battle. 

While Union reports show casualty statistics for 17 September 

1862, Confederate reports show the total number of killed and 

wounded for the Maryland Campaign, including the battles of 

South Mountain, Harper’s Ferry, Sharpsburg (Antietam), and 

Shepherdstown (Boteler’s Ford). Confederate cavalry casualties 

are not shown. cavalry brigades spent 17 September guarding 

the flanks of the Confederate Army, thus their casualties were 

relatively few.

Table 1: Army of the Potomac, Casualties during the Battle of

Antietam, 17 September 1862

Killed Wounded Missing

Unit Ofcrs Men Ofcrs Men Ofcrs Men Aggregate

I Corps 25 392 100 1,951 0 122 2,590

II Corps 63 820 188 3,671 3 393 5,138

V Corps 1 16 2 88 0 2 109

VI Corps 8 63 22 313 2 31 439

IX Corps 24 414 98 1,698 2 113 2,349

XII Corps 17 258 63 1,323 0 85 1,746

Cavalry Division 1 6 0 23 0 0 30

Total 139 1,969 473 9,067 7 746 12,401
76 

Table 2: , Casualties during the

Maryland Campaign, 14–19 September 1862

Unit Killed Wounded Aggregate

Longstreet’s Command

McLaws’ Division 205 1,256 1,461

R. H. Anderson’s Division 134 887 1,021

D. R. Jones’ Division 142 818 960

Walker’s Division 177 144 321

Hood’s Division 133 830 963

Evans’ Brigade* 47 262 309

Subtotal 838 4,197 5,035

Jackson’s Command

Ewell’s Division 161 854 1,015

A. P. Hill’s Division 113 818 931

Jackson’s Division 111 435 546

D. H. Hill’s Division 451 1,735 2,186

Subtotal 836 3,842 4,678

Total 1,674 8,039 9,713

*This brigade was not assigned to a division but operated with Longstreet’s 

command.

Source: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the 

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 vols. (Washington, D.C.: 

Government Printing Office, 1893), ser. 1, vol. 19, pt. 1, pp. 189–200, 810–11, 

843, 860–62, 888, 906–07.
77

Organization

In the Eastern Theater of the war, in September 1862 the 

principal adversaries were the Union Army of the Potomac and 

the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The Union Army was 

organized into six infantry corps and one cavalry division. Artillery was organized into batteries of four to six guns each, with 

two or more batteries assigned to each of the army’s eighteen 

divisions. The total strength of the Army of the Potomac during 

the Battle of Antietam was approximately 85,000 men.

In September 1862 the Army of Northern Virginia consisted of 

two infantry “commands” comprising a total of nine infantry 

divisions and one cavalry division. (The formation of corps was 

not authorized in the Confederate Army until after the Battle of 

Antietam.) Artillery batteries were assigned to each of the army’s 

divisions and to the army’s reserve artillery. At the time of the 

Battle of Antietam, the strength of the Army of Northern Virginia

was about 60,000, though only about 40,000 actually participated. 

For Civil War armies the infantry regiment was the basic 

administrative and tactical unit. Regimental headquarters consisted of a colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, adjutant, quartermaster, surgeon (a major), two assistant surgeons, a chaplain, 

sergeant major, quartermaster sergeant, commissary sergeant, 

hospital steward, and two principal musicians. Each company 

was generally staffed by a captain, a first lieutenant, a second 

lieutenant, sometimes a third lieutenant, a first sergeant, 4 sergeants, 8 corporals, 2 musicians, and 1 wagoner.

The authorized strength of a Civil War infantry regiment was 

about 1,000 officers and men arranged in ten companies plus a 

headquarters and (at least for of the first half of the war) a band. 

Discharges for physical disability, disease, special assignments 

(as bakers, hospital nurses, or wagoners), courts-martial, and 

battle injuries all combined to reduce effective combat strength. 

Before long a typical regiment might be reduced to fewer than 

500 troops. 

Brigades were made up of two or more regiments, with four 

regiments being most common. Union brigades averaged 1,000 

to 1,500 infantry, while Confederate brigades averaged 1,500 to 

1,800. Union brigades were designated by a number within their 

division, while Confederate brigades were designated by the 
78 

name of a current or former commander. Divisions were formed 

of two or more brigades. Union divisions contained 2,500 to 

4,000 infantrymen, while Confederate infantry divisions were 

somewhat larger, containing 5,000 to 6,000 men. 

A corps was formed of two or more divisions. Two or more 

corps constituted an army, the largest operational organization.
79

Tactics

The tactical legacy of the eighteenth century emphasized 

close-order formations of soldiers trained to maneuver in concert and fire by volleys. These “linear” tactics stressed the tactical offensive. Assault troops advanced in line, two ranks deep, 

with cadenced steps, stopping to fire volleys on command and 

finally rushing the last few yards to pierce the enemy line with 

a bayonet charge. These tactics were adequate for troops armed 

with single-shot, muzzle-loading, smoothbore muskets with an 

effective range of roughly eighty yards. The close-order formation was necessary to concentrate the firepower of these inaccurate weapons. Bayonet charges had a chance of success because 

infantry could rush the last eighty yards before the defending 

infantrymen could reload their muskets.

The U.S. Army’s transition from smoothbore to rifled muskets in the mid-nineteenth century had two main effects in the 

American Civil War: it strengthened the tactical defensive and 

increased the number of casualties in the attacking force. With 

weapons that could cause casualties out to 1,000 yards, defenders firing rifles could decimate infantry formations attacking according to linear tactics.

During the Civil War the widespread use of the rifle often 

caused infantry assault formations to loosen somewhat, with 

individual soldiers seeking available cover and concealment. 

However, because officers needed to maintain visual and verbal 

control of their commands during the noise, smoke, and chaos 

of combat, close-order tactics to some degree continued to the 

end of the war.

The smallest tactical unit employed individually on the 

battlefield was a brigade, usually consisting of four regiments. 

Units generally moved on roads or cross-country in column formation, four men abreast. Upon reaching the battlefield, each 

regiment was typically formed into a line two ranks deep, each 

man’s shoulders touching the shoulders of the men next to him. 

Regulations prescribed the distance between the ranks as thirteen inches. Both front and rear ranks were capable of firing 

either by volley or individually. Two paces behind the rear rank 

was an open rank of “file closers,” selected noncommissioned 

officers charged with preventing straggling and desertion. During a battle each regiment might send forward two companies 
80 

in extended skirmish order, keep six companies in its main line, 

and hold two in the rear as a reserve. As the fighting progressed, 

additional companies might be fed into the skirmish line or the 

skirmishers might regroup on the main line. A regiment of 500 

men might have a front almost 200 yards wide. 
81

Small Arms

In 1855 the U.S. Army adopted a .58-caliber rifled musket to 

replace the .69-caliber smoothbore. The new infantry weapon 

was muzzle loaded, its rifled barrel taking a hollow-based cylindroconical bullet slightly smaller than the diameter of the bore. 

