“The whole Division except our Regiment was broken into a mob, madly pressing to the rear followed closely by the enemies lines:” William J. Colvill and the First Minnesota in the West Woods.

William J. Colvill to Antietam Battlefield Board, December 10, 1892
Antietam Battlefield Board Correspondence, National Archives, Box 1 {Microfilm}
_____________________________________________________

No 403 Masonic Temple,
Duluth, Minn., Dec. 10, 1892
Col. J. C. Stearns and
Gen. H. Heth
Antietam Board.
Washington, D.C. 

Gentlemen:-

In response to yours of the 30^th inst. requesting certain data as to position of my command in the battle of Antietam, etc.: I have the honor to make the statement following:
My command was Co. F. 1^st Minn. Vol. Inf. being the senior Company of the Regiment which was a part of the 1^st Brigade^⁠1, 2^nd Division, 2^nd Corps.

Illustration 1: William J. Colvill, Jr. Source:
U.S. Army Military History Institute, 
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

On the evening of Sept. 16^th, the Division was massed in the order of its Brigades[1]^⁠2 as they came in on the march of that day, at a point in the valley of the creek on the east side, not far—I judge about forty rods—from^⁠3 Burnside’s Crossing.^⁠4 I do not remember the order by Regiments, but from our marching order of the 17^th when our Regiment and Brigade lead the Division, the 3^rd Brigade^⁠5 lead it on the 16^th.

We did not move from this position until after Hooker’s farthest advance on the 17^th and when there seemed to be a lull in the battle. I have the impression, this was near 9 o’clock A.M.^⁠6 

I have no maps and have never revisited the field and can only give you an idea of the point of our farthest advance by a recital of our movements, which I will make as brief as possible.

The Division moved—our Regiment leading—northerly to a ford^⁠7 on the creek and across that and beyond on a line nearly parallel with the Hagerstown Pike to a good Division distance, then faced to the left and marched Brigade front, the other Brigades following in order, to the Pike^⁠8 from which, after a brief halt, we advanced, at first square with the Pike, and then — following Gen. Sumner^⁠9 who rode rapidly near our right—obliquely to the right, over and beyond the dead and wounded of Hooker’s Corps and of the enemy,^⁠10 about half a mile, I think all the way through large rather open timber,^⁠11 and came square against a ravine, with a cornfield on the opposite side, on the extreme right, where was our Regiment which just about covered the width of this field. 12

The field was long and was lost to sight towards the river, I suppose owing to the undulating character of the ground. It was bounded on the left by the same timber through which we had passed, and on the right by a narrow skirt of same, separating the cornfield from a long pasture field which apparently extended from the River bluffs back to the Pike. On the opposite side of this pasture field dense timber grew along its whole length. We were received at the ravine by a sharp fire of small arms from the timber in and on the opposite side of the ravine and from the cornfield, and returned it with vigor.⁠13 In a few minutes the fire from the cornfield almost ceased and we could see the enemy fleeing down through the corn in numbers. In this brief time we lost heavily, I think at that point over a hundred men out of six hundred, killed and wounded.

During the fire, being uneasy about our right, I placed the Regimental Pioneers—which were with my company, and on the extreme right—at a point about 20 rods⁠14 in advance, in the skirt of timber between the cornfield and long pasture field I have mentioned. This was the farthest advance that day. The ravine mentioned must be well known, for along it from left to right ‘till it reached our Regiment, the Brigade with the 2nd and 3rd Brigades, which latter had been halted to the left rear on raising ground with intervals too short, and had suffered from this fact equally with ourselves from the enemies fire—was “rolled up”  by a furious charge from the left. 

As I saw it[,] the whole Division except our Regiment was broken into a mob, madly pressing to the rear followed closely by the enemies lines. Instantly on the breaking up of the 84^⁠15th N.Y.,[1] which was next on our left, Col Sully^⁠16 of our Regiment gave the order to about face and march to the rear, which we did double quickly, accompanied with a shower of cannister from a battery^⁠17 which had hurried up the pasture field and which had been reported by our Pioneers just as we started.

Illustration 3. Detail from the Antietam Battlefield

Board 1030 map. On the western high ground, French and 

Branch's Batteries move into position. Raine, D'Aquin and

Poague occupy a series of hills to the south. The unknown

battery associated with the 13th Virginia and some

of Stuarts cavalry advances toward

the Nicodemus Farmstead. 

A field and farm house and farm yard, with barn and other out buildings and stacks of grain lay between us and the Pike.^⁠18 We passed over this field in line with and almost in contact with the enemy, facing about twice to repulse those following us, and rushing through the farm yard under a shower of cannister, tumbled over the stone fence in front and in less than 20 seconds formed on our colors in the road, every man in his place, and then immediately moved double quick by the right flank to the corner of the dense wood, which I have described as bounding the long pasture field on our right. Here a Battery of ours was quickly placed a short distance out in the field and we formed in support on its left. 

The enemies battery^⁠19 — the same which had been following us—was quickly silenced and for about 20 minutes we exchanged fire with sharp shooters, the support of the battery, which was in the dense wood and had us at an advantage on that account; but after considerable loss to ourselves, we silenced them and were then withdrawn to the Pike at a point in rear of the same wood,^⁠20 where we found other troops, I think of Franklyn’s Corps;^⁠21 and some time after, perhaps at noon or a little after, we rejoined our Division which had been rallied at the Batteries under Kirby^⁠22 (the same which that had repulsed the enemies charging column with such frightful loss). We took position on the extreme right of the Division immediately at the guns. This position was on high land immediately back of the Pike. A few rods to our right was an orchard in which that afternoon we buried some of our dead and more the next morning.^⁠23 

Illustration 4. The final position of Gorman's Brigade,

and the First Minnesota on September 17. They are

situated in and around Joseph Poffenberger's farmstead

and orchard.

