The Cope-Carmen Map Revision of 1908

Recently, the Library of Congress posted on its American Memory Project website the 1908 revised Cope-Carman maps of the "Atlas of the battlefield at Antietam" showing the position of troops at various times during September 17.[1] This revision is posted here as the first map image on the left--click to enlarge. The Library had posted the earlier version of the map series--the 1904 series[2]--on its website some years ago--this is posted here as the second map image--click to enlarge.

Both map series can be examined at the Library of Congress' Map Reading Room but the online versions are as adequate as an in-person view.

So how have the two maps depicted action in the West Woods between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.? Here are some observations.

1) The most significant revision is that of the placement of the 69th Pennsylvania from its 1904 location between the left and right "wings" of the 72nd Pennsylvania to further north between the right of the 42nd NY and the left of the 106th Pennsylvania. (Why the map continues to break the 72nd Pennsylvania into two wings is a mystery--I would certainly like to find something in Carman's papers that explains this.) The repositioning of the 69th brings Col. Joshua T. Owen's official report into line with the 1908 alignment. He writes: "As the brigade reached the top of the hill [marching east to west the brigade crests the Antietam Ridge about 100 yards east of the Hagerstown Pike and in clear view of the Dunkard Church], I noticed many of the regiments to the left of Sedgwick's division falling back in great confusion...[this would have been the 125th Pennsylvania pulling back from their position just to the west of the church and which is marked on the Cope-Carman map as leaving that position around 9:20 a.m. ]. ...The Seventy-first Pennsylvania Volunteers...was posted on the right; the Seventy-second Pennsylvania Volunteers...on the left; the One Hundred and sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers...on the right center; and the Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers...on the left center." This narrative, applied to the 1904 map does not jibe since it depicts the 69th further south and sandwiched between the two wings of the 72nd Pennsylvania. With the 125th Pa. "falling back" and the 69th positioned further north, the 1908 map shows a much different view of the action as Anderson's and Kershaw's brigades swirled around the 34th NY, just north of the church, the split winged 72nd Pa., aligned on the Hagerstown Pike, and the 7th Michigan straddling the fence between the clover field (now part of Philadelphia Brigade Park) and the West Woods.

2. The 42nd NY is shown in the 1908 map to have at least refused its left in order to meet the onslaught of Barksdale's Mississippians--a much better position than depicted in the 1904 series--although the results remain the same.

3. The left of the 15th Massachusetts is shown in the 1908 to be angled further into the West Woods than in the 1904 map and the 59th NY, which fired a fatal volley into its rear, is directly behind the 15th's left. The 1904 map places the 59th in an overlapped position with its right situated behind the 20th.

4. The 125th is shown to have angled its right (or is it depicted as "falling back"?).

5. Smaller adjustments--in the 1908 map, the 106th Pa.'s alignment is less north and south but slightly angled to conform the the 20th Mass. to its front. The 106th and 71st Pa. also have shifted in the 1908 map further north and directly behind the 20th Mass.

6. As for the Confederate positions, there appears to be just one revision, that is the alignment of Jackson's Division to a position along the Hauser farmstead fence line and immediately to the east of the farmyard.

====Notes=====

[1] The map's full bibliographic title is: "Atlas of the battlefield of Antietam, prepared under the direction of the Antietam Battlefield Board, lieut. col. Geo. W. Davis, U.S.A., president, gen. E.A. Carman, U.S.V., gen. H Heth, C.S.A. Surveyed by lieut. col. E.B. Cope, engineer, H.W. Mattern, assistant engineer, of the Gettysburg National Park. Drawn by Charles H. Ourand, 1899. Position of troops by gen. E. A. Carman. Published by authority of the Secretary of War, under the direction of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, 1908." Washington, Government Printing Office, 1908. Retrieved at this location.

[2] "Atlas of the battlefield of Antietam / Surveyed by Lieut. Col. E. B. Cope, engineer, H. W. Mattern, assistant engineer, of the Gettysburg National Park. Drawn by Charles H. Ourand, 1899. Positions of troops by Gen. E. A. Carman. Published by the authority of the Secretary of War, under the direction of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, 1904." Washington, Government Printing Office, 1904. Retrieved at this location.

Howard's Left

What was the position of Oliver O. Howard's brigade of Sedgwick's division in the West Woods? Howard's brigade was the third of three brigades that made up Sedgwick's division--the first was Willis Gorman's and the second, Napoleon J.T. Dana's.

