To the West Woods: The Correspondence of Henry Ropes, 20th Massachusetts, Entry 8.

This is the eighth 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.

Camp on Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Md.

Saturday, 20th September 1862.

My dear Father.

I wrote to you a pencil note yesterday just to tell you of my safety &c. We have had a really terrific battle. Our Division was formed in three lines, the first line Gorman's Brigade,^⁠1 the second ours,^⁠2 the third Burn's.^⁠3 The principal musketry firing was done of course by the first line. We were under a heavy fire, however, and suffered from Artillery while advancing.^⁠4 We drove the enemy before us with tremendous loss on both sides. The slaughter was horrible, especially close to the Hagerstown turnpike where the

Detail of photograph of the west side of Hagerstown Pike.
Alexander Gardner, September 20, 1862. Library of Congress.

enemy made a stand by the fences.^⁠5 We finally advanced down a slope, beyond which the enemy held a cornfield and farmhouse with barn and outbuildings, all on an opposite slope.^⁠6 The enemy had Cannon planted on the top and constantly swept us down with grape and Shrapnell shell.^⁠7 Our line was advanced close to the first, exposing us to an equal fire, while we could not fire at all because of our first line. ^⁠8The third line was finally advanced close to the second; all this time we stood up and were shot down without being able to reply. Sedgwick^⁠9 and Dana^⁠10 were shot, and we had no one to command the Division.^⁠11 The enemy in the meantime came round on our left and rear, and poured in a terrible crossfire. Sumner^⁠12 came up in time to save the Division and ordered us to march off by the right flank. We did so, but the left Regiments gave way in confusion, the enemy poured in upon our rear, and now the

Edwin Vose Sumner  (1797-1863)
Library of Congress.

slaughter was worse than anything I have ever seen before. Sumner walked his horse quietly along waving his hand and keeping all steady near him. Although the Regiments in rear of us were rushing by us and through our ranks in the greatest confusion, we kept our Company perfectly steady, did not take a single step faster than the regular marching order, and brought off every man except those killed and wounded, who of course were left.^⁠ Rickett's regular Battery^⁠14 and some Regiments drawn up at angles to us stayed the enemy, and the broken Regiments reformed in the rear. Our Brigade suffered awfully, the 7th Michigan has only four Officers left.^⁠15 The 42nd and 59th New York Regiments broke and gave way most disgracefully^⁠16, our Regiment fell into perfect order as soon as we halted, and was immediately advanced to the front, and our Company and Company I sent out on picket. We staid on picket till yesterday morning when, we were advanced as skirmishers and found the enemy had evacuated. We had heard them moving all night and had given constant information of it, and were sure they were retreating.^⁠17 Now we are camped on a part of the battlefield. I hear that McClellan is pursuing the enemy ^⁠18and that Sumner's Corps is left behind here. We are all quiet and are burying the dead &c.

A Pioneer of our Regiment, by name Bean,^⁠19 wishes me to send word of his safety and good health to a Miss Hill who is at the same water cure that Louisa is at.^⁠20 Will you please ask Louisa to do so?

Of our Regiment Dr. Revere was shot dead on the field while dressing a wounded man's leg.^⁠21 His body was immediately rifled of everything of the least value. Col. Palfrey badly wounded in the shoulder, taken prisoner and released, or rather left behind.^⁠22 Capt. Holmes shot through the neck,^⁠23 and Capt. Hallowell in the arm;^⁠24 Milton slightly in three places;^⁠25 Lt. Col. Revere in the arm.^⁠26 The losses of other Regiments of the Division are enormous.^⁠27 

Shall try to write again soon.

Love to Mother.

Your affectionate son

Henry.