We held the same position that night and on the next morning, the 18^th, I was assigned—not mustered—as Major of the Regiment, and at night fall took command of the Division picketts—a very strong guard in the wood from which we had been driven the day before, with instructions to advance them as skirmishers at earliest dawn, moving till we should strike the enemy. During the night I reported constant movements of the enemies trains and artillery, and at the first break of day, advanced the picketts rapidly until we reached the River; soon after which I had occasion to cross the same pasture field along its lower end to the edge of the dense wood before spoken of, and noted near that corner the ruins of an old mill, or what appeared to be such. This may aid in locating our position on the 17^th.

I have have referred to the Hagarstown Pike as the points of “departure and arrival” but I may have been misled; the distance between is so great that perhaps the farmyard I have mentioned is on some other road coming obliquely into the Pike. We crossed it first on the side towards Sharpsburg at some distance from and out of sight of the Quaker Church^⁠24 and came out on the other side of the Church and about as far from it.

I suppose from your knowledge of the field and of the movements of the different Divisions, you can, from what I have stated, locate the Regiment and my command exactly.

I hope you will not find this too tedious. But for fear of becoming so, I should have made a fuller statement, and given some interesting incidents which I have not seen in print, but the collection of which may not come with the purposes of your Board. 

I am very respectfully, W. Colvill, 

Ex Col 1^st Minn

1 Brd Brig General

=====

William J. Colvill, Jr. ^⁠25

Notes

¹ Willis A. Gorman’s First Brigade of Sedgwick’s Division, II Corps, comprised the 34th New York, 15th Massachusetts, 82nd New York, and the 1st Minnesota.

² The order of brigades of Sedgwick’s Division as it advanced to the West Woods were: Willis A. Gorman, Napoleon J.T. Dana, and Oliver O. Howard.

³ 220 yards.

⁴ This is an unknown reference at this point. Sedgwick’s Division encamped on the 16th due north of the Philip Pry house and orchard.

⁵ This is Brig. Gen. Napoleon J.T. Dana’s Brigade.

⁶ II Corps Commander Edwin Vose Sumner received orders from McClellan to advance his command at approximately 7:20 a.m.

⁷ This Antietam ford is marked on the Antietam Battlefield Board maps and lies approximately 900 yards downstream from the Upper Bridge.

⁸ Hagerstown Pike.

⁹ II Corps commander Edwin Vose Sumner.

¹⁰ Colvill is describing the regiment’s advance through Miller’s Cornfield.

¹¹ West Woods.

¹² See Illustration 2.

¹³ This small arms fire came from the 13th Virginia of Jubal Early’s command that was protecting the left flank of the Confederate artillery arrayed on Hauser’s Ridge. See Illustration 2.

¹⁴ 110 yards.

¹⁵ Colvill should have stated the 82nd New York.

¹⁶ Col. Alfred Sully commanded the First Minnesota at Antietam.

¹⁷ This may have been D’Aquin’s Battery. The Antietam Battlefield Board 9:00-9:30 map shows it moving to the far left of the Confederate artillery line.

¹⁸ This was the Nicodemus farmstead directly north of their 1030 position. The Antietam Battlefield Board 1030 map shows the regiment retreating north along a farm road parallel to the Hagerstown Pike and running just to the East of the Nicodemus farmstead. A stone fence bordered the west side of the farm road.

¹⁹ This may have been Capt. William Thomas Poague’s three gun Rockbridge (VA) Artillery. Poague recorded in his Official Report, that “when the enemy was forced to fall back, I was directed to report to General Stuart on the extreme left, and with other guns kept up an advancing fire on the retreating enemy until he found shelter under a number of reserve batteries.” Five Confederate batteries rushed to the support of Semmes Brigade’s breakout to the  D.R. Miller farmstead. The “other guns” that Poague mentioned were batteries commanded by Raine, D’Aquin, French, and Branch. See Illustration 3, showing their locations. OR, Series 1, Vol. 19, Part 1, pages 1009-1010.

²⁰ North Woods.

²¹ By Noon, Gorman’s Brigade, resting in the “rear” of the North Woods, were very near John Gibbon’s brigade. The rest of Sedgwick’s Division were holding about 200 yards due east of Gorman’s left flank.

²² This was Lt. George A. Woodruff’s Battery or the 1st United States, Battery I. It was previously known as Kirby’s battery for its commander Lt. Edmund Kirby. Kirby was on sick leave from Sept. 1-24 during the Maryland Campaign. Source: Cullums Register.

²³ See Illustration 4.

²⁴ Dunker Church.

²⁵ Captain William J. Colvill, Jr. (1830-1905), Company F, First Minnesota. Although seriously wounded at Gettysburg, Colvill survived the war and went on to serve in the state legislature and as Minnesota’s Attorney General before returning to his law practice in Red Wing. See further, Al Zdon's excellent biography, "Colvill of Minnesota," published in Summer 2009 by the Minnesota Historical Society, pages 260-71 at http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/61/v61i06p260-271.pdf.

______________________________

Further reading: For regimental histories, see Richard Moe, The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993); Isaac Lyman Taylor, "Campaigning with the First Minnesota: A Civil War Diary," Minnesota History, March 1944, pp. 11-39; John Quinn Imholt, The First Volunters: History of the First Volunteer Regiment (Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, 1963); Wayne D. Jorgenson, Every Man Did His Duty: Pictures and Stories of the First Minnesota (Tasora Books, 2012). Also a very useful site maintained by the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment at http://www.1stminnesota.net. 

