"I had not had a chance even to sleep for the two or three nights and days previous:" Lafayette McLaws' Advance to the West Woods

Following is a letter from Lafayette McLaws to Henry Heth from the Antietam Studies papers at the National Archives. This collection of documents contains veteran's replies to queries from the Antietam Battlefield Board as to their recollections about the events of September 17, 1862. Ezra Carman eventually used these letters to cobble together his sweeping monograph of the Maryland campaign of 1862. [1]

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

Savannah, Ga., December 13, 1894

General Heth:^⁠[2]

A communication from War Department, Antietam Battlefield Commission, Washington, D.C., December 3d instant, and signed by yourself received.

I have written and published a full account of the movements of my Division, in the Philadelphia Weekly Press, to which paper, I am indebted for many courtesies, and I also delivered a lecture in Boston, the subject being the Maryland Campaign—this last was published the morning after it was delivered in the Boston Herald. I cannot at present find a copy of either paper, but as a change of residence has confused everything about the house, I hope to find a copy of both papers and will take the liberty of sending the one to you which gives the most complete history (in my opinion). I would be glad if you would read it, for it contains much matter that is not in “History”? and it is only the nar[r]ative of events given in detail that the true history of events can be learned. The officia[l] reports, at least, those of the U.S. graduates in the army are so condensed that only the results can be learned, and not how it was that those results were obtained.

I crossed the river before daylight, coming from Harper’s Ferry and it was so dark, I had to use torches in crossing and for some distance on this side, (Maryland side). I rode past the place where Gen. Lee was[,] of course was ignorant of his whereabouts, and on past Sharpsburg, this before sunrise, and there was not at that time any firing, nor was there any indication of the close proximity of the two contending armies, as I met no one. I rode back to halt my command, so that I could “look around” to find someone who could tell me where to go and in returning met General Longstreet and staff, coming from the rear. In reply to my question, where is General Lee? he turned in his saddle and pointed to a Bosque or mass of trees about 1/4 of a mile to his rear—said “you will find him among those trees”—when I came by he had just gotten out of his ambulance[.”] I galloped on and found General Lee with his coat off and washing his face (in the bunch of trees pointed out)—which was but a few yards from the road and dismounting reported to him the arrival of my command. He said “well general I am glad to see you, and have to thank you for what you have done, but we have I believe a hard days work before us, and you must rest your men. Do not let them come quite this far as the shells of the enemy fall about here, and halt them about 1/4 of a mile back on the road and I will send for you when I want you.”

I told him that not a half hour previous an order had come to me from General Jackson to go to the right.

General Lee replied “never mind that order but do as I told you and consider yourself as specially under my orders.”

I rode back and halted my command, in plain view of General Lee’s Headquarters and set word along my lines for the men to rest themselves, and not to stray as they would be needed before long.

I, myself, got off my horse turned him loose and was asleep in the tall grass in about a minute. I had not had a chance even to sleep for the two or three nights and days previous. The next thing I remember was being wakened by an officer who was a stranger to me.[3] I jumped up and asked what he wanted—He said “General we have been looking for you, the tall grass in which you were sleeping prevented our finding you. Your division has been called for by General Lee to move in hast[e], and as you could not be found it has been put in motion by your adjutant-general,[4] we will ride together and overtake it.” I mounted at once and we galloped to the head of my division. Anderson’s Division had been ordered to report to Longstreet. Of course I was ignorant of the location of either the enemy’s or of our army, but General D.H. Hill’s staff officer[5] pointed out the direction I was to go and I met General Hood riding by himself in the rear and he gave me additional information. I rode on ahead and quickly realized the state of affairs and halted head of column rapidly formed line to the front, but believing that the Confederate troops—where they were I did not know—were being driven rapidly from the woods in my front,[6] at about 150 yards distant. I told General Kershaw whose brigade was on the right, that we must get to the woods in front of us before the enemy got full possession and to do this I could not wait for his brigade to come up in line and he must double quick there and come up as we would forward. I gave the signal, by waving my handkerchief for the movement to commence in[. I]n a few minutes we were engaged. There was no engagement going on to my right, except now and then some desultory firing. There was some Georgia troops lying quiet in the cornfield to the right which had to give away to permit the advance of Kershaw. I believe they belonged (I do not know to what division) but I think to Hill.