The loading procedure required the soldier to withdraw a paper 

cartridge containing powder and bullet from his cartridge box, 

tear open one end of the cartridge with his teeth, pour the powder into the muzzle, place the bullet in the muzzle, and ram it 

to the breech using a metal ramrod. The soldier then placed a 

copper percussion cap on a hollow cone at the breech. To fire 

the weapon, he cocked the hammer; when he pulled the trigger, 

the hammer struck the cap and ignited the powder charge in the 

breech. Each soldier was expected to be capable of loading and 

firing three aimed shots per minute. Although the maximum 

range of a rifled musket was sometimes over 1,000 yards, actual 

fields of fire were often very short, with musketry relying on 

volume at close range rather than accuracy at long range.

The basic ammunition load for each infantry soldier was 

forty rounds in the cartridge box. When more action was expected, twenty additional rounds were issued to each soldier, 

who placed them in his uniform pockets or knapsack. In addition, 100 rounds per man were held in the brigade or division 

trains and another 100 rounds in the corps trains. 

At the beginning of the war, a shortage of rifled muskets 

on both sides forced the Northern and Southern governments 

to issue the older smoothbore weapons and purchase weapons 

from European nations. As the war progressed, more soldiers 

were armed with rifled weapons; though late in the war some 

troops on both sides still carried smoothbores. 

Officers generally carried both single- and multiple-shot 

handguns. The types of handguns used by both sides were innumerable; however, two of the most common were six-shot revolvers produced by Colt and Remington, in both .36- and .44-caliber.

The Union cavalry was initially armed with sabers and handguns but soon added breech-loading carbines. In addition to 

Sharps and Spencer carbines, dozens of other types of breechloaders, from .52- to .56-caliber, were issued. Confederate cavalrymen might be armed with a wide variety of handguns, shotguns, muzzle-loading carbines, or captured Federal weapons. 
82 

Table 3: Typical Civil War Small Arms

Theoretical

Effective Range Rate of Fire

Weapon (in yards) (in rounds/minute)

U.S. rifled musket,

Muzzle loaded, .58-caliber 400–600 3

English Enfield rifled musket,

Muzzle loaded, .577-caliber 400–600 3

Smoothbore musket,

Muzzle loaded, .69-caliber 100–200 3

Source: Ernest F. Fisher, Jr., “Weapons and Equipment Evolution and Its 

Influence Upon the Organization and Tactics in the American Army, 1775–

1963,” Unpubl Ms, Office of the Chief of Military History, 1963, File 2–3.7, 

AB.Z, U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH), Washington, D.C.
83

Artillery

At the Battle of Antietam, the Army of the Potomac had an 

estimated 293 guns, of which 166 were rifled. Although Antietam Creek physically separated many Union guns from the battlefield proper, many guns east of the creek could fire on Confederate positions along Hagerstown Pike. On the morning of 

17 September approximately ninety Union guns were operating 

on the west side of the creek, mostly on the Union right flank 

north of Dunker Church. More guns were sent to the battlefield 

during the day, and by evening there were approximately 162 

Union guns west of Antietam Creek. 

On 17 September the Army of Northern Virginia had an estimated 246 guns, of which 82 were rifled, 112 smoothbore, and 

52 of unknown type. The Confederates reported having captured 73 guns at Harper’s Ferry on 15 September, but none were 

assembled into batteries in time to be used in the Battle of Antietam.

The artillery of both armies was generally organized into batteries of four or six guns. Regulations prescribed a captain as battery commander, while lieutenants commanded two-gun “sections.” Each gun made up a platoon, under a sergeant (“chief of 

the piece”) with eight crewmen and six drivers.

For transport, each gun was attached to a two-wheeled cart, 

known as a limber and drawn by a six-horse team. The limber 

chest carried thirty to fifty rounds of ammunition, depending 

on the size of guns in the battery. In addition to the limbers, 

each gun had at least one caisson, also drawn by a six-horse 

team. The caisson carried additional ammunition in two chests, 

as well as a spare wheel and tools. A horse-drawn forge and a 

battery wagon with tools accompanied each battery. A battery at 

full regulation strength included all officers, noncommissioned 

officers, buglers, drivers, cannoneers, and other specialized functions and might exceed 100 officers and men. With spare horses 

included, a typical six-gun battery might have 100–150 horses.

A battery could unlimber and fire an initial volley in about 

one minute, and each gun could continue firing two aimed 

shots a minute. A battery could “limber up” in about one minute as well. The battery practiced “direct fire”: the target was 

in view of the gun. The prescribed distance between guns was 

fourteen yards from hub to hub. Therefore, a six-gun battery 
84 

would represent a front of about 100 yards. Depth of the battery 

position from the gun muzzle, passing the limber, to the rear 

of the caisson was prescribed as forty-seven yards. In practice, 

these measurements might be altered by terrain.

During the firing sequence cannoneers took their positions 

as in the diagram below. At the command “Commence firing,” 

the gunner ordered “Load.” While the gunner sighted the piece, 

Number 1 sponged the bore; Number 5 received a round from 

Number 7 at the limber and carried the round to Number 2, 

who placed it in the bore. Number 1 rammed the round to the 

breech, while Number 3 placed a thumb over the vent to prevent premature detonation of the charge. When the gun was 

loaded and sighted, Number 3 inserted a vent pick into the vent 

and punctured the cartridge bag. Number 4 attached a lanyard 

to a friction primer and inserted the primer into the vent. At the 

command “Fire,” Number 4 yanked the lanyard. Number 6 cut 

the fuses, if necessary. The process was repeated until the command to cease firing was given. 
85

Table 4: Typical Civil War Field Artillery

 Effective Range

Tube Tube Length at 5o Elevation

Weapon Composition (in inches) (in yards)

6-pdr. Model 1841

Smoothbore field gun

3.67-in. dia. bore . . . . . . . . . Bronze 60 1,523

12-pdr. “Napoleon”

Smoothbore gun-howitzer

4.62-in. dia. bore . . . . . . . . . Bronze 59 1,680

10-pdr.

Parrott rifle

2.9-in. dia. bore . . . . . . . . . . Cast iron 78 1,950

3-in.

Ordnance rifle

3.0-in. dia. bore. . . . . . . . . . Wrought iron 73 1,835

20-pdr.

Parrott rifle

6.67-in. dia. bore . . . . . . . . Cast iron 89 2,100

Note: Cannon were generally identified by the weight of their solid iron 

round shot; though some, like the 3-inch ordnance rifle, used the diameter of 

the bore for identification. 