To the West Woods: The Correspondence of Henry Ropes, 20th Massachusetts, Entry 12

This is the twelfth entry in the correspondence of Lieutenant Henry Ropes to his family between September 3 and October 5, 1862. Ropes was a Second Lieutenant in Company K of the 20th Massachusetts, Dana’s Brigade, Sedgwick’s Division, II Corps.

Head Quarters, 3d. Brigade,

Bolivar Heights, Va. September 27th 1862.

My dear John.

I received your letter (written by Mary Ann⁠[1]) last evening. I am very sorry your eyes are so weak. I know what a hopeless feeling

Detail from "View of the camps of the Army of the Potomac,

on Bolivar Heights, near Harper's Ferry, after the 

battle of Antietam." Edwin Forbes (1839-1895). 

Wagons and encampments in the near and far distance. 

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

one has, when one begins to find out that there is a settled weakness of the eyes. It seems as if everything was doubtful, and you are not sure what you are able to do. I hope you are able to read this letter. If anybody reads it to you, let it be only Mary Ann, for I shall write to you on the next page what I do not wish every one to know. I am now with the Colonel,⁠[2] and while he is here, I shall stay and do everything for him I can. But he ought to resign immediately. The fact he is completely broken down and is not fit for duty.⁠[3] He has now got the chills and fever (not badly) the diarrhea, and a cough. It is beautiful weather, but cold at night, and I know he suffers from it, yet he still keeps about an generally is in good spirits. Should we have one week of active service, I know he would completely break down. You know he is pretty old and not of a very strong constitution. He will not hear of getting a leave of absence, and says if he cannot do full duty, he had better do none and leave the service.

Now we are quiet and no immediate prospect of an advance. We have just been through a short but active campaign, and have done well, and this is exactly the time for Col. Lee to resign. There would be time to fill his place and arrange things before we are again called into the field. He has done his duty well by the Regmnt. He has been in every battle and escaped unhurt. He would retire now most honorably. If he stays, and breaks down when we are in active service, it may not be so well for him or for us. I write this of course for your private eye or ear.

Capt. Leach⁠[4] of Dana’s staff, a very able, clear headed man, is here, and Col. Lee places great trust in him, and he manages Brigade matters almost entirely. He has told me privately that he

Capt. William B. Leach (1834-1903).
Photo: Minnesota Historical Society
Retrieved from First Minnesota
Volunteer Infantry Regiment site at
http://www.1stminnesota.net

probably will soon get an order to report to Genl. Dana, in Washington, and wishes someone to get into the harness here before he leaves. He first asked Herbert,⁠[5] but he could not leave his Company, and then (at the Colonel’s request) he asked me to come to Headquarters.

Do not let all this go far. I write in confidence to you. I think Col. Lee will resign before a month has passed. This is only my opinion.

Well, to answer your letter. Lieut. Beckwith⁠[6] was formerly a Sergeant, and was promoted 2d. Lieutenant, a few months ago. He is of the kind Capt. Shepard⁠[7] describes as a “wet rag.” No relation to Capt. Beckwith, as far as I know.

As to the Strategy: Everyone thinks and I think that old Sumner made a great mistake in dashing Sedgwick’s Division so recklessly against the key of the enemy’s position. We never should have gone down into that ravine,⁠[8] where the dead were piled closer than in the Orchard at Waterloo.⁠[9] We lost between 2 and 3000 men there out of about 6000,⁠[10] all in 2 hours or so.⁠[11] It was a slaughter pen. I think that our 3d line⁠[12] should have been held far back, our first⁠[13] advanced to the edge of the valley and skirmishers sent down, and our 2d line⁠[14] taken to the left to hold that part of the field until a connection could be made with French on the left. Then batteries should have been advanced and used against the enemy in the Cornfield, house, barn, &c.⁠[15] Had this been done and we gained the elevated land beyond the house,⁠[16] then Sumner’s whole Corps could have advanced and driven everything before them, as they did on the open land this side of the ravine. Then the whole of the enemy’s left would have been turned and our guns could have been place on a hill sweeping the whole right of the enemy, and Burnside would have had an easy victory, and I do not see how the Rebel Army could have beens saved. Sumner was too impetuous and too sure of victory. However, you underestimate our success. With the exception of this ravine or valley we gained possession of the whole field, and it was a most decided a[d]vantage to us. It forced the enemy to retreat. Then non of you see to appreciate what a tremendous battle it was. Fair Oaks, White Oak swamp, Malvern Hill, and the others, do not compare with it. It was from daylight till dark, and most obstinately fought, and at very close quarters. As you see, the comparative loss in our Corps, Division, Brigade, and Regiment greatly exceeds that of the British at Waterloo, or the Almor, or of the French at Magenta and Solferimo.

It was the first time I ever appreciated what I have often read of “men mowed down in rows like corn,” but it was so. When they came in on our left and rear the fire was awful. I was once covered with stones and dirt cast up by a shell striking close to me, and the trees of the wood were crackling as if on fire. Then, when the New-York and Pennsylvania troops were rushing by us and through us like sheep, our Regiment showed its discipline, and my Company did not take one step at double quick, but marked out at shouldered arms without the loss of one man, except those left dead an wounded on the field.

If you want to know more of the battle, you must ask questions, and I will try to answer them. I think McClellan was right in keeping troops near Washington, How did he know the whole rebel force was here? The day after the battle he got a despatch from Hillock, telling him this fact. It would have been wrong to leave Washington in the slightest danger. That should be protected at every cost.