But this I know, where I engaged them there were no Confederates between me and the enemy. Many had given away and gone I know not where, just as I was moving forward, General Jackson come up and directed me to send a Brigade to support Early and I directed General Semmes on my left to go with his brigade, he, General S[emmes] came to me after awhile (himself and courier only) and I asked him where was his brigade? He replied ["]you ordered me to support Earl[y.] I went to the left a short distance and marched in line to the top of the hill.[7] The enemy were there and I advanced against them[.] They stood until I opened fire, when they gave way and I pursued, until I found myself and command in close proximity to a force in my front much greater than mine, with other forces of the enemy to my left and right and as no troops were supporting me I had no other way of getting out of the “cul de sac.” I was in haste to give the order to the brigade to run back regardless of formation and form again in rear of these woods and they are now gathering about the haystack “just in rear.”["][8]

I asked where G[e]neral Earley’s [sic] command was, he said “I never saw it.”

I saw no Confederate dead or wounded over the ground I went over, except those of my own division—there was a plenty of those however—and of the opposing army a great many.

Walker could not certainly been before me, and I am sure he did not come after me over the same ground. Our forces were not in touch with each other during the charge, nor before, nor afterward. D.H. Hill’s command was on my right and Jackson’s on my left and of course his left was a considerable distance from me.

After the enemy had been repulsed, and my men had returned and were along crest of the hill toward the enemy, at edge of woods the enemy opened on us with a large number of guns and being at short range—all species of projectile was used against us. We had no combination of artillery to annoy this against this many of artillery, and had to lie down and take it, shelter ourselves behind the trees on the slope and the rocks and boulders which were plentiful on side of the hill.

During this General Jackson sent for me and asked me to go an reconnoiter on the left for him, as it was reputed that the enemy were demonstrating in that direction. Jeb Stuart and myself went to the left and getting on a small hill were using our glasses when a battery of eight guns about 1/4 of a mile distant fired all their pieces at us, at the same time, but they over-shot us and did not wait for a re[p]etition, as General S[emmes] and myself rode along we saw lines of troops on left of Jackson. We made no inquiries, but I expect Walker was there on the left, as he reports having been ordered there, and I heard heaving firing in that direction after my charge was over, about an hour and a half after, [w]hich coincides with Walker’s report as to time? He may have gone in about the church but of that I know nothing. Hood had been driven back and was much scattered, so I was told. I do not know where they reformed. I met Hood as I have stated and never saw him again on that field. His men may have been in the cornfield. I had no opportunity to reconnoiter on that day, for not long after my charge the enemy opened such a terrific cannonade upon me and at short range, throwing shot and shell, grape and cannister over us and among us with the evident intention to break our center, that we had to lie down along the slope of hill, where we were, and seek the shelter of the numerous trees and rocks which were there. General Lee sent to my aid whilst this was going on the brigades of Arm[i]stead and Ransom (A. was wounded whilst lying down). We had no mass of artillery to content against, the numerous and concentrated batteries of the enemy, but a short distance from us, this continued for some hours. Charlton’s battery from Georgia was put into position by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, being a special order from General Jackson, and against my protest, to reply to artillery of the enemy, but in ten minutes he lost half of his command and half of his horses and I ordered him to leave his guns and withdraw his horses and the infantry would help take care of them. I lost one gun of Read’s battery[9] on my right, which was disabled, the spokes of the wheels having been cut by infantry bullets, so General Kershaw reported.

I return the map with my route map[p]ed out from just beyond General lee’s headquarters. The map, the maps, does not conform to my recollections as to headquarters of General Lee. I do not thin[k] he was so close to Sharpsburg on the morning I write about. The Bosque he was in then was not 100 yards from the road. I never saw him afterward except on the bank of the river on the night we were re-crossing into Virginia, but I believe the route taken by my Division was correctly marked.[10]

I send the number of the Philadelphia Press of which I have spoken. It has a bearing on the battle of Sharpsburg as it goes to elucidate the condition of affairs when the battle commenced and as it progressed, and shows the exhausted condition in which both Anderson’s and the men of my division were in, when they arrived at Sharpsburg. My men had, had nothing to eat for 36 hours, nor did they get anything until the night after our arrival, as my command was in such close proximity to the enemy, that I had their rations cooked on the other side of the river and brought over. I have the certificate of my chief commissary showing this, and also showing how he failed to get any subsistence stores, from the large amount captured at Harper’s Ferry.