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 Willis Gorman (1816-1876), led the first line of Sedgwick’s Division. The 1st Minnesota anchored the right, and moving to the left, the 82nd New York, 15th Massachusetts. The 34th New York had followed the Smoketown Road during the advance and were situated further south at the Dunker Church. For more on the advance of Sedgwick’s Division, see, Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), pp. 202-215.
² Brig. Gen. Napoleon Dana (1822-1905), West Point (1842), situated part of the second line close behind Gorman’s Brigade. The 19th Massachusetts, 20th Massachusetts, and the 59th New York were brought up behind  Dana’s Brigade. At the same time, and on the left of the line, Dana attempted to get the 42nd New York and the 7th Michigan to change front in order to meet the advance of the brigades of Jubal Early, William Barksdale, and G.T. Anderson moving in from the south part of the West Woods.
³ Col. William Wallace Burns (1825-1892), West Point (1847), led the Philadelphia Brigade until a wound received at Savage Station on June 29 forced him to take sick leave from July 10 to October 8. Brigadier Gen. Oliver O. Howard (1830-1909), West Point (1854), commanded the brigade at Antietam and formed the 71st Pennsylvania on the right, then the 106th and 69th Pennsylvania, and the 72nd on the left. While the 71st, 69th, and 106th maintained a fairly contiguous front, the 72nd Pennsylvania had drifted further south and were to the left of the 7th Michigan from Dana’s brigade. The 72nd’s  left came in a few yards north of the Dunker Church and closer to the 34th New York of Gorman’s Brigade. See Cullum’s Register for biographies of Burns and Howard. For more on the Philadelphia Brigade in the West Woods see Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), pp. 202-215.
⁴ Brigade and divisional reports from diaries and letters mention taking artillery fire while advancing across open fields from the East to the West Woods. Some recent research suggests that Hardaway’s, Carter’s and Boyce’s batteries operating at that time in the vicinity of the Sunken Road may have been responsible.
⁵ Ropes is referring to the post and rail fences along either side of the Hagerstown Pike. See illustration 1. 
⁶ This was the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead.
⁷ While in the West Woods, Confederate artillery situated on Hauser’s Ridge 600 yards from the regiment’s front threw grape and case shot at the division.
⁸ The 59th New York volleyed into the rear of the 15th Massachusetts. Carman wrote about this incident: “By this fire many of the Massachusetts men were killed and wounded, and the most strenuous exertions were of no avail either in stopping this murderous fire, or in causing the second line to advance to the front.” The 15th Massachusetts entered the West Woods 606 in the ranks; their losses there tallied 65 killed and 255 wounded, or, 52.8%.  Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), p. 615.

⁹ Major General John Sedgwick (1813-1864), West Point (1837), commanded the Second Division of the II Corps (Sumner). Shot in the wrist, leg, and shoulder in the West Woods on September 17, he survived, but lost his life at Spotsylvania Court House on May 9, 1864. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.

¹⁰ Dana was seriously wounded in the leg. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.

¹¹ Howard took command of the division vice the wounded John Sedgwick. Cullum’s Register.

¹² Edwin Vose Sumner (1797-1863) commanded II Corps, Army of the Potomac.
¹⁴ The Noon to 12:15 Cope/Carman map shows Howard’s and Dana’s brigades 40 yards due east of the Joseph Poffenberger farmstead. Rickett’s two batteries, Thompson and Matthews were to their right and left respectively. Gorman’s brigade is deployed on the Poffenberger farmstead with Dunbar Ransom’s artillery to their left rear. Map of the Battlefield of Antietam Prepared Under the Direction of the Antietam Battlefield Board, … Surveyed by Lieut. Col. E.B. Cope…Position of Troops by E.A. Carman, (Washington, D.C., 1904).
¹⁵ Of the 402 men of the 7th Michigan in the West Woods, 39 were killed, 178 wounded, and 3 went missing. Twenty of the twenty-three regimental officers were either killed or wounded. For an excellent account of the 7th Michigan in the West Woods, see Tom Nank’s blog entry titled “The Seventh Michigan Infantry at Antietam” posted at Antietam Journal. See also a list of 7th Michigan casualties at Brian Downey’s encyclopedic website Antietam on the Web.
¹⁶ The 42nd New York lost 181 officers and men or 52% casualties. The 59th New York suffered nearly 53% casualties in the West Woods. Carman, pp. 204-206; 615.
¹⁷ The Army of Northern Virginia left the field for Virginia during the night of September 18.
¹⁸ This is a reference to the Battle of Shepherdstown fought on September 20, 1862.
¹⁹ This was either Private Ansel Bean or Private Albert C. Bean. Both served in Company I, 20th Massachusetts. NARA, RG 94, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the Civil War, compiled 1899 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1866, Roll 0003; George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1906), p. 500.
²⁰ This is probably a water cure spa at Lenox, Massachusetts mentioned in Ropes’ correspondence to his brother on September 3, 1862 (see post here).

