The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-09-15
MONUMENTAL lion
AT SRARPSBURG
"a Suggestion by One Who
Fought i'll the Bloodiest
Battles.
A GIANT MONUMENTAL LION
The Idea Suggested by Other
sanguinary Fields That Figure
in History

The writer feelsritito be a duty, and
lie admits it 10 be {, pleasure. to sub
nit the following rciparks about a
great battle in which III participated
fcriS-iive years ago. lie has already
published several articles about the
battle Of sfarpsbure. or Antietaus SO
that the present sketei, is written only
In ~ general way as an anniversary
memorial OF the greatest oue-daY bat,
tie of the war OF 1876. 1t rs also
one ever recalled and referred to with
comnendable pride By surviving ex-
Confedcrates. who were engaged IN II.
Between daybrcak and the setting sun
OF September 18th, 1852. forty-flve years
ago. fully 10000 men OF kindred blood
ls2po0 Federals and $4,000 Confede-
rates) and $50 cannon engaged onltjns
bloody field OF sharpsburs in fierce
sud desperate struggle, and when the
,un vent down and mercifully put an
md 10 the strife near 5000 were dead
.eoe9. tFedersi II 100 Confederate o.
sO09 About i.sen were missing some
II whom were dead. but most of whom
were carried as prisoners from the ,nr-
rible field
There is no question about this be-
ing tho bIoodlest day OF American
history. A Federal general. Ezral a.
.carman, thus speaks of the most des.
field: Here within loo Yards of the
Dunkard Church, $4,000 infantry tFed-
eral and Confederate, were engaged,
with loss of 2,sai killed and iS.esl
wounded, an a ggrsgatA OF 1915. or
nearly so per cenl of the NUMBER en-
gagged"
Four Hours, Slaughter.
aAh this loss occurred before r. NJ,
more than three-fourths of 1T In
over 1,soo yards from north to south,
with an average width, east and west,
of 900 yards, an area of about aoo
acres. No otner equal area on the
American continent has been SO
drenched in human blood 55sg:
The writer knowingly asserts thar
noeportion OF the2field of Waterloo for
the same time eaualled this sanguin-
heroic fighting quality displayed by
both armies. the blue and the gray. at
Sharpsburg. Is about equally dlstrib-
uted among the men Of many states,
making it conspicuousiy American
battle fought by men OF every State
from the Great Lakes on the NORTH.
to the. Gulf. OF Mexico on The south,
from the Alta mite t. the mississippi u
Missouri every State watered by the
Mississippi. contributed to this high
carnival of death and suffering.
a verified statement shows the per-
Z centage of loss on the Federal side
was twenty per cent. of the men en-
gagged; on the Confederate side the
loss was twenty-five per cent. of Cen
eral Lees full force. Of between $1,000
and $4,000 men of all arms.
Lee Wanted to Fight Again.
The tenacious courage OF the Confed-
crate commander and his abiding con-
idence in his true and tried men
caused him to remain on the battle
fully expecting General Mcclellan, to
renew the fight. when he still had an
army more than double that of the
confederates. The night Of septem-
Der 18th Ganeral:5Irea saw III to- with
draw his army and recross the Poto-
mac: hence, 1t came about that the
great battle of Sharpsbnrg, or Antie-
tam has gene into history as dFaMn
4 during the period of 1$61-'65.
1T has been truthfully stated that
bloody Chickamauga, the greatest
loss. killed and wounded, for its two
days fighting that Sharpsburg does
for one. The true test OF the severity
Of battle is the percentage q. loss Of
8 Osl
Hoods TEXAS Brigade is said to have
lost sixty per cent, and Semmes's Bri-
gade. OF AIcLaw's Division, composed
Of Georgians and Virginians lost over
fifty per cent. Tho famous Fifteenth
Virginia Regiment. in this brigade SUI
" fered a loss of fifty-eight per cent.;rtlie
Thirty-second Virginia was It's twin
Z comrade and only Jared a little better.
These regiments, with the gallant Geor,
gians who composed General Paul
i Semmes's Brigade, were badly. used up,
with casualties second only to tho he-
= rotc Texans, under the ever gallant
Hood
The Heavy Losses. =
stated asas fSsssA! were mopp s0 men
killed and wounded on TIN Federal
s'as Il Gs S saS atff Eo days;
battle Of Shiloh, corinth, stono River
and Chickamauga; more than In the
three days. battles 9f Fre,deriekshprE,
more than in the tivesdays of SGroyeton,
Second. Manassas and GhantillS; more
than in tho seven days on tho Penin-
Il sula;. more thanslin the eleven days
campaign ending AT Appomat oX; more
\ and mote than in all the operations
4 around Vrkshurgs including tho Siege
from May TO July A, 1s63.silj III M I
And now. since VIC are eliably in=
formed regardlps the casualties on
hercelY,fought battles, Wa seeaits3heads
the record as "tl,e gamest, fight oRnthe
nineteenth centnry,'ggNand ilIaalbrthe
light ar impartial history Nit srenlains
r 70 the na wo ens ayi onas
tallens and 4 he, ssupyiv rs Va
suggestlOn.. Y
We fspal q ass MI y greAt 4lon