I am sorry you found so much trouble with the tents. Please also send me from my trunk the pair of dark blue pants I sent back, also 1 pair woolen ribbed drawers. Let stoups (for riding) be put on the pants, to unbutton, of course. Probably the Express⁠[17] will soon run to Harper’s Ferry. Grafton’s Regiment (the 2d Mass.) is not with ours, but at Sandy Hook, 6 miles off. I can send there easily, however. Please send me $1._ worth letter stamps. I have none at all now. I hear poor Abbott is very ill indeed. [18] I am exceedingly sorry for him. Glad you are well, Mary Ann must not be sickly. Make her ride on horseback, and walk &c. Love to all.

Your affectionate brother

Henry.

P.S. Direct in future “Lieut. Ropes, Head Quarters, Dana’s Brigade.

H.R.

Source Note

The source for Henry Ropes’ correspondence is the three volume transcription of Ropes outbound correspondence to his father, mother, and his brother, John C. Ropes. The original transcription can be found at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, Boston Public Library.

Henry Ropes was killed at Gettysburg on July 3 and from that point on, John C. Ropes undertook a life-long pursuit to memorialize his brother’s life and the regiment’s history. The transcription volumes are the center piece of John C. Ropes work and his legacy. Each of the three transcribed volumes are organized chronologically: Volume 1 is Henry Ropes’ correspondence to his father and mother, and Volume 2 and 3 to his brother, John C. Ropes. For more on the Ropes correspondence, see Richard F. Miller’s excellent essay on historical bibliography at pages 495-499 in his superlative study on the 20th Massachusetts in Richard F. Miller, Harvard’s Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2005). Any errors in transcribing and annotating the selected correspondence are mine.

Notes:

1 Ropes’ sister Mary Ann Ropes (b 1842)

2 Colonel William Raymond Lee (1807-1891) commanded the 20th Massachusetts.

3 For more on the state of Col. Lee, see Henry Ropes to Mother, September 21, 1862, footnote 7 and posted on this blog.

4 Captain William B. Leach (1834-1903), served as Brig. Gen. Dana’s aid. OR, Dana’s Report, September 30, 1862. For more on Leach, see the excellent First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment site at http://www.1stminnesota.net website, see Roster  for Leach’s biographical entry.
5 Lt. Herbert Cowpland Mason (1840-1884), Harvard College, 1862.

6 Scottish born Robert Beckwith, 22, an ironworker before the war, will be killed at Marye’s Heights. Richard F. Miller, Harvard’s Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2005), pp. 183, 212.

7 Capt. Alan Shepard headed Company K. He will be wounded at Fredericksburg and end the war in the Invalid Corps. Miller, pp.  22, 206.

8 As the 20th Massachusetts moved across the Hagerstown Pike, it traversed an open field and then, at the eastern edge of the West Woods descended on a gradual 200 yard downslope ending at the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead. A number of accounts from those engaged in the West Woods describe this part of the field as a valley or ravine.

9 Ropes is referring to the action in and around the Hougoumont farmstead, 5 km south of the village of Waterloo. For an excellent source on Waterloo, see Napoleon, His Army and Enemies at www.napolun.com.

10 Casualty counts in the West Woods vary as they do in nearly all engagements. As of October 2013, the National Park Service numbers for the West Woods is 5,400 Federal troops engaged with 2,200 casualties and 9,000 Confederate troops engaged with 1,850 casualties.

11 One of the enduring misconceptions of the fighting in the West Woods is that action took place over a 15 to 20 minute span. Primary sources, however, strongly suggest that elements of Sedgwick’s Division engaged in a running battle from the Dunkard Church northward to the David R. Miller farmstead. This conflict lasted from approximately 9:15 a.m. to approximately 10:30 a.m.

12 The third line was Oliver O. Howard’s Philadelphia Brigade.

13 The first line was Willis Gorman’s brigade.

14 The second line was Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana’s brigade.

15 The Alfred Poffenberger farmstead included a two-bay cabin, some outbuildings, and a bank barn. A small orchard grew on the east side of the cabin while corn was planted in the fields west and north of the farmstead.

16 Hauser’s Ridge.

17 Adams Express Agency. See Henry Ropes to John Ropes, September 3, 1862 and posted here on December 22, 2014.

18 Lt. Henry Livermore Abbott (1842-1864), suffering from typhoid, had been left in Frederick on September 14. Miller, p. 165.

"The Federal sharpshooters...gave us a good deal of worry..." John T. Block and the Louisiana Guards

New Orleans May 30 1899

Genl E.A. Carman
Washington, D.C.

My dear Sir,

The “Louisiana Guard Battery,” consisted of four (4) guns, two rifle and two howitzers. Capt Edgar D’Aquin, Hays Louisiana Brigade, Ewell’s Division, Jackson’s Corp.

My recollection of the battle of Sharpsburg is as follows. After an all night march from Harpers Ferry, we crossed the Potomac at or near Shepherdstown on the the morning of the 16th and marched out (I suppose it was the Shepherdstown Road), where we halted for rest, then proceeded down this road until dark, when we filed in to a patch of woods[1] with Hays Brigade.

9:00 Hours--D'Aquin's Battery moves onto Hauser Ridge.
Cope/Carman Map (1908)

This woods must have been in the neighborhood of the Church,[2] and near the line of battle, as the pickets kept up a lively firing all night, much to the discomfort of Jackson’s foot Cavalry.

We remained in this position until one or two o’clock on the morning of the 17th (I being on guard at the time) General Jackson and his staff rode up to where we had the horses picketed, and wanted to know what Cavalry is this; when informed that it was Artillery, he called for the officer in command and said to him, this is no place for your Battery, get out as quick as possible, this woods will be shelled in a short time.