Very respectfully, Lafayette McLaws.

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Source

Antietam Studies, RG 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (Washington, D.C.). Typescript. In the upper left corner of page one, in long hand, is “Copy.”

Notes

1. Carman's manuscript has been recently published in two volumes. See, Ezra Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam, ed. Thomas G. Clemens (El Dorado Hills, California: Savas Beatie, 2012).

2. General Henry Heth was on the Antietam Battlefield Board.

3. McLaws, in his Official Report, states “my division was ordered to the front by an aide-de-camp of General Lee, Major Taylor.” This was Walter H. Taylor. Douglas Southall Freeman, R.E. Lee: A Biography (New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1934), Vol 1, p. 638); Antietam on the Web for Lafayette McLaw's Official Report, http://antietam.aotw.org/exhibit.php?exhibit_id=36.

4. This was Major T.S. Mcintosh who was later killed in the battle, “shot through the heart while carrying out one of my orders.” Antietam on the Web for Lafayette McLaws' Official Report, http://antietam.aotw.org/exhibit.php?exhibit_id=36.

5. McLaws reports that Maj. Ratchford of D.H. Hill’s staff pointed out the position that his division was to occupy. This was Major James Wylie Ratchford (1840-1910). Confederate Veterans Magazine (Vol. 19, p. 133); Antietam on the Web for Lafayette McLaws' Official Report, http://antietam.aotw.org/exhibit.php?exhibit_id=36.

6. Carman writes that McLaws "met the broken commands of Ewell and Hood retiring from the woods, with their tales of terrible fighting and great slaughter."

7. This was Hauser's Ridge. See further, 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, 9:00-9:30 Map showing Semmes' advance. Also see, Semmes' Official Report at http://antietam.aotw.org/exhibit.php?exhibit_id=132. The movement of Semmes' Brigade will be the subject of future posts.

8. I have supplied the beginning and closing quotes with the supposition that McLaws is quoting Semmes in this passage. The opening quote, certainly, is required. The position of the closing quote, however, cannot be determined in the typescript and so should be viewed with some caution until the original manuscript can be consulted (if ever).

9. “Captain Read's battery had been placed in position on the right of the woods, which we had entered, and did most excellent service, but it was exposed to such a severe fire, General Kershaw ordered it back after losing 14: officers and men and 16 horses.” This was Captain J.P.W. Read’s Battery of the Pulaski (Georgia) Artillery. Antietam on the Web for Lafayette McLaws' Official Report, www.aotw.org/exhibit.php?exhibit_id=36 and Order of Battle, http://antietam.aotw.org/officers.php?unit_id=2&from=results.

10. The microfilm of the Antietam Studies collection at the National Archives contains map segments marked up by correspondents. The quality of the black and white image, however, makes it nearly impossible to discern anything especially since respondents often used colored pencils to mark their routes and positions. In a future visit to the Archives I will try to photograph (or arrange for a copy) from the original map in their collection. 

Brian Downey's Dead of the Maryland Campaign

Confederate
Monument, Washington
Confederate Cemetery,
Hagerstown, Maryland
(J. Thomas Scharf)

"At Rest" National Cemetery,
Sharpsburg, Maryland
(Library of Congress)

Brian Downey. who maintains the ultimate Antietam website ("Antietam on the Web" and its companion blog "behind AotW"), has just posted (August 25) an important study on "individual soldiers who died on the Maryland Campaign of 1862."

He observes "as far as I know there is no single, comprehensive list anywhere."

Brian's initial list contains over 2,700 names--less than 1/3 of those who died.

Bookmark his site, since he promises to post new editions of "The Dead List" periodically.

Brian's current list can be found here.

New Maryland Campaign Blog Opens

A new blog on the Maryland Campaign has opened. Civil War Ink promises to explore various aspects of the campaign--from personalities on the field to the actions on South Mountain.