Sources: Henry L. Abbott, Siege Artillery in the Campaigns against Richmond 

with Notes on the 15-inch Gun, Professional Papers 14 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1867); Alfred Mordecai, Artillery for the United States 

Land Service as Devised and Arranged by the Ordnance Board, Including Drawings 

and Tables of Dimensions of the Ordnance for the Land Service of the United States, 

1841 (Washington, D.C.: J. & G. S. Gideon, 1849); Instruction for Field Artillery, 

Prepared by a Board of Artillery Officers (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1863); 

Rpt, Joseph M. Hanson, 27 May 1940, sub: A Report on the Deployment of the 

Artillery at the Battle of Antietam, Md., With a View To Making Battery Positions at the Antietam National Battlefield Site, in National Park Service Files, 

Antietam National Battlefield.
86 

Artillery Projectiles

Civil War field artillery employed four basic types of projectiles: solid shot for long-range accuracy, shells for medium-range 

blast, case shot for medium-range fragmentation, and canister 

for close-range defense.

Solid Projectiles

Round (spherical) projectiles of solid iron for smoothbores 

were commonly called cannonballs, or shot. When elongated 

for rifled weapons, the projectile was known as a bolt. Solid 

projectiles were used against opposing batteries, wagons, buildings, etc., as well as enemy personnel. While shot could ricochet 

across open ground against advancing infantry or cavalry, bolts 

tended to bury themselves upon impact with the ground and 

therefore were not used a great deal by field artillery.

Shot Bolt

Spherical Shell Rifled Shell
87

Shell

The shell, whether spherical or conical, was a hollow iron 

projectile filled with a black powder–bursting charge. It would 

typically break into five to ten large fragments. Spherical shells 

were exploded by fuses set into an opening in the shell, which 

ignited the shell near the intended target. The time of detonation was determined by adjusting the length of the fuse. Rifled 

shells were detonated by similar-timed fuses or by a percussion 

fuse detonating the shell upon impact.

Case Shot

Case shot had a thinner wall than a shell and was filled with 

a number of smaller lead or iron balls (eighty for a 12-pounder). 

A timed fuse ignited a small bursting charge inside the shell, 

which fragmented the casing and scattered the contents into 

the air. Case shot was intended to burst fifty to seventy-five 

yards short of the target, the fragments being carried forward by 

the velocity of the shot.

Spherical Case Shot Rifled Case Shot
88 

Canister

Canister consisted of a tin cylinder filled with iron balls 

tightly packed in sawdust, which turned the cannon into a giant shotgun. Canister was an extremely effective antipersonnel 

weapon, with a maximum range of 350 yards. In emergencies, 

double loads of canister could be used at ranges less than 200 

yards with a single propelling charge.

Canister
89

Logistics

U.S. Army Bureau System

Bureau chiefs and heads of staff departments were responsible for various aspects of the Army’s administration and logistics and reported directly to the Secretary of War. The division 

of responsibility and authority over them among the Secretary 

of War, the Assistant Secretaries, and the General in Chief was 

never specified. The supply departments functioned independently and without effective coordination throughout most of 

the Civil War, though much improved after Grant took command.

Logistical support was entrusted to the heads of four supply departments in Washington: the Quartermaster General, 

responsible for clothing and equipment, forage, animals, transportation, and housing; the Commissary General for rations; 

the Chief of Ordnance for weapons, ammunition, and miscellaneous related equipment; and the Surgeon General for medical supplies, evacuation, treatment, and hospitalization of the 

wounded.

For other support there were the Adjutant General, the Inspector General, the Paymaster General, the Judge Advocate 

General, the Chief of Engineers, and the Chief of Topographical 

Engineers.

The military department was the basic organizational unit 

for administrative and logistical purposes, and the commander 

of each department controlled the support in that area with no 

intervening level between his departmental headquarters and 

the bureau chiefs in Washington. There were six departments 

when the war started (East, West, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, and 

Pacific); however, later on, boundaries changed and several geographical departments might be grouped together as a military 

“division” headquarters.

Army depots were located in major cities: Boston, New York, 

Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Philadelphia was the 

chief depot and manufacturing center for clothing. Advanced 

and temporary supply bases were established as needed to support active operations. Until 1864 most depots were authorized 

the rank of captain as commander, who despite his low rank 
90 

and meager pay had tremendous resources of men, money, and 

materiel under his control. There were a few exceptions, notably Col. Daniel H. Rucker at the Washington Quartermaster 

Depot and Col. George D. Ramsay at the Washington Arsenal. 

The primary function of the depots was to procure supplies and 

prepare them for use in the field by repacking, assembling, or 

other similar tasks.

Procurement was decentralized. Purchases were made on 

the market by low-bid contract in the major cities and producing areas by depot officers. Flour and some other commodities 

were procured closer to the troops when possible. Cattle were 

contracted for at specific points, and major beef depots were 

maintained at Washington (on the grounds of the unfinished 

Washington Monument); Alexandria, Virginia; and Louisville, 

Kentucky. The Subsistence Department developed a highly effective system of moving cattle on the hoof to the immediate 

rear of the armies in the field to be slaughtered by brigade butchers and issued to the troops the day before consumption.

The Confederate Army used a similar system with depots 

at Richmond; Staunton; Raleigh; Atlanta; Columbus, Georgia; 

Huntsville; Montgomery; Jackson, Mississippi; Little Rock; Alexandria, Louisiana; and San Antonio.

Supply Operations

Most unit logistics was accomplished at the regimental level. The regimental quartermaster was normally a line lieutenant 

designated by the regimental commander. His duties included 

submitting requisitions for all quartermaster supplies and transport; accounting for regimental property including tents, camp 

equipment, extra clothing, wagons, forage, and animals; issuing 

supplies; and managing the regimental trains. The regimental 

commissary officer, also designated from the line, requisitioned, 

accounted for, and issued rations. The regimental ordnance officer had similar duties regarding arms and ammunition and 

managed the movement of the unit ammunition train.

In theory, logistical staff positions above the regiment were 

filled by a fully qualified officer of the supply department concerned. However, experienced officers were in perpetual short 

supply: many authorized positions were filled by officers and 

noncommissioned officers from the line units or left vacant 

with the duties performed by someone in addition to his own. 

This problem existed in both armies, where inexperience and 

ignorance of logistical principles and procedures generally reduced levels of support.
91

The Soldier’s Load: About 45 lbs. (Union)—musket and bayonet (14 lbs.); 60 rounds; 3–8 days’ rations; canteen, blanket, or 

overcoat; shelter half; ground sheet; mess gear (cup, knife, fork, 

spoon, and skillet); personal items (sewing kit, razor, letters, Bible, etc.). Confederates usually had less, about 30 lbs.

Official U.S. Ration: 20 oz. fresh or salted beef or 12 oz. pork or 

bacon; 18 oz. flour or 20 oz. cornmeal (bread in lieu if possible); 

1.6 oz. rice, .64 oz. beans, or 1.5 oz. dried potatoes; 1.6 oz. coffee or .24 oz. tea; 2.4 oz. sugar; .54 oz. salt; and .32 gill vinegar.