²¹ Dr. Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere, was the older brother of Major Paul Revere. A graduate of Harvard Medical School (1849), maintained a practice in Greenfield, Massachusetts at the outbreak of the war. He was "performing field surgery when he suddenly found himself in front. He remained and calmly finished the operation before he was shot and killed." Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts (Lebanon, N.H., University Press of New England, 2005), pp. 25-26, 177.

²² Col. Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831-1889), Harvard College, 1851, Harvard Law School, 1853, was hit with grapeshot in his shoulder in the West Woods.

²³ Capt. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935). For more on Holmes in the West Woods, see blog posts here of July 21, August 13, August 29, and October 29, and November 11, 2010.

²⁴ Capt. Norwood Penrose Hallowell (1839-1914), Harvard College, 1861 was severely wounded in the arm.

²⁵ Lt. William F. Milton, Harvard (1858). Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts (Lebanon, N.H., University Press of New England, 2005), p. 54.

²⁶ Lt. Col. Paul Joseph Revere, grandson of Paul Revere and Harvard graduate (1862). He will be killed at Gettysburg.

²⁷ Sedgwick went into the West Woods with 5,437 infantry. Of these 369 were killed and 1,572 wounded--producing an aggregate of 1,941 or 35% casualties. Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), p. 351.

To the West Woods: The Correspondence of Henry Ropes, 20th Massachusetts, Entry 6

This is the sixth 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. 

Field near Sharpsburg, Va.⁠ [1]

Friday, September 19th 1862.

My dear Father.

We have had a tremendous battle and again I have been mercifully preserved from all harm. It began at 6 a.m. On Wednesday, day before yesterday, and we have been on picket ever since the fight⁠.[2] Last night the enemy left and have probably crossed the river. We are drawn back, our forces in pursuit. Col: Palfrey⁠ [3] is wounded in shoulder, and I believe missing; Capt. Holmes⁠ [4] in neck; Capt. Hallowell⁠ [5] in arm; Lt. Milton⁠ [6] slightly in three places; Lt. Col: Revere⁠ [7] in arm; Col: Lee⁠ [8] safe and well; Genl. Richardson⁠ [9] mortally; Genl. Sedgwick⁠ [10] badly; Genl. Dana⁠ [11] in leg; Col: Hinks⁠ [12] killed. Our Division suffered awfully. I was bruised slightly twice, once by a spent ball in the shoulder, and once by a cannon shot which passed between my legs, just grazing my Knee. Herbert⁠ [13] and all the rest safe. Abbott⁠ [14] and Macy⁠ [15] not there.

Most affectionate son

Henry

P.S. Have just heard that Dr. Revere⁠ [16] is killed, may not be true.