Currently the author is profiling twelve former members of the 36th and 37th Congresses that  participated in the Campaign. William Barksdale, who represented Mississippi in the 36th Congress, is the most recent posting.

Examining U.S. Congressmen at Antietam provides an interesting perspective on the complex events surrounding the Maryland Campaign.

You can visit the blog at: http://civilwarink.blogspot.com

Witness Tree Falls

Sometime during the past couple of weeks, one of the West Woods witness trees fell to the severe storms that have blown through the hills of Maryland. This one, an American Elm, is 178 years old. Behind it are three more witness trees, one dead, the other two apparently healthy. There are more in the West Woods, especially in the original stand west of Route 65. Still, losing one is one too many.

I have not posted here for some time--work and travel get in the way. I am, however, going to pick up the contributions in the coming weeks and months.

First up will be a multi-part post on James Dinkins and the 18th Mississippi (Barksdale's Brigade) in the West Woods. Then a series on the work of Dwight Stinson who worked at the field in the 60s and left an interesting study titled "Operations of Sedgwick's Division" in the field's library / archives.

As we draw in on the 150th, everyone working in the Park is noticing the increase in the number of visitors. We see it in the West Woods. This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of chatting with visitors nearly the entire day. Aside from increased numbers, many visitors have a very good working knowledge about the Maryland Campaign--more so than most of those who have come before them.

What will September bring?

"A good and faithful soldier:" Joseph Henry and the West Woods Missing

The May 21, 2009 post titled "West Woods Missing: Some Preliminary Research" listed members of the 72nd Pennsylvania that went missing in the West Woods on September 17. They were:

William H. Butler, sergeant, Company B.
Charles C. Cooper, private, Company E
John Cornwall, private, Company D
Joseph Henry, private, Company F
John J. McCanna, private, Company D
Theodore Pike, private, Company A

Charles C. Cooper and William H. Butler were subjects of subsequent posts. This post provides information on Private Joseph Henry, Company F.

Third Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia

At the time of his enlistment, Joseph, 32, lived with his wife Elizabeth McGregor, 31, at 1722 Burton Street, Philadelphia. Both were Irish. He was a stable man and she a laundress. Thomas Brainerd, DD, pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church married them on September 17, 1851. Ten years later, the family included four children: Sarah Jane, 9, Mary Ann, 7, Elizabeth, 3, and Joseph, 6 months.[1]

On August 10, 1861, Joseph enrolled for three years service and mustered into Company F led by Captain Isaac McBride. The morning of September 17, 1862 found Joseph and his company crossing the Hagerstown Pike near the Dunkard Church and entering the eastern fringe of the West Woods. 

Captain McBride later stated that "although I did not see him fall, it was proven to my satisfaction that he did fall in that battle with one half half of his head carried away[.] [O]ne of his comrades Private John Cunningham same Company same Regiment took the things from his pockets along with a testament with Henry's name on the fly leaf. That the said soldier was in good health at the time he entered the service and was killed as above described having been a good and faithful soldier, to the date of his death."

Three days after the battle "his body was taken from the field and buried by his Comrades."[2]

Elizabeth Henry's "mark."

On November 24, 1862, Elizabeth applied for and received a widow's pension of $8 per month commencing on September 17, 1862. This was later increased to an additional $2 per month per child (under the age of 16) on July 25, 1866. Elizabeth never remarried and lived until November 21, 1908.

Private Joseph Henry is not listed in the National Cemetery roll. If recovered, he is likely one of the over 1,700 unknowns there. 

Sources

Unless otherwise stated, all sources come from Widow's Certificate File Number WC 3807. Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of Civil War Veterans, Ca. 1861-ca. 1910. NARA, RG 15. 

[1] The 1860 U.S. Census for Philadelphia, shows Joseph, 31, and Elizabeth, 30, living in Philadelphia's Seventh Ward. Their children included Rufus, 10, Sarah, 7, Martha 4, and Joseph 1 month. There is no explanation for the discrepancy between children listed in the Census and children recorded in the Widow's Certificate File documents.

[2] Nevertheless, the company muster roll for the months of September and October reported him "missing since the Battle of Antietam."