Union Marching Ration: 16 oz. “hardtack,” 12 oz. salt pork, or 4 

oz. fresh meat; 1 oz. coffee; 3 oz. sugar; and salt.

Confederate Ration: Basically the same but with slightly more 

sugar and less meat, coffee, vinegar, and salt and seldom issued 

in full. For the Army of Northern Virginia usually half of meat 

issued and coffee available only when captured or exchanged 

through the lines for sugar and tobacco. During the Maryland 

Campaign foraging was disappointing, so Confederate soldiers 

supplemented the issue ration with corn from the fields and 

fruit from the orchards.

Forage: Each horse required 14 lbs. hay and 12 lbs. grain per 

day; mules needed the same amount of hay and 9 lbs. grain. No 

other item was so bulky and difficult to transport.

Union Annual Clothing Issue: 2 caps, 1 hat, 2 dress coats, 3 pr. 

trousers, 3 flannel shirts, 3 flannel drawers, 4 pr. stockings, and 4 

pr. bootees (high-top shoes). Artillerymen and cavalrymen were 

issued jackets and boots instead of bootees. Allowance = $42.

Confederate: Officially, the Confederate soldier was almost 

equally well clothed; but the Quartermaster was seldom able to 

supply the required items and soldiers wore whatever came to 

hand, the home-dyed butternut jackets and trousers being characteristic items. Shortages of shoes were a constant problem.

Tents: The Sibley (tepee) held 20 men, feet to center pole; early 

in the war, the Union introduced the tent de’ Abri (shelter half) 

used by the French Army and called “dog” tent by witty soldiers—now called pup tent.

Baggage: Enlisted men of both armies were required to carry 

their own. Union order of September 1862 limited officers to 

blankets, one small valise or carpet bag, and an ordinary mess 
92 

kit. Confederate standards allowed generals 80 lbs., field officers 

65 lbs., and captains and subalterns 50 lbs.

Wagons: The Union’s standard 6-mule Army wagon could haul 

4,000 lbs. on good roads in the best of conditions but seldom 

exceeded 2,000 (with 4 mules 1,800 lbs.) at a rate of 12–24 miles 

a day. Confederates often used 4-mule wagons with smaller capacity.

The Army of the Potomac authorized wagons as follows:

Corps headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Division and brigade headquarters . . . . . . 3

Regiment of infantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Artillery battery and cavalry . . . . . . . . . . 3

One wagon per regiment was reserved for hospital stores and 

one for grain for officers’ horses.

The Army of Northern Virginia used 4-mule wagons as follows:

Division headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Brigade headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Regiment headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Regiment’s medical stores . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Regiment’s ammunition . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Per 100 men for baggage,

 camp equipment, rations, etc. . . . . . . 1

Numbers of supply wagons per 1,000 men:

Army of the Potomac (1862) . . . . . . . . . . 29

Jackson in the Valley (1862) . . . . . . . . . . 7

Army of Northern Virginia (1863) . . . . . . . . 28

Army of the Potomac (1864) . . . . . . . . . . 36

Sherman’s March to the Sea (1864) . . . . . . 40

Napoleon’s standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5
93

Selected Biographical Sketches

Union Officers

George B. McClellan

1826–1885, Pennsylvania

McClellan was born in Philadelphia to a family that moved 

within the upper ranks of local 

society. He attended private 

schools before entering West 

Point, where in 1846 he graduated second in a class of fiftynine. Assigned to the Corps 

of Engineers, McClellan participated in the Mexican War, 

where he was awarded brevets 

of 1st lieutenant and captain. 

After the war he served briefly 

as an instructor at West Point. 

As a member of a board of officers, McClellan went abroad to 

observe the Crimean War and 

study European armies.

In 1857 McClellan resigned his army commission to become 

chief engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad. Five years later, 

when the Civil War broke out, he was president of the Ohio and 

Mississippi Railroad. McClellan entered the war as a major general of volunteers and was soon commissioned with the same 

rank in the Regular Army. His success in a minor victory at Rich 

Mountain, West Virginia, just ten days before the Union disaster 

at First Bull Run, brought him to the public eye at a critical time. 

He was assigned command of the army at Washington (later 

known as the Army of the Potomac) and in November became 

general in chief of the Army, replacing Winfield Scott.

In the spring of 1862 the “Young Napoleon” took the Army 

of the Potomac by water to the Virginia Peninsula to capture 

Richmond. His departure as field commander resulted in his 

being relieved of command as general in chief on 11 March. 

George B. McClellan
94 

During the Peninsula Campaign McClellan greatly overestimated the number of Confederates defending their capital and 

constantly asked the government for additional men in order 

to advance. Unable to provide the thousands of men requested, the War Department in early August ordered McClellan to 

withdraw his army from the peninsula. The Army of the Potomac was to unite with the Army of Virginia under Maj. Gen. 

John Pope. In late August, however, before all of McClellan’s 

forces could join with Pope, the Army of Virginia was defeated 

at Second Bull Run. The remnants of Pope’s command were 

then consolidated with the Army of the Potomac.

In early September Lee crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, and McClellan was tasked with leading the reorganized 

Army of the Potomac north. He confronted the Confederates 

along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg. On 17 September the 

two armies fought to a draw in the Battle of Antietam, and two 

days later Lee withdrew back to Virginia. McClellan failed to pursue the Confederates and remained on the battlefield until early 

November, reorganizing his command and requesting reinforcements. This delay prompted his dismissal as army commander; 

although he still retained his commission as major general, he 

held no further command during the war. After running unsuccessfully for president in 1864 (and resigning his commission 

on Election Day), McClellan and his family sailed to Europe, not 

returning for three-and-a-half years. McClellan served as governor of New Jersey from 1878–1881.

Ambrose E. Burnside

1824–1881, Indiana

Born to a poor family of 

Quakers, Burnside was indentured at an early age as a tailor’s apprentice. Afterward he 

entered West Point and graduated in the class of 1847, during the Mexican War. Although 

sent to Mexico, he did not arrive until the war had ended. 

Burnside was then ordered to 

duty in New Mexico, where he 

was wounded in an engagement with Apaches. During 

duty in New Mexico, Burnside 

found the cavalry carbine unsuited for plains service and 

Ambrose E. Burnside
95

invented the Burnside breechloading rifle. In 1852 he resigned 

his commission and settled in Rhode Island to manufacture the 

new rifle, hoping for a lucrative government contract. After failing to obtain a contract, he was forced to turn over the patent 

rights to creditors. Still in debt, Burnside found employment 

with his former West Point classmate George McClellan at the 

Illinois Central Railroad in Chicago.