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 Maryland. This is probably an error in transcription.
2 Cope Carman Map location of the 20th Massachusetts.
3 Col. Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831-1889), Harvard College, 1851, Harvard Law School, 1853. He would be hit with grapeshot in his shoulder in the West Woods on September 17.
4 Capt. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935). For more on Holmes in the West Woods, see posts on this blog entered on July 21, August 13, August 29, and October 29, November 11, 2010.
5 Capt. Norwood Penrose Hallowell (1839-1914), Harvard College, 1861 was severely wounded in the arm in the West Woods
6 Lt. William F. Milton, Harvard (1858). Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts (Lebanon, N.H., University Press of New England, 2005), p. 54.
7 Lt. Col. Paul Joseph Revere, grandson of Paul Revere and Harvard graduate (1862). He will be killed at Gettysburg.
8 Colonel William Raymond Lee (1807-1891), attended West Point but dropped out in 1829. John C. Ropes, “William Raymond Lee,” Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 28 (May, 1892-May, 1893), pp. 346-348.
9 Maj. Gen. Israel Richardson (1815-1862), West Point (1841), commanded the First Division, II Corps. He would die of his wound at Pry House on November 3. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.
10 Major General John Sedgwick (1813-1864), West Point (1837), commanded the Second Division of the II Corps (Sumner). Shot in the wrist, leg, and shoulder in the West Woods on September 17, he survived, but lost his life at Spotsylvania Court House on May 9, 1864. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.
11 Brig. Gen. Napoleon J.T. Dana (1822-1905), West Point (1842), commanded the Third Brigade of John Sedgwick’s Second Division, II Corps. He was seriously wounded in the leg. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.
12 Colonel Edward Winslow Hinks (Hincks) (1830-1894) commanded the 19th Massachusetts, Third Brigade (Dana’s), Second Division (Sedgwick), II Corps. He was seriously wounded, but not killed, in the West Woods.
13 Lt. Herbert Cowpland Mason (1840-1884), Harvard College, 1862, was severely wounded in the West Woods.
14 Lt. Henry Livermore Abbott (1842-1864), Harvard (1860).
15 Lt. George Nelson Macy (1837-1875) from one of Nantucket’s oldest families would rise to General by war’s end.
16 Dr. Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere, was the older brother of Major Paul Revere. A graduate of Harvard Medical School (1849), maintained a practice in Greenfield, Massachusetts at the outbreak of the war. He was "performing field surgery when he suddenly found himself in front. He remained and calmly finished the operation before he was shot and killed." Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts (Lebanon, N.H., University Press of New England, 2005), pp. 25-26, 177.

7th South Carolina

On Sunday, early in the morning, a cold front rolled through northern Maryland. With it came rain which gave way to blue, sparkling skies, and cool breezes. The field was Spring in all its glory.

At this time of year, before summer vacations, the park is mostly quiet early in the morning. I decided to ramble across the old Poffenberger farm cornfield, due south from my post at the Philadelphia Brigade Monument. This walk, which is more of a cross-country bushwhack, takes you through a growing forest of trees interrupted every so often by a field of brambles and bushes. In the Fall this overgrown and protected land is home to a flock of wild turkeys and a small herd of deer. About midway from the Philadelphia Monument, you'll come across the recently-opened West Woods Trail, and, if you follow it to the left and rising ground, you will come out at the 125th Pennsylvania and 34th New York Monuments about 100 yards west of the Dunkard Church.

I wanted to capture some views of the part of the woods where the 125th Pennsylvania (XII Corps), 34th New York, and 7th Michigan (II Corps) met Barksdale's Brigade, the 49th Virginia of Early's Brigade, and the 2d South Carolina of Kershaw's Brigade a little after 9 a.m. on September 17.

Click on photo to enlarge.

The view above is that spot. Now it is a cornfield but at the time it was, like the rest of the West Woods, filled with 100 year old oaks and other hardwoods, widely spaced, with little underbrush. The photo, composite of three images stitched together, shows a wide angle view of the south- south west. This is the view the front ranks of the 125th Pennsylvania and the 34th New York would have seen as the 2nd South Carolina approached on the left and the 49th on the right. The 125th Pennsylvania monument is visible on the right.