Day was just breaking when we reached the opening, the shelling was very heavy at this time. We went to the rear out of range and camped on the side of the road. It was early in the forenoon when we were ordered to report to Genl J.E.B. Stuart on the extreme left of our Army. Immediately took position on a knoll in an open field.[3]

I think we held this position until three or four o’clock in the evening. If I am not mistaken the 13th Virginia Regiment was the only Confederate Infantry on this part of our lines. Genl Stewart, was with or near the Battery while we were in action and Genl Jackson was with him for sometime. This was a very hot place and kept the men at the Battery hard at work. Fortunately our casualties were light, only one slightly wounded.

As I see the battlefield after so many years have elapsed, is that there was a ravine in front of us (don’t know whether it was a stone fence or a stream) on our front, beyond this was an open space, the woods being some distance back where the Federal troops were.[4] In the opening in front of our battery there was several trees (looked to me like apple trees) The Federal sharpshooters[5] were concealed in these trees and gave us a good deal of worry until we found out where the minnies were coming from.

After learning this position and on our way to the rear to replenish our ammunition chest, a courier halted us and wanted [to] know if we had any howitzer ammunition. On being informed that we had, the two guns went into the fight again. If I am not mistaken they went back through the woods they left in the early morning. 

Mr. J. H. O’Connor was with this section and may be able to give you some information.[5] Our camp on the evening of the evening of the 17th was on I suppose the same road that we marched from Shepherdstown. We entered through a double gate.

Don’t remember the date of retreat, our battery was with the rear guard of the Army. Took position on the heights of Shepherdstown to protect the crossing of the rear of the Army. Our loss in this position was heavy in men and horses.

A Federal battery took a position on the left at the ford and made it very warm for us for until we succeeded in blowing up one of their Caissons.

Messrs Marks[6] and O’Connor will send you their recollections of the battle field.

Hoping by this poor description of the battery at Sharpsburg will assist you in locating the position of our battery.

I am

Very respectfully

John T Block

P.S. Our loss at Shepherdstown was three men killed by explosion of one shell and several wounded. The horses suffered most. JTB

==============

Source: John T. Block to Ezra Carman, May 30 1899, National Archives, Antietam Studies, Record Group 92. 

Twenty eight year old John T. Block enlisted as a private on April 28, 1861 in the Louisiana Guard Artillery. Born in Missouri, he resided at the outbreak of the war with his younger brother Robert in the First Ward home of sugar broker James W. Demarat. John gave his occupation in 1860 as a “gauger” or inspector. He survived the war and by 1880 he was the head of a household that included his wife, Mary, three sons, two daughters, and a boarder. 1860 and 1880 Census (Louisiana); National Archives, Record Group 109 (Louisiana), M320, Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Louisiana units, labeled with each soldier's name, rank, and unit, with links to revealing documents about each soldier, Roll 073; Andrew B. Booth. Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Confederate Commands. Vol. I-III. (New Orleans, LA, USA: n.p., 1920), Volume 1 B. Page 12.

Notes:

[1] The West Woods.

[2] The Dunkard Church.

[3] See maps on post of May 10, 2013.

[4] The Cope/Carman 9:00 o’clock map shows the battery pulling up on Hauser Ridge to the left of Brockenbrough’s Baltimore Battery. This would place it nearly opposite the First Minnesota. An unidentified battery is depicted on the map just in front of the 13th Virginia. Edward A. Walker of the First Minnesota observed “Our regiment was close to a rail fence and a corn field between us and the enemies battery. This battery was on a hill about 700 yards to our right—directly in front of us was their infantry, about 300 yards distant at the commencement of the fight. As soon as we got into the proper position both sides commenced peppering one another. Our company fired a few shots at the artillerymen, but as the distance was so great we directed most of our shots at the rebel colors…” Richard Moe, The Last Full Measure: Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers (New York: Avon Books, 1993), pp. 181-82.

[5] This is probably the Minnesota Sharpshooters, Second Company who were attached to the First Minnesota. They are depicted in the Cope/Carman map as forming on the left of the regiment’s line which would align them nearly opposite D'Aquin's battery.

[6] See post of May 10 for John O’Connor’s correspondence to Ezra Carman of June 14, 1899 and July 5, 1899.

[7] The correspondence of Edwin Marks will be posted here.

Semmes' Brigade in the West Woods: Stores Correspondence, Part 2

This is the second of two posts of correspondence from Captain William J. Stores, 32nd Virginia, Semmes' Brigade, to Ezra Carman of the Antietam Battlefield Board. 

============

Possible location (x) of the 32nd VA.
The 1st MN lay due North of this
position adjacent and probably
in the Poffenberger cornfield.
Note the rocky ledge to the
right of this position.

"Office of County Supt. of Schools.
Tabb, York Co., Va., January 18, 1900.

Genl. E. A. Carman

War Dept. Washington D.C.

My Dear Sir,

Yours of the 18th inst. To hand_ I will gladly give any information as the position and movements of the 32nd Va. Regt. Semmes’ brigade, that is in my power_

Now I am making this statement under the belief that the 15 Mass. 82nd N.Y. & 1 Minn. Were the advanced union line_ that these were the troops that Semmes’ brigade engaged_ Whatever portion of that line was in front of the 32nd was certainly in a Cornfield when the engagement commenced;[1a] and the 32nd Va. was in an open farm field in which there seemed to be a slight rise in or rocky ledge about 75 or 100 yds from the cornfield_

You ask_ “in going forward to the woods did we pass through any Corn before reaching the woods”_

We did go through this cornfield to the woods, thence through the woods to an open field, thence to a barn & stack in this field_ I do not remember seeing any Confederate line of troops, or passing through an orchard_ The only Confederates I remember of seeing were wounded soldiers coming toward the left, just before we turned into the where we first met the enemy. There possibly may have been some of Jackson’s men who had been engaged near the orchard_

You ask_ “If Barksdale was in the woods from which Stuart came to us while at the Barn and Stacks”_

Detail from the "The fight on Sumner's
left at Poffenberger's
farm" by Frank Schell. The
Poffenberger barn at left and the
Locher Cabin at right. The cabin still
stands; the barn foundation is all that is left.
Becker Collection, Boston College.