By 1860 Burnside was the company treasurer with an office 

in New York City. At the beginning of the Civil War, Burnside 

returned to Rhode Island to take command of a regiment of 

militia, which led to Washington in April 1861. At the Battle of 

First Bull Run on 21 July, Burnside was a colonel in command of 

a brigade and by early August had been promoted to brigadier 

general of volunteers. In early 1862 Burnside commanded an 

expedition against the North Carolina coast, where his troops 

captured Roanoke Island, New Berne, Beaufort, and Fort Macon. 

For these accomplishments he was promoted to major general 

in March 1862. In July Burnside’s troops, plus troops from other 

commands, were organized into the IX Corps. During the Second Bull Run Campaign the IX Corps was attached to Pope’s 

Army of Virginia, although Burnside himself remained near 

Fredericksburg. During the Maryland Campaign Burnside was 

briefly assigned command of a wing, which consisted of the I 

and IX Corps, in McClellan’s army.

Burnside had twice before been offered command of the 

Army of the Potomac, after the Peninsula and Second Bull Run 

Campaigns. Each time he had expressed that he did not feel 

competent to command such a large force. However, in early 

November President Lincoln relieved McClellan and Burnside 

reluctantly accepted the command. A month later he crossed 

his army to the south of the Rappahannock River but was defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg on 13 December.

In January 1863 Burnside attempted to launch another offensive campaign, known as the Mud March; poor weather 

conditions resulted in another failure. President Lincoln relieved him of command and transferred him to the Western 

Theater. While he was commander of the Department of the 

Ohio, his forces occupied East Tennessee and captured Knoxville. In 1864 Burnside was ordered back east, once again commanding the IX Corps, and participated in Grant’s overland 

campaign in Virginia. He led his corps through the Battles of 

the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor and the operations against Petersburg. After the failed attack at the Battle of 

the Crater at Petersburg in July, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade 

charged Burnside with disobedience of orders. A court of inquiry found Burnside “answerable for the want of success,” 
96 

and in April 1865 he resigned from the Army. After the war 

Burnside was three-time governor of Rhode Island; from 1875 

until his death, he served as a U.S. Senator.

Joseph Hooker

1814–1879, Massachusetts

Hooker graduated from 

West Point in 1837 and served 

in the Mexican War, rising to 

the rank of captain of artillery. 

After a leave of absence from 

1851–1853, he resigned his 

commission to take up farming 

in California. When the Civil 

War broke out in 1861, Hooker 

was made brigadier general of 

volunteers and commanded 

troops defending Washington. 

He was assigned command of 

a division in the Army of the 

Potomac during the Peninsula 

Campaign in early 1862 and 

promoted to major general of 

volunteers in May. During the 

Battle of Second Bull Run in late August, Hooker’s division was 

attached to Pope’s Army of Virginia. In the reorganization of the 

army at the beginning of the Maryland Campaign in September, Hooker was assigned command of the I Corps, Army of the 

Potomac, which he led in the Battle of Antietam on 17 September. Soon afterward he was promoted to brigadier general in the 

Regular Army. At the Battle of Fredericksburg on 13 December, 

Hooker served as a “grand division” commander of the Army 

of the Potomac, commanding the III and V Corps. In January 

1863 he was assigned command of the Army of the Potomac 

and led that force to defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville, 

1–4 May 1863. When Lee advanced into Pennsylvania in June, 

Hooker followed. In late June, after the War Department refused 

his request for additional troops from the garrison at Harper’s 

Ferry, Hooker asked to be relieved of the army command—his 

request was immediately accepted. In September Hooker was 

transferred to the Western Theater, where he commanded the 

XI and XII Corps (later consolidated into the XX Corps). In July 

1864, when one of Hooker’s subordinates was promoted over 

him, Hooker was relieved at his own request. For the remainder 

Joseph Hooker
97

of the war he was assigned various departmental commands. 

Hooker remained on active duty until 1868, when he was retired for disability contracted in the line of duty.

Edwin V. Sumner

1797–1863, Massachusetts

Born in Boston, Sumner 

enlisted in the Regular Army 

in 1819 as a 2d lieutenant 

of infantry. He served in the 

Black Hawk War, became captain of the 2d Dragoons in 

1833, and was employed on 

the Western Frontier. In 1838 

he was placed in command 

of the school of cavalry practice at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Sumner was promoted to 

major in 1846 and served in 

the Mexican War. In 1855 he 

was promoted to colonel of 

the 1st Cavalry. Three years 

later he was in command of 

the Department of the West. 

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Sumner was appointed a 

brigadier general in the Regular Army and sent to command 

the Department of the Pacific. He was recalled in 1862 to take 

command of the I Corps, Army of the Potomac. His command 

participated in the Peninsula Campaign during the summer of 

1862, and he was wounded twice. After being appointed major 

general of volunteers, Sumner entered the Maryland Campaign 

in command of a wing consisting of the II and XII Corps. At 

the Battle of Antietam on 17 September, Sumner personally led 

a division of the II Corps into battle; it was driven off the field 

and Sumner was wounded. At the Battle of Fredericksburg on 

13 December, Sumner commanded the Right Grand Division, 

containing the II and IX Corps. Although Sumner was ordered 

to remain at his headquarters during the battle, his command 

participated in the unsuccessful attacks against the Confederate 

defense on Marye’s Heights. Upon the accession of Hooker to 

command of the Army of the Potomac in January 1863, Sumner requested a transfer to the Western Theater. On the way to 

take command of the Department of the Missouri, he died in 

New York of natural causes.

Edwin V. Sumner
98 

Joseph K. F. Mansfield

1803–1862, Connecticut

Mansfield graduated from 

West Point in 1822, standing second in a class of forty. 

He was assigned to the Corps 

of Engineers and for the next 

three years planned fortifications for the defense of the 

harbors and cities on the East 

Coast. In 1832 he was promoted to 1st lieutenant and 

in 1838 to captain. Mansfield 

served in the Mexican War as 

chief engineer under Maj. Gen. 

Zachary Taylor. During the war 

Mansfield received brevets of 

major and lieutenant colonel 

for gallant and meritorious 

conduct. He was appointed inspector general of the U.S. Army in 1853 with the rank of colonel and at the beginning of the Civil War was commissioned 

brigadier general of volunteers and placed in command of the 

Department of Washington and the city of Washington. Mansfield was in command of Newport News in late 1861 and was 

engaged in the capture of Norfolk and Suffolk, Virginia, the following spring. On 18 July he was promoted to major general of 

volunteers. During the Maryland Campaign in September Mansfield was assigned command of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks’ 

XII Corps after Banks was detailed to duty in Washington. Mansfield had been in command only three days when at the Battle 

of Antietam he was mortally wounded while mistakenly riding 

between the opposing lines. He died the following morning. 

