The Portland daily press., 1895-01-26
WONDERS OF RECOLLECTION.
Antietam HonOrs of Tenth Maine
CuriOusly Disputed.

Paper Before Bosworth POst-Different
MansfieId-The Warp and Wool of
History.
Before the Comrades OF Bosworth Post
Friday evening. Major John M. Gould
read an interesting paper on the battle
of Antietam.
Brief reference was first made to the
more important features of the battle
fought in northwestern Maryland by
the Union army under Mcclellan against
the Confederate army under Lee in 1862.
Lee after his great success in the
Peninsula in June and July and in driv-
ing John Pope into Washington in Au-
gust started to invade the North. He
first captured Harper's Ferry and II, 900
Union troops, OBTAINING the Union army
at South Mountain by battle. and fall
ing behind the Antietam when driven
from there by McClellan's overwhelming
forces. Here, Sept. II was fought the
great conflict which is distinguished as
the bloodiest one day battle of war, and
also as the best fought of any on the
part of the Confederates. Here also &C.
Cured the great slaughter in Hoods 1sr
Texas regiment which lost almost 80 per
cent. of the mum Der engaged; the heavi-
est on record of the war.
Lee put every man into his fight. but
it is impossible now to say how many he
had, yet 10000 seems to be about the
number. Mcclellan on the other hand
used scarcely half of all that he con-
trolled; and by reason of his own timid-
ity and the incapacity of many of his
su bordinates accomplished but little.
Lee quietly retreated the night of Sept.
49,
Major Gould then went ON to narrate
the many difficulties he mad experienced
in learning the truth. He formulated
these briefly thus: Whatever is happen
ing in battle directly under ones eyes
no man can see it all, nor remem Der all
he sees. nor tell all he remem hers, ror
be truthful in all he tells. 1t is rather
uphill work, therefore, to learn the
truth and to correct errors about Antie-
tam thirty years after the battle.
II have been nearly seven years." said
the Major. "trying To learn few facts
concerning only the fight of my own
regiment-the 10th Mainland / shall
probably die ignorant of some of them.
We have got SO far AS to know what
Confederate troops we fought, but we
cannot yet decide definitely whom we saw
marching in their rear.
We know from reports and correspon-
dence that whole brigade of Confeder
ates came into East Woods while we were
engaged. but none of the 10th Maine saw
them, and none of them 20 far as l can
learn saw us. Neither can we find liv-
ing Confederate nor an official report,
nor scrap of printed matter to show
that our immediate opponents saw these
reinforcing troops which were called
"Garland's brigade that day and aver
son'sn next year at Gettys ourg.
Son the other hand the attempt to learn
what Union regiment we saw battling
all alone in our front as we entered the
fight has resulted in discovering six
valiant claimants, but for the life of me
can't decide which one shall have the
honor. 1t is not so singular, though it
might appear so to some. thar three
Union brigades had been fighting in the
East Woods ahead of us. By correspon-
dence we learn that the debris OF all
three was coming out AS we went in.
This correspondence is very difficult to
understand and hard to believe from
our standpoint, and it has required a
great deal of study, writing, Sitting
Indeed if | should spread before you
the immense mass of letters that have
come to me the past seven years you
would conclude as recent writer has
done that he wasn't in it; that there
was no battle; and that the war was a
dream.
sit happened that Gen. Mansfield, COM
mander of the 18th corps, was mortally
wounded in front of the 10th Maine at
Antjetam. This fact is one of the surest
and best attested of all.
maj. VIM. 2. Jordan of our Post was
talking with him at the time he was
shot. The late Storer 6. Knight, former
ly re gister of deeds and well known in
our city, helped carry him off under my
in the regiment saw and knew these
things, and we know exactly where it |
happened Maj. Jordan and myself |
visited the field in 1891 and placed |
substantial board marker on the spot. |
Yet there are five or six other places, |
some of them half mile away which |
some soldiers claim with great persis- |
tence as the true spot.
II was not little annoyed last Novem- |
Der when l again visited the field to find |
the marker which Maj. Jordan and l |
placed with SO much care knocked to |
pieces and a new marker put up in an
impossible position 200 yards away.
correspondence concerning this Mans |!
field incident is the most interesting I |
have. Besides being wounded in six or |
seven different localities, the General |
was knocked off or fell from his horse |
to some of our truth tellers, i
all the Tenth Maine know he |
deliberately dismounted. His chestnut |
horse was.white. black and gray, &C.
cording to various reports. He was
borne off on muskets and in blankets |
Three ambulance drivers carried the |
precious burden to / don't know how
many places. The cat with nine lives
was nothing to him; ne died over and
over again.if we can believe all their
testimony. Within a month l have
learned from so called eyewitness out
in New York that Mansfield was killed
at the Burnside bridge three miles
away, While only the next week puz-
zled comrade of the 10th Maine begged
me TO explain where the bridge was; as
he doesn't remember, but he saw it all
in magic lantern show down
East. The last letter helps
me to understand the first. |
wish some other difficulties were as
EASILY explained.
Among Union troops who fought in
jhe East Woods the most persistent claim
IS the one that there were rebels in the |
trees. This is not growth of thirty
years, but was given out as truth the