No. I suppose he was to our right & rear, as Stuart went in that direction to look for him_ We ⁠[1b]_ I found several wounded men and two wounded Officers from my Company, at this Hospital or barn, and I remained there all night with them. Next morning I found my Regt. near an Orchard, where we remained all day_ Fatigue parties were sent out to bury the dead_ and that night we returned & crossed the Potomac River.

[R]emained at the barn & stacks about 15 or 20 minutes_ When the enemy commenced to shell the barn we retired through the woods in a S.E. direction to an open old field_ where we remained a short while. When I image the whole brigade was reformed; and thus it was that we moved to the stone fence along the Road to Sharpsburg and where we remained until late in the afternoon_ I am quite sure the whole brigade was there_ For I heard Genl Semmes tell one of his aids “to go and tell the Regmt commanders to take their Regts. back to the rear_ out of the range of the guns_ and make them Comfortable for the night_ they would not be needed any more that day”_ I obtained permission to take a file of men and go to the battle field of the Morning to look after a wounded Officer_ When I reached the field, I found him dead_ I found a man there wounded in the leg who could not walk, so I carried him to the Hospital, which was located in a barn, with some stacks close about it_ this must have been the barn near A. Poffenberger’s

"I found several wounded men and two wounded Officers from my Company,
at this Hospital or barn..." The Alfred Poffenberger barn foundation
remains visible today. In the distance is Hauser Ridge over which Semmes'
Brigade advanced on Willis Gorman's Brigade, Sedgwick's Division.

You ask in another letter of the same date “Where was the Cornfield from which the Union line opened fire on us.”

It must have been the field N.W. of A. Poffenberger’s_ a portion of the Union line⁠ was in this Cornfield,[2] and we charged through it, to the woods, and then through the woods to the barn & stacks beyond in an open field_ This barn & stacks⁠[3] must have been the same marked on the map, about south of D.R. Miller’s_ I recollect very distinctly the rocky ledge with considerable under growth of bushes S.W. of the barn; and there was an old rail fence running along the base of this rocky ridge. It was at this very place I heard the Conversation between Semmes & Stuart referred to in a former letter[⁠4]_ I do not remember passing a [thin] line of Confederates, or do I remember passing the Poffenberger house. I think we must have come to the left of the Poffenberger house_

I recollect seeing a line of union troops beyond the barn & stacks, apparently behind a stone fence_ it might have been the turnpike⁠[5] they were in_ but it surely was [no] more than 30 or 40 feet from the barn_ I took this line to be the reserve forces around which the retreating Regts. were rallying. It seemed, as if beyond this union line, the ground was sloping_looked to be a meadow_

Detail from the Cope/Carman 9:00 a.m.
map (1908 edition). 1 and 2 are David R.
Miller's stacks and barn; 3 is the Miller
farmhouse; 4 is the stone fence that bordered
the Hagerstown Pike on the East at that point;
5 is the "rocky ledge...S.W. of the [Miller]
barn." Library of Congress.

Was not Antietam Creek over in the direction about west-north-west? I could see General officers

mounted away over beyond this meadow looking field, on hills and rising ground watching the movements_ I would like to visit the battle field_ I think I could locate some of these fields unless things have very much changed_

I can only say that our advance was to a barn & stacks with wood on the right & left_ the woods to the left was much farther from the barn, than the woods on the right and toward the north, an open field, stretching out away across to what seemed to be a meadow.

I am respectfully yours.

Wm. J. Stores

==========

Source: Antietam Studies, Record Group 92, National Archives.

William J. Stores was the Captain of Company I, 32nd Virginia. 

Notes :
1a See Stores to Carman, December 30, 1899 where Stores states he believes that they may have  engaged the 1st Minnesota in the Poffenberger cornfield.

1b This is the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead that consisted of the Locher Cabin and outlying farm buildings including a substantial barn.

2 This was probably the 1st Minnesota.
3 See Hotchkiss and Carman maps.
4 See Stores to Carman, 12/30/1899
5 This is the Miller farm house and barns that are across the Hagerstown turnpike.

Semmes' Brigade in the West Woods: Stores' Correspondence, Part 1

What follows is the first of two posts of correspondence from Captain William J. Stores, 32nd Virginia, Semmes' Brigade, to Ezra Carman of the Antietam Battlefield Board.
============

 "Office of County Sup. of Schools
Tabb, York Co., Va., Dec. 30th 1899

Genl. E. A. Carman

Washington D.C.

Dear Sir,

My recollection of the battle of Sharpsburg is very vivid and clear. But the topography as prepared by your Board a little strange at this date.

On the night of the 16th we made a forced march from near Harpers Ferry (marching all night) crossed the Potomac River just about the break of day, marched up in an open field, near a large dwelling house stacked arms and proceeded to get something to eat. 

Possible location of the 32nd VA
is marked by an X. The 1st MN
lies ahead and probably has
moved into the Poffenberger
Cornfield. Cope/Carman Map,
1908 edition. Library of Congress.

We were soon, however, in line again, and on the march. We proceeded up a road in a northerly direction and turned to the right into an open old field where we were ordered to throw off knapsacks and blankets. We continued our march across this fallow field in Column of fours — the 32d Va. At the head of the Brigade. We were thus marching when the enemy opened fire upon us from a Cornfield.