Searching for Lavinia Grove: Some Preliminary Notes

On Thursday, September 18, 1862 Captain Philologus Loud of the 10th Georgia took advantage of an informal truce and "buried 15 of our regiment in graves side by side." Years later he would recall in a letter to Ezra A. Carman how he "cut their names Regt and co[mpany] on their head boards up to a tree near the fence... I wrote their names Regiment and Co in pencil, the best I could do for them. The diagram below will explain the matter more fully viz;

"From the above diagram and description," he told Carman, "I think you will be writing to some of the old residents there or their children and neighbors, some would certainly be able to give you the exact locality of these graves. About 100 yards from these graves the land rises with a slight slope⁠."[1]

It is not recorded if Ezra Carman followed Loud's suggestion to find the "exact locality of these graves." Carman, as we know, was more interested in determining the location of units on the field than anything else and Loud appears to have sensed this for he hoped that the information provided Carman would "enable you to locate the ground over which our Brigade fought."

View from the foot of Hauser's Ridge looking
northeast to the Poffenberger farmstead and the
West Woods beyond. This is the approximate
route of the 10th Georgia as it moved along with
the rest of Semmes's brigade to engage Willis Gorman's
brigade of the 1st Minnesota, 82nd New York, and
15th Massachusetts.

The location of the graves, Loud reasoned, might give Carman important information as it marked the route of the regiment across the fields adjoining the West Woods. The route as he describes it takes the regiment past a farm house and hay stacks and then across a rail fence. He recalled, the regiment suffered its heaviest loss in the fields that lay between the "Rail fence" adjoining the farmstead to a "first Stone wall." Identifying the farm house, the adjoining "Rail fence," and the first of two stone walls would give Carman the route of where the unit advanced that day.

Loud's recollections 36 years after the battle probably helped Carman clear up any details left by the regimental official reports. Correspondence from additional brigade members sent him undoubtedly contributed to his better understanding of the route and extent of movement of Semmes's Brigade the morning of the 17th.[2]

In any event, the chance of Carman finding the benchmarking graves in 1898 were long gone. As soon as the armies left the field, farmers went back to work. As they tilled their fields, most tried to avoid the mounds of dirt that marked resting places of boys from Georgia to Massachusetts. But not all farmers were careful or cared. John Townsend Trowbridge visiting the field in August 1865, noted

"In a field beside the grove we saw a man ploughing, with three horses abreast, and a young lad for escort. We noticed loose head-boards, overturned by the plough, on the edge of the grove, and lying half imbedded in the furrows. This man was ploughing over graves! Adjoining the field was the historic cornfield. I walked up to the edge of it, and waited there for the man to turn his long slow furrow down that way. I sat upon the fence, near which was a trench filled with unnumbered Rebel dead. 'A power of 'em in this yer field!' said the ploughman, coming up and looking over as I questioned him. 'A heap of Union soldiers too, layin' all about yer. I always skip a Union grave when I know it, but sometimes I don't see 'em, and I plough 'em up. Eight or ten thousand lays on this farm, Rebels and Union together."[3]

By June 1867 all known and unknown Union dead that could be found were re interred at the National Cemetery; Confederates, however, would have to wait a little longer. In December 1868, Governor Oden Bowie requested Thomas A. Boullt of Hagerstown to "employ agents to go over the battle field and mound up the [Confederate] trenches and graves, and to make careful notes of their location, and as far as possible identify the dead." Boullt hired the services of Sharpsburg residents Moses Poffinberger[4] and Aaron Good[5], "gentlemen well acquitted with the battle-fields." In the coming months they ranged about the fields and swales of the battlefield and beyond taking field notes of graves and identities. The result of their efforts produced, in 1869, "A Descriptive List of the Burial Places of the Remains of Confederate Soldiers, Who Fell in the Battles of Antietam, South Mountain, Monocacy, and other Points in Washington and Frederick Counties, in the State of Maryland." Also known as the Bowie List, it "records the location of the Confederate soldiers buried where they fell on the battlefields or near hospitals and homes where they died." [6] They listed 758 identifiable remains, and 2,481 unknown. The list has since become known as the Bowie List. Which brings us back to Philogous Loud's comrades.

Can the Bowie list help identify the location of Philologus Loud's comrades and, more importantly, give us hints as to their identities? A search of the Bowie list shows two groups of 10th Georgia members.