Joseph K. F. Mansfield
99

Confederate Officers

Robert E. Lee

1807–1870, Virginia

Lee, a member of a prominent Virginia family, was the 

son of “Light Horse Harry” Lee, 

a hero of the American Revolution. His older brother, Sydney 

Lee, served as commandant 

at Annapolis, commanded 

Commodore Perry’s flagship 

in the Japan expedition, and 

later served in the Confederate 

Navy. Robert graduated from 

West Point in 1829, second in 

his class of forty-six. He then 

served at various forts along 

the east coast before being assigned chief engineer for the 

St. Louis, Missouri, harbor. 

During the Mexican War Lee

served on the staff of General Winfield Scott in the Vera Cruz 

expedition, receiving in succession the brevets of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel. After the war Lee returned to supervise 

construction of fortifications until appointed superintendent 

of West Point, a position he held from 1852 to 1855. Later he 

was transferred from the engineer corps and assigned as lieutenant colonel of the 2d Cavalry. In late 1859 the abolitionist 

John Brown made his raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harper’s Ferry; 

Lee, on leave in Washington, was sent with a force of marines 

from the Navy Yard to capture the raiders. In early 1861 Lee was 

promoted to colonel of the 1st Cavalry, his commission signed 

by the newly elected Abraham Lincoln. However, when he was 

offered command of forces that would invade the South, Lee

resigned his commission. 

In late April he was appointed major general and commander 

of Virginia military forces. A month later, when Virginia became 

part of the Confederacy, Lee was commissioned first a brigadier 

general in the Confederate Army (no higher rank having been 

created at that time) and later general. In March 1862 he became 

the military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. At the beginning 

of June Lee succeeded the wounded General Joseph E. Johnston in 

Robert E. Lee
100 

command of the Army of Northern Virginia in charge of defending Richmond. Lee led his army through a series of victories—at 

the Battles of the Seven Days, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, 

and Chancellorsville—punctuated by reverses at Antietam and 

Gettysburg. In February 1865 Lee was appointed general in chief 

of the Confederate armies; but two months later, on 9 April, he 

was forced to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. After the war Lee accepted the presidency 

of Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, and served there 

until his death. (The school’s name was later changed to Washington and Lee University.)

James Longstreet

1821–1904, South Carolina

At the age of ten Longstreet

moved to Alabama with his 

parents. He graduated from the 

U.S. Military Academy at West 

Point in 1842 and served in the 

Mexican War, during which he 

was severely wounded and also 

brevetted as a major. He was 

promoted to captain in 1852 

and to major and paymaster 

in 1858 and stationed at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Resigning his commission in 1861, 

Longstreet was commissioned 

a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and ordered to 

report to Manassas, where he 

commanded a brigade. On 18 

July his command repulsed a Federal attack at Blackburn’s Ford; 

during the Battle of First Bull Run on 21 July, it threatened the 

Federal rear. In October he was promoted to major general and 

given command of a division under General Johnston. During 

the summer of 1862 he commanded the right wing of the Confederate army before Richmond in the Battle of Seven Pines. He 

commanded his own and Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill’s divisions under 

Lee in the successful Battles of Gaines’ Mill and Frayser’s Farm. 

Afterward he commanded a wing of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. At Second Bull Run, 30–31 August 1862, Longstreet’s wing 

was instrumental in crushing Pope’s army and driving it back to 

James Longstreet
101

Washington. In the Maryland Campaign his command fought 

at South Mountain on 14 September and in the Battle of Antietam on 17 September. 

In October Longstreet was promoted to lieutenant general 

and his wing was redesignated the I Corps. The I Corps was responsible for the successful defense of Marye’s Heights in the 

Battle of Fredericksburg on 13 December. In 1862 Longstreet suffered a personal tragedy when three of his four children died 

in Richmond of scarlet fever. In the spring of 1863 Longstreet

operated with part of his corps at Suffolk, Virginia, missing the 

Battle of Chancellorsville, 1–6 May; but he soon rejoined Lee

at Fredericksburg. The Gettysburg Campaign found Longstreet’s 

corps moving into Pennsylvania, and he personally reached the 

field at Gettysburg on the afternoon of 1 July. On 2 July Hood’s 

and McLaws’ divisions of Longstreet’s corps (Maj. Gen. George E. 

Pickett’s division having not yet arrived), made an unsuccessful 

attempt to turn the Federal left. Pickett’s division arrived by 3 

July and, reinforced by commands from A. P. Hill’s corps, unsuccessfully attempted to break the Federal center. After Lee’s army 

had retired to Virginia, Longstreet, with Hood’s and McLaws’ divisions, was sent to reinforce General Braxton Bragg in northern 

Georgia, where Longstreet, as a commander of the left wing at 

Chickamauga, crushed the Federal right. Rejoining the Army of 

Northern Virginia in time for Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign, 

Longstreet’s command participated in the Battle of the Wilderness, where on 6 May he was wounded accidentally by his own 

men. After returning to duty Longstreet commanded a portion 

of the defense of Richmond, and his command later joined the 

retreat at Appomattox. After the war Longstreet settled in New 

Orleans and became a member of the Republican Party, much 

to the chagrin of his former Confederate comrades. President 

Grant appointed him surveyor of customs, and Longstreet served 

as U.S. marshal of Georgia and minister to Turkey.
102 

Thomas J. Jackson

1824–1863, Virginia

Jackson was born in what is 

now Clarksburg, West Virginia. 

His parents died while he was 

still a child, and he was raised 

by an uncle. At the age of eighteen he was appointed to West 

Point and graduated in 1846 

in time to participate in the 

Mexican War. He was assigned 

to the 1st Regular Artillery and 

participated in the storming 

of Chapultepec. In 1851 he resigned his Army commission 

and accepted a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. 

For ten years he was a professor of natural philosophy and 

an instructor of artillery tactics. While at the Institute, Jackson

married Elinor Junkin; after her death a year later he took a leave 

of absence from the Institute and spent the summer of 1856 in 

Europe. After his return to Virginia, Jackson was married again, 

to Mary Anna Morrison of North Carolina. Upon the outbreak 

of the Civil War, Jackson was commissioned a colonel in the Virginia forces and sent to Harper’s Ferry, where he was active in organizing recruits. Jackson was soon appointed brigadier general 

and given command of a brigade in the Army of the Shenandoah. The brigade participated in the Battle of First Bull Run on 

21 July, in which Jackson and his command received the nickname Stonewall. A month later Jackson was promoted to major 

general. In November he was assigned command of the Valley 

District, consisting of the Stonewall Brigade and other attached 

troops. In May 1862 he began his celebrated Valley Campaign, 

winning victories at McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross 

Keys, and Port Republic. Jackson then marched to Richmond to 

join Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in the defense of the capital. 