In formation line of battle, and advancing upon the Enemy in his partly concealed position, was the time we suffered mostly * (the command was halted as Col. Montague[1] reports “under cover of a slight hill” or rocky ledge).⁠[2]

Soon however the Enemy in our front gave way but we were ordered to charge_ Now this hill or rocky ledge referred to above, and reported to in Col. Montague’s report, must have been the one just above A. Poffenberger’s home_ [3] but it was not in a cornfield but in an open fallow field_ we had not reached the Cornfield when we halted_ If the position of the 15th Masst. And the 1st Minn. Are correctly reported, then there must have been the troops we engaged.

When routed from this Cornfield, the Enemy was pushed back, in a North, NorthWest direction, through a body of woods to an open field beyond. Thence across this field to a Barn and Haystacks where he attempted to rally, but we were too close on him, and he went some distance beyond the barn & stacks to a stone fence where it seemed the reserve forces were reemploying. We captured some prisoners at the barn, stacks, but they were hurried to the rear and I did not learn from what Regt. they came.

Detail from the Cope/Carman 9:00 a.m.
map (1908 edition). 1 and 2 are David R.
Miller's stacks and barn; 3 is the Miller
farmhouse; 4 is the stone fence that bordered
the Hagerstown Pike on the East at that point;
5 is the "rocky ledge...S.W. of the [Miller]
barn." Library of Congress.

Now this barn & stacks to which we advanced must have been the barn & stacks marked near D. R. Miller’s_ Because the barn and stacks near Nicodemus are not situated with relation to each other, as the barn & stacks were at which we advanced. These stacks were certainly on the right hand side of the barn.

I remember distinctly that we had a man killed standing on an old drag frame between the barn and the stacks.

Genl. Stuart’s Calvary was in a body of woods just to our left_ for Stuart came from the woods, across an open field at full speed, to the barn & stacks where we were and asked to what Command we belonged to and inquired for Genl. Semmes_  Just then a battery from the Enemie's side opened fire on the barn and stacks_ Anxious to hear what so distinguished a General as Stuart would have to say to our Brigade Commander[4] I pressed up close and heard him say, “General that battery must be taken” Semmes replied “General! My men have been in this engagement all the morning. Barksdale’s brigade is through the woods there unexposed_” Stuart dashed off, as if in search of Barksdale’s brigade. I turned about and found that my Regt. had retired through the woods to a less exposed position & when ammunition was brought up and the Cartridge boxes were refilled, we advanced no farther than the barn and stacks alluded to above.

My impression was that we were occupying the extreme left of the Confederate Infantry. Late[r] on we were ordered to the Center of our line, where it was said the Enemy was very stubborn. But we were not engaged any more during the day.

Allow me to say, that I hardly think that this dead of the 10th Geo. & 15th Va. were buried when they fell. [5]

Yours very Respectfully &c

Wm. J. Stores

Capt. Co. I 32nd Va Infantry

========

Source: Antietam Studies, Record Group 92, National Archives.

William J. Stores was the Captain of Company I, 32nd Virginia.

Notes:

1. Col. Edgar Burwell Montague (1832-1885) commanded the 32nd Virginia at Antietam. Brian Downey's Antietam on the Web under entry from Edgar Burwell Montague.

2. See Montague's Official Report at Antietam on the Web.

3. This was Alfred Poffenberger's Farmstead (Locher Cabin).

4. Brigadier General Paul Jones Semmes (1815-1863).

5. See further: "'It getting dark and plank scarce:' Philologus H. Loud and the 10th Georgia in the West Woods" posted here.

"No place for artillery:" McCarthy's Battery (Richmond Howitzers) in the West Woods

This post opens a series on Confederate artillery units in and adjacent to the West Woods. In the morning phase of the battle (5:30 to 8:30), artillery units were positioned, among other places, in the Philadelphia Brigade Park which was then an open field. In the second phase of West Woods action (8:30-10:30), units were positioned on Hauser's Ridge 600 yards west of the West Woods boundary while other units were literally in the woods south of the Dunkard Church.

Thanks to the Cope/Carman maps, we can determine the identities of most Confederate artillery batteries in and adjacent to the West Woods and can do so nearly hour-by-hour. There are, still, some mysteries. The first illustration is a detail from the Cope/Carman map showing unit locations from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m.. This section of the map depicts three artillery formations. McCarthy's Battery is clearly labeled; two others are unidentified; I have marked these two units A and B. Very few units were unidentified in the Cope/Carman map series--who were these artillery units? The blue arrow associated with McCarthy's Battery indicates the view angle of the third picture below. Note all illustrations can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Unit A (for want of any other description) is mentioned by Col. Alfred Sully of the First Minnesota in his Official Report on September 20. After describing the regiment's advance across the cornfield, he states that the regiment came "into a woods close to the enemy and in front of our line of battle. Here we were posted behind a rail fence. The enemy soon appeared in force on the left of the brigade, opened a very severe fire of musketry on us, while some of their artillery in front of us also opened on us." This artillery, according to the map, lay in front of the 13th Virginia. Who were they? [1a]

Unit B, which occupied a knoll just south of the Hauser farmstead, also remains a mystery. The second picture here shows the knoll in the far distance viewed from the Poffenberger farmstead.

The third unit recorded on the map is McCarthy’s Battery also known as the First Company, Richmond Howitzers. It was a small unit that may have played some part in slowing Gorman's Brigade's advance from the West Woods.