According to Ezra Carmen "Howard's line advanced from the East Woods in some disorder. As it approached the Hagerstown Road, the right of the brigade began obliquing to the right, while part of the left wing (which had been halted) was attracted by the contest around the [Dunkard] Church and began to oblique in that direction. Part of the 69th Pennsylvania followed the 106th Pennsylvania, and part overlapped the 72nd Pennsylvania but was soon moved to the right. Under a fire that struck down many, the 72nd reached the road [Hagerstown Pike]--somewhat broken by the rush of the retreating 125th Pennsylvania through it. It was aligned by dressing to the right and then advanced about ten yards into the woods. Its left, which was near the church, could not fire because some of the 34th New York were in front, but the right wing was uncovered and began firing."[1] The colored map at left is the familiar Cope/Carmen Map and faithfully reflects Carmen's narrative.

Here's the problem. Nearly all of the recent accounts of Sedgwick's advance place the left of the including Howard's brigade much further to the north and in the clover field adjoining the West Woods At left is Marion Armstrong's map that shows the 72nd further north and well away from the church.[2] Richard F. Miller puts the 34th and 125th at the Dunkard Church and, like Armstrong, locates Howard's brigade northward.[3] So does John Priest [4]. Luvass' Guide to the Battle of Antietam, appears to place only two units near the church which are unlabeled but can be assumed to be the 34th NY and 125th Pa. [5] On the web, the ehistory site at Ohio State University places Sedgwick and all of his brigades at the same map location as Armstrong and others. [6] Ethan Rafuse places the 72nd Pa. according to the Cope/Carman map but does not note the location of the 69th Pa. and instead shows the 7th Michigan on the right of the 72nd. [7]

So what to make of this? It appears that there are two map models representing very different unit locations. One representation replicates the Cope/Carman map; the other consistently follows what I will call the Armstrong map (even though some maps here precede Armstrong's map). So who is right? Where was Howard's left? Who wants to challenge Carmen? He was there and spent his life chronicling the battle. Nearly all of the histories above agree that the 34th New York angled down to the church--that is not in dispute. What is in dispute are the locations of the 69th and 72nd Pennsylvania of the Philadelphia Brigade. Consulting the ORs do not provide a definitive answer (is there one?). For example, here's Col. James A. Suiter's report for the 34th New York:

"From some cause to me unknown, I had become detached from my brigade, the one hundred and twenty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers being on my right. On my left and rear I was entirely unsupported by infantry or artillery." -- Col. James A. Suiter's (34th New York) OR.

Where are the 72nd and 69th? According to Carmen/Cope, they should have been right behind the brigade. If so, why does Suiter say he was unsupported in the rear by infantry?

Joshua T. Owen's report on the 69th Pennsylvania further confuses things. He writes:

"With some confusion upon the left, the brigade retired. The Sixty-ninth, One hundred and sixth, and Seventy-first Pennsylvania Volunteers retired in good order; the Seventy-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, however, being on the extreme left, subjected to a heavier fire, and the first to encounter the panic-stricken fugitives from the left, did not retire in the same good order as the other three regiments, nor was it reformed, nor did it rejoin the brigade until a late hour in the afternoon." --Joshua T. Owen, (69th Pennsylvania), OR, 9.21.62.

According to the Carmen/Cope map, the 125th and 34th appears to have retreated through the 69th and 72nd positions but Owen reports that only the 72nd encountered the unknown "panic-stricken fugitives from the left." Could these "fugitives" have been the 7th Michigan and the 42nd New York which were to the left of the 72nd in the Armstrong map?

The 72nd's commander Col. Dewitt Clinton Baxter left no report and the division commander Oliver O. Howard does shed any light on the location of the left of the division.

I hope someone who finds this entry may be able to clear up the two map representations and help find Howard's left. If you are out there and can help, please post.

Notes.

[1] Joseph Pierro, ed., The Maryland Campaign of September 1862: Ezra A. Carman's Definitive Study of the Union and Confederate Armies at Antietam ( New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 264.

[2] Marion V. Armstrong, Jr., Unfurl Those Colors! McClellan, Sumner, and the Second Army Corps in the Antietam Campaign (Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press, 2008), p. 186.

[3] Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2005, p. 166).

[4] John Priest, Antietam: The Soldier's Battle (New York: Oxford University Press), p. 121.

[5] Jay Luvaas and Harold W. Nelson, eds. Guide to the Battle of Antietam: The Maryland Campaign of 1862 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987), p. 166.

[6] Map of General Sedgwick's assault on the West Woods, retrieved on August 10, 2009 at http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/regimental/pennsylvania/union/71stPennsylvania/antietam.cfm.

[7] Ethan Rafuse, Antietam, South Mountain & Harpers Ferry: A Battlefield Guide, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008), p. 71.