After the Peninsula Campaign, Jackson, commanding a wing of 

Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, was detached and sent on a flanking march around the Union army under Pope. Jackson captured 

Pope’s supply base at Manassas and, after being joined by Lee

and the remainder of the Confederate Army, defeated Pope at 

the Battle of Second Bull Run on 30–31 August. In the Maryland 

Campaign, Jackson’s wing captured the 11,000-man Union garThomas J. Jackson
103

rison at Harper’s Ferry and then joined Lee at Sharpsburg to participate in the Battle of Antietam on 17 September. Two months 

later he was promoted to lieutenant general and his wing officially became the II Corps. At the Battle of Fredericksburg on 

13 December, Jackson’s corps held the right flank of Lee’s army 

and easily repelled half-hearted Union assaults. The following 

year, at the Battle of Chancellorsville, he led his corps on a wide 

flank march on 2 May that routed the Union XII Corps. Personally reconnoitering the front lines that night, Jackson was shot 

accidentally by his own men. Following the amputation of his 

arm, he died eight days later, on 10 May 1863.

James E. B. Stuart

1833–1864, Virginia

After graduating from West 

Point in 1854, Stuart spent 

much of his service with the 

1st Cavalry in Kansas. Following Virginia’s secession, Stuart

resigned his commission and 

became a captain of cavalry in 

the Confederate Army. He participated in the Battle of First 

Bull Run in July 1861 and afterward was promoted to brigadier 

general. In June 1862 he conducted the first of his celebrated 

cavalry raids, riding completely 

around McClellan’s army on 

the Virginia peninsula. Stuart

was promoted to major general 

in July and given command of 

all cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia. After another bold 

and successful raid in August, this time to John Pope’s rear, Stuart

covered the last stage of Stonewall Jackson’s flanking movement 

before the Battle of Second Bull Run, 30–31 August. He was actively engaged in the subsequent Maryland Campaign and the 

Battle of Antietam on 17 September. After the latter battle, Stuart

again rode around the Union army, ranging as far as southern 

Pennsylvania and capturing over a thousand horses. He participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg in December and, at the 

Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, provided security for Jackson’s flank attack. When Jackson was wounded, Stuart took temporary command of Jackson’s corps. In June 1863 Stuart’s command 

fought in the largest cavalry battle of the war at Brandy Station, 

James E. B. Stuart
104 

where he was surprised by Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton. The approach of Confederate infantry forced 

Pleasonton’s cavalry to withdraw across the Rappahannock. In 

the Gettysburg Campaign, Stuart was absent until the evening 

of 2 July, after having ridden too far east of Lee’s army. Without 

Stuart to provide him with information, Lee did not learn soon 

enough of the Union concentration north of the Potomac, which 

resulted in the Battle of Gettysburg. In the spring of 1864 Stuart’s 

command, now decreased in size and deficient in equipment, engaged a force of Union cavalry at the Battle of Yellow Tavern on 

11 May. During the engagement Stuart was mortally wounded 

and died the following day. 
105

Suggested Stops

Stop 1: North Woods. At dawn on 17 September 1862, 

elements of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps advanced from 

their bivouacs north of the Joseph Poffenberger home, southward through the North Woods, toward the D. R. Miller farmhouse. Brig. Gen. James B. Ricketts’ division advanced on the 

East Woods, and Brig. Gen. Abner Doubleday’s division advanced south toward the Cornfield and West Woods. Two of 

Brig. Gen. George G. Meade’s three brigades were between those 

of Ricketts and Doubleday and slightly to the rear, while the 

third brigade held the southern edge of the East Woods. Hooker’s advance occurred under small-arms fire from skirmishers at 

the Miller farm and artillery fire from Col. S. D. Lee’s batteries 

near Dunker Church to the south and from Capt. John Pelham’s 

batteries on Nicodemus Hill to the west. Throughout the morning the North Woods was held and used by Union forces as a 

staging area for the intense fighting to the south. In the late 

morning the North Woods became a refuge for the surviving 

elements and wounded of the I and II Corps returning from the 

fighting in the Cornfield and West Woods.

Stop 2: East Woods. On the morning of 17 September Brig. 

Gen. Truman Seymour’s brigade of Meade’s division held the 

southern edge of the East Woods, having skirmished with men 

of Brig. Gen. John B. Hood’s command the night previous. Ricketts’ three brigades advanced south along Smoketown Road, led 

by the brigade of Brig. Gen. Abram Duryea. The brigades of Brig. 

Gen. George L. Hartsuff and Col. William A. Christian were to 

advance in close support of Duryea. A shell fragment wounded 

Hartsuff, and his brigade failed to advance. Christian’s brigade 

was halted temporarily in the East Woods after Christian lost 

his nerve and left the battlefield. Hartsuff’s and Christian’s brigades, under new commanders, finally emerged from the East 

Woods; but Duryea’s brigade had already been driven back. By 

0730 the Confederates still occupied the southern edge of the 

East Woods when Maj. Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield’s XII Corps 

attacked down Smoketown Road. Mansfield led the corps himself and was mortally wounded. By roughly 0900 the Confederates, finally forced from the East Woods by the XII Corps, fell 

back to Dunker Church and the West Woods. Maj. Gen. George 
106 

S. Greene’s division of the XII Corps pushed south along Smoketown Road and halted on the ridge opposite the West Woods 

and Dunker Church. Around 1300 Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin’s VI Corps arrived at the East Woods. Except for an aborted 

attempt by a portion of Maj. Gen. William F. Smith’s division to 

occupy the West Woods, the VI Corps remained in reserve during the battle. 

Stop 3: Cornfield. The thirty-acre Miller Cornfield would 

become known after the battle as the Bloody Cornfield or simply the Cornfield. While Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson’s main line 

of defense formed a line 300 yards farther south, Brig. Gen. A. 

R. Lawton had sent a strong force into the standing corn itself. 

Hooker’s advance reached the Cornfield around 0600, with Doubleday’s division striking the western portion and Ricketts’ brigades entering from the East Woods. For more than an hour the 

fighting raged as Jackson fed reinforcements into the Cornfield. 

Doubleday’s and Rickett’s divisions, joined by Meade’s reserves, 

finally drove the Confederates from the Cornfield and pushed 

south toward Dunker Church. Around 0700 Jackson launched a 

counterattack with Hood’s division, supported by a portion of 

Maj. Gen. Daniel H. Hill’s command. The Confederates drove 

the Union troops back to the northern edge of the Cornfield 

but were halted by the pointblank fire of Union guns near the 

Miller home and from the East Woods. Upon the arrival of the 

XII Corps, the Confederates withdrew from the Cornfield to the 

relative safety of the West Woods. Around 0900 Maj. Gen. John 

Sedgwick’s division of Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner’s II Corps advanced to the East Woods, then across the Cornfield and into 

the West Woods. There, the division was attacked in flank and 

driven back across the Cornfield. Jackson attempted to follow 

Sedgwick’s retreating division but was halted by Union artillery 

north of the Cornfield and near the East Woods. For all practical 

purposes, the fighting in the Cornfield was finished.