The Richmond Howitzers was founded in 1859 by George Wythe Randolph, a grandson of Thomas Jefferson, and a Richmond lawyer. By May 1860, the Howitzers had been organized into three companies. An observer wrote that all three, "were made up largely of young business men and clerks of the highest grade and best character from the city of Richmond, but included also a number of country boys, for the most part of excellent families, with a very considerable infusion of college-bred men." In April 1861, the second and third companies became part of the First Virginia Artillery Regiment. [1b]

The First Company participated in the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, Seven Pines (May 31-June 1), the Seven Days’ Battles (June 25-July 1), and were at Second Manassas. [2] By September 1862, the company was known as McCarthy's Battery[3] and was reported as being comprised of two 10-pounder Parrotts and two 6-pounders. Only two pieces, the 6-pounders, however, were brought into action on September 17 at Sharpsburg. [4]

Led by Robert Meriwether Anderson (1822-1880),[5] the battery was part of McLaw's Division. It included thirty-two enlisted men and remained in line of battle all day, losing one killed and one wounded.

Ezra Carman writes: "Two guns of the 1st Company, Richmond Howitzers, under Lieutenant Robert M. Anderson moved on Semmes's right, but the open, exposed field was no place for artillery. It could not live under the fire that swept it, and--under orders--Anderson withdrew his guns to the high ground in rear, south of the Houser [sic] farm." [6]

The position of the battery during the fight swirling around the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead was about 300 yards due south of the farmstead. The third picture to the left shows the view northward from the battery's position.

According to Carman, there were two other companies of the Richmond Howitzers at Antietam. They are the Second Company, Watson's Battery, and the Third Company, Smith's Battery. A section of Watson's Battery supported Stuart at Williamsport on September 19 and withdrew the night of the 20th along with the rest of Stuart's force. Carman does not report activity for the Second Company. [7]

Notes:

I would like to acknowledge the invaluable help provided by Capt. Wayne Rowe of the 1st Co. Richmond Howitzers (reenactment). Any errors in this post, however, are mine. The website of the group can be found at: http://1stcorichmondhowitzers.com.

[1a] This unit was probably Pelham's Battery. Carman, describing action between 7:30 and 9 a.m., writes: "Pelham's Battery, supported by the 13th Virginia and a small cavalry force, was left near the northwest corner of the West Woods." (p. 247). Describing the advance of the First Minnesota he writes: "The regiment now …pushed through the woods to a rail fence bordering them on the west, and halted at the fence, beyond which was a cornfield on gradually rising to the crest of Hauser's ridge (on which was a small piece of woods concealing the 13th Virginia in support of Pelham's Battery). …Immediately on the Minnesotans coming to a halt, the skirmishers of the 13th Virginia opened fire from the cornfield but were driven back to the woods about 220 yards distant, soon after which Pelham's battery opened fire." p. 261.

[1b] Encyclopedia Virginia (The Virginia Foundation); "Four Years Under Marse Robert," by Major Robert Stiles retrieved from http://www.howitzers.com/unit.htm.

[2] Encyclopedia Virginia (The Virginia Foundation).

[3] "Like almost all Civil War units, the First Richmond Virginia Howitzer Company was often known by an alternate designation derived from the name of its commanding officer. Names of this type used by or for the company are: John C. Shields' Artillery, William P. Palmer's Artillery, Edward S. McCarthy's Artillery, and Robert M. Anderson's Artillery." Typescript notes, Unit Vertical File, Visitor's Center Files, Antietam National Battlefield. Edward McCarthy did not go to Antietam and instead remained in Richmond overseeing the repair and maintenance of the two 10-pounder Parrots (Wayne Rowe correspondence, 2.6.2010).

[4] Some accounts state that the battery left their 2 6-pounders at Leesburg at the opening of the campaign. Wayne Rowe offers, however, that "There was only one section at Antietam and it was lead by Lt. Anderson and it contained the 6-pounders and not the 10-pounder Parrotts." (Wayne Rowe correspondence, 2.5.2010). See also, http://1stcorichmondhowitzers.com/RHcivilwarhistory

[5] Ezra Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, p. 258.

Anderson, like the founder Randolph, was from a long line of Virginia gentry and was a direct descendant of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (his grandmother, Jane Meriwether Lewis (1770-1845), was Meriwether Lewis’ sister); Genealogies of the Lewis and Kindred Families, John Meriwether McAllister and Tura Boulton Tandy, eds., (Columbia, MO.: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1906), pp. 23, 47-49. Anderson survived the war and settled in Essex Virginia. He married Harriet Shore Lewis (1839-1892) in Essex on Christmas Eve, 1864. They produced five children. On November 9, 1880, his house caught fire and Anderson died from inhaling flames while rescuing his effects. After Robert’s death, the mother and the children relocated to Richmond. Lewises, Meriwethers, and Their Kin, (Richmond, Va., 1938; reprinted for Clearfield Company by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, 2008), p. 117; Warner Broaddus’ Genealogy retrieved at http://members.cox.net/broaddus/pafg07.htm.)

[6] Carman, p. 263. Carman also notes that the 15th Massachusetts suffered additional "fire of several pieces of artillery that were run-up on Hauser's Ridge and poured an incessant stream of canister and shrapnel along the entire front of the three right regiments of Gorman's brigade and upon the exposed and defenseless lines in rear." [p. 263] Typically, canister was ineffective beyond 400 yards. The distance to Hauser's Ridge from where the 15th stood is over 600 yards. Could the canister have come from McCarthy's Battery?

[7] Carman, p. 376. The two batteries were part of the reserve artillery led by Brigadier General William Pendleton. The units formed under Col. John Thompson Brown's Battalion along with three other Virginia artillery outfits: the Powhatan, Salem, and Williamsburg Artillery. Carman, p. 433.