Below is the Cope/Carmen map of this part of the field showing the locations of units between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. The photograph above was taken from a point marked on the map below with blue arrows. The topographical lines show that the field falls away in elevation to the west. The woods are bounded by split rail fences which are represented on this map by squiggled lines. The post fences are represented by dots and dashed lines.

Click on map to enlarge.

The view below is the opposite of the images above. The 125th Pennsylvania and 34th New York Monuments are in the center of the frame. The Dunkard Church lies just beyond the tree line slightly to the right of the center of the photo.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Ezra Carmen, chronicles the events in that part of the field:

"The 2d South Carolina was the leading regiment of Kershaw's Brigade. It was commanded by Colonel John D. Kennedy and numbered 253 officers and men. Kershaw made a brief speech of encouragement and ordered it forward to clear the woods and retake a battery beyond the church, which it was reported had been abandoned. It moved double-quick by the right flank, passed to the right of G.T. Anderson's recumbent men, moved up along the south edge of the woods, and began to climb the fence to enter the woods at a point about two hundred yards southwest of the church, when it was fired upon by the retiring skirmishers of the 125th Pennsylvania. Colonel Kennedy was wounded, and Major Franklin Gaillard succeeded the command, but beyond this the regiment suffered very lightly. Being on lower ground, the fire of the Pennsylvanians went over it. ...After firing at Early and the 2d South Carolina, the Pennsylvania skirmishers rallied upon their regiment, and it opened fire. Monroe's battery threw shrapnel, and Early's men were checked and thrown into some confusion. Some men in front were killed and wounded by their comrades in rear. Colonel Smith of the 49th Virginia was severely wounded but continued on the field, and Lieutenant Colonel John C. Gibson of the same regiment was disabled by a wound in the leg. Early's men were old soldiers and well disciplined; they quickly recovered from the confusion into which they had been thrown and returned the fire of the 125th Pennsylvania with great effect. Early led the 49th Virginia in two charges up the hill and then fell back--the better, it is said, to confuse the aim of Monroe's gunners. These movements had the effect of breaking the alignment of the brigade and again throwing it into confusion." [1]

As Sedgwick's Division moved into the West Woods, the 34th New York, the left regiment of Willis Gorman's brigade and the far left of the division, "came up in rear of the left wing of the 125th Pennsylvania, its left going about thirty yards beyond the church. Perceiving that there was no support on his left, Colonel James A. Suiter, commanding the regiment, sent an officer to see what there was in that direction, and he learned that the 2d South Carolina was moving up the hill toward the church. The left of the 34th New York was now refused [see map above] and faced southwest; the right wing, in rear of the left of the 125th Pennsylvania, faced nearly west." The 7th Michigan, part of N.J.T. Dana's Brigade pulled up almost at the same time as the 34th but positioned itself on the right of the 125th. "Almost immediately two volleys in quick succession were poured into the right of the 125th Pennsylvania and left of the 7th Michigan, which broke the former and laid low one-half of the left wing of the latter. At the same time, the entire front of the 125th Pennsylvania and the 34th New York became involved. All these attacks were made by Barksdale's Brigade, a part of Early's, and the 2d South Carolina of Kershaw's. G.T. Anderson's Brigade was advancing to join the fray."[2] The left of Sedgwick's Division now began to crumble.

On my way back north to the Philadelphia Brigade Monument, I heard a booming voice that grew louder as I came nearer to the monument. Was it the ghost of Edwin Vose Sumner? The quiet of an early Sunday morning was certainly broken.

It was National Park Service Historian Emeritus, Ed Bearrs leading a group of headquarters staff around the park.

What a great way to start the day...little did they know that the long march had just begun.


Footnotes.
[1] The Maryland Campaign of September 1862: Ezra A. Carman's Definitive Study of the Union and Confederate Armies at Antietam, edited by Joseph Pierro (New York, Routledge, 2008), p. 259.
[2] Ibid., p. 263.