Stop 4: West Woods. After learning that Hooker had been 

wounded and that his corps had suffered a large number of 

casualties, McClellan sent Sedgwick’s division of the II Corps 

across the Antietam. Sedgwick’s three brigades entered the East 

Woods and then marched through the Cornfield toward the 

West Woods. Sumner led the division in person. When the column reached Hagerstown Pike, it came under sharp artillery 

fire from Maj. Gen. James E. B. Stuart’s guns, planted beyond the 

woods on high ground to the west. The brigade of Brig. Gen. 

Willis A. Gorman, followed by that of Brig. Gen. Napolean J. 

T. Dana, entered the West Woods and halted. There is some 
107

question whether Brig. Gen. Oliver O. Howard’s brigade actually entered the woods. Seeing the approach of Sedgwick’s 

division, Jackson sent word to Brig. Gen. Jubal A. Early (who 

had been sent with his brigade to support Stuart) to return and 

take command of Ewell’s Division in place of Lawton, who had 

been disabled. Presently, other Confederate reinforcements began to arrive. The divisions of Brig. Gen. John G. Walker and 

Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws and the brigade of Col. George T. 

Anderson moved to the right and left of Early, concealed by 

the West Woods. Portions of Sedgwick’s division entered the 

woods, but their stay was brief. Almost a dozen Confederate 

brigades struck the flanks of Sedgwick’s three brigades, and in 

about twenty minutes Sedgwick’s division was decimated and 

driven out of the West Woods. Within those twenty minutes, 

nearly 2,000 of Sedgwick’s men were killed or wounded. 

Stop 5: Sunken Road. The Sunken Road marks the site 

of the Confederate center at Antietam. It is the remnant of an 

old farm land that connected Hagerstown Pike with Boonsboro Pike. Brig. Gen. William H. French’s division of Sumner’s 

II Corps crossed the Antietam behind Sedgwick’s division. After halting briefly near the East Woods, French’s troops moved 

south across the Mumma and Roulette farms and struck D. H. 

Hill’s division in the Sunken Road around 0900. Brig. Gen. A. R. 

Wright’s and Posey’s brigades of R. H. Anderson’s division arrived 

from Harper’s Ferry and reinforced the Confederate line. After 

almost two hours Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson’s division of 

Sumner’s II Corps arrived on the left of French’s command. The 

Confederates continued to hold the road until a misunderstanding by a Confederate officer caused a portion of Hill’s left to 

withdraw. At the same time, Richardson’s men broke through 

the right. The Sunken Road was taken, but the Union victors 

were briefly flanked when two regiments of Walker’s command 

drove Greene’s division from the high ground near the presentday location of the Visitor Center. The arrival of a VI Corps brigade drove the Confederates back across Hagerstown Pike and 

into the West Woods.

Stop 6: Burnside Bridge. Around 0900 Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s IX Corps was ordered to cross this bridge. 

Defending the bridge were some 400 Georgians of Brig. Gen. 

Robert Toombs’ brigade. For four hours the Confederates blocked 

several Union attempts, until the 51st Pennsylvania and 51st 

New York Infantries were able to rush across. Meanwhile, Brig. 

Gen. Isaac P. Rodman’s division had crossed the creek at Snavely’s Ford, nearly a mile to the south, while several companies 
108

from the 28th Ohio Infantry of the Kanawha Division crossed 

at a ford a few hundred yards above the bridge. After the Union 

crossing at, above, and below the bridge, Toombs’ men fell back 

up the slope to the edge of Sharpsburg. Around 1500, after crossing over most of his command, Burnside advanced the IX Corps 

up the slope toward the town, threatening to cut off the Confederate line of retreat to the Potomac River. Around 1600 a portion of A. P. Hill’s division arrived from Harper’s Ferry and, after 

striking the left flank of the IX Corps, drove Burnside’s troops 

back to the heights just above the bridge.

Stop 7: National Cemetery. In March 1865 the State of 

Maryland established a burial site on the Antietam battlefield 

for the men who died in the Maryland Campaign. The cemetery 

was dedicated on 17 September 1867, the fifth anniversary of 

the battle. The original plan allowed for burial of soldiers from 

both sides, but it was later changed to inter only the Union 

dead there. Confederate remains were re-interred in private 

cemeteries in Hagerstown and Mt. Olivet, Maryland, and in 

Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Approximately 2,800 Southerners, over 60 percent of them unknown, are buried in these three 

cemeteries.

There are 4,776 Union remains (1,836 unknown) buried 

in the National Cemetery from the Battles of Antietam, South 

Mountain, Monocacy, and other actions in Maryland. All the 

unknowns are marked with small square stones. These stones 

contain the grave number; on some graves, a small second number represents how many unknowns are buried in that grave. A 

few of the larger, traditional stones also mark unknown graves.

In addition, more than 200 non–Civil War dead are buried 

here. Veterans and their wives from the Spanish-American War, 

World Wars I and II, and the Korean War were buried here until 

the cemetery closed in 1953. An exception to the closure was 

made for the burial of Keedysville resident Patrick Howard Roy, 

U.S. Navy. Firemen Roy, killed during the terrorist attack on the 

USS Cole, was buried in the cemetery on 29 October 2000.

The large statue of the private soldier in the center of the cemetery, known locally as Old Simon, was erected on 17 September 

1880.
map symbols

Note: The topographic contour lines on the maps in this publication are 

based on the 1899 Map of the Battlefield of Antietam, prepared under the direction of the Antietam Battlefield Board and drawn by Charles H. Ourand. The 

Ourand map used a local datum point on the Antietam battlefield—the water 

level at Burnside Bridge—and sets that contour at 0 feet. That point is 375 feet 

above sea level. The maps are adjusted accordingly, and the contour intervals 

are based on 25 feet rather than the conventional 10 feet.

Confederate Union

MILITARY SYMBOLS

Units of various strength

Cavalry of various strength

Axis of Advance

Skirmish Line

Axis of Retreat

Artillery

Buildings

GENERAL SYMBOLS

Church

Major Road

Minor Road



Orchard

VEGETATION

Woods

Stubble

Corn

Pasture

Plowed Fields

Unknown

Confederate Union

MILITARY SYMBOLS

Units of various strength

Cavalry of various strength

Axis of Advance

Skirmish Line

Axis of Retreat

Artillery

Buildings

GENERAL SYMBOLS

Church

Major Road

Minor Road



Orchard

VEGETATION

Woods

Stubble

Corn

Pasture

Plowed Fields

Unknown

aphic contour lines on the maps in this publication are based on the 1899 Map of the Battlefield of Antietam; prepared under the direction of the Antietam 

Confederate Union

MILITARY SYMBOLS

Units of various strength

Cavalry of various strength

Axis of Advance

Skirmish Line

Axis of Retreat

Artillery

Buildings

GENERAL SYMBOLS

Church

Major Road

Minor Road



Orchard

VEGETATION

Woods

Stubble

Corn

Pasture

Plowed Fields

Unknown
notes
notes

PIN : 082590–000