The first group lists 11 "buried in G[eorge] Burgan's field along the fence between Burgan and Mrs. Lucker and in a direct line with the fence back of Burgan's orchard." The second group shows seven "buried in a stone pile, 6 feet from locust tree near George Burgan's well." The first group is interesting because it contains the highest aggregate of 10th Georgia troops. The second group is also intriguing since it mentions a "locust tree" which might be the tree Loud included in his sketch of the graves.

Washington County, District 1 (Sharpsburg), 1877.
The Burgan (Bergan) and Locher (Lucker) farmsteads
are outlined in red. 

George Burgan's Field

In 1870 George Burgan (also Bergan), lived with his wife Catherine, their three sons and two daughters on a farmstead that has become known today as the Hauser Farm for the family that lived there during the battle. The property, straddling Hauser Ridge, overlooked a broad valley that rose to the West Woods and Antietam Ridge beyond. Burgan's fields adjoined that of the Lucker (as in Mary Locher cabin) farmstead which was, during the battle, tenanted by Alfred Poffenberger. It was across Hauser's Ridge and through the fields adjoining the two farmsteads that Paul Semmes Brigade of four regiments advanced under heavy fire from the lead elements of John Sedgwick's Division--specifically the 15th Massachusetts, 82nd New York, and the First Minnesota. It was here in Hauser's and later Burgan's field that the 10th Georgia lost many.[7]

Who?

Who did Philologus Loud and his 10th Georgia bury in Burgan's field in the afternoon and late evening of September 18, 1862? What, if anything, can we learn about their lives? Where did they come from? What did they do before they joined their regiments? Who did they leave behind?

Group 1 recorded by Good and Poffinberger presents some evidence that appears to tie the group to Loud's account. First, the number stands out--eleven. Not all 15 by Loud's account (and an additional three unknowns) but it is the largest aggregate of 10th Georgians listed in the Bowie list. Second, they are "buried along the line fence" which is represented in Loud's drawing. Third, the presence of boards compliments Loud's account that he "cut their names Regt and co[mpany] on their head boards."

Detail from the Bowie List.

Who are these individuals?

Brooks Matheiny lived in Hamburg, Edgefield County, South Carolina directly across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia. He resided, in 1860, with his father, J. Matheiny (62), who listed himself as a laborer. His mother was 42 but the Census only recorded an initial, M, for her first name. He had three brothers and one sister. A possible cousin, J. Hester, 14, also lived in the household. On May 18, 1862, he enlisted in Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia as a private in Company B, 10th Georgia. [8]

J. Riley was a member of Co. A; Brocks Mathering, is a member of Co. B.; and Private E.N. Gunn and John [T.] Hanks, were from Co. C. [9]

James M. Lowe enlisted as a private in Company B [“Letcher Guards”] on May 18, 1861 in Augusta, Georgia. His enlistment papers show he had blue yes, light hair, and fair complexion, standing at 5’ 11”. His age is listed as “not known.” His occupation is Laborer. His wife, Miriam Low filed an affidavit before a Justice of the Peace in Richmond County Georgia on July 3, 1863 “for all monies, goods, or chattels due me as heir to my husband James M. Low deceased by virtue of his military or other services to the confederate states…” She listed at the time her address "care of John Reynolds, Augusta, Georgia.” [10]

Private G.W.C Allen, Co. G, 18 years old, from Pulaski County, Georgia. His father William Allen, and mother Nancy Allen produced nine children (8 boys 1 girl). [11]

Private J.Q.H. Mitchell enlisted in Co. E in Jonesboro, Clayton Co. on May 20, 1861. [12]

R.B. Hightower, 18 years old, was a member of Co. E. Prior to the war, he lived with his parents and four siblings in Jonesboro, Clayton County, Georgia. He listed his occupation as a painter; his father worked for the railroad. [13]

James H. Q. Campbell, 17, enlisted on May 20, 1861 from Jonesboro, Clayton County, Georgia as a private in Company E. In November, 1861 he was assigned “assistant clerk, General’s office.” By December, he was serving as an orderly in the division’s headquarters. The January 1862 return shows him as an “orderly for Gen. McLaws.” In 1860 he resided in the household of J.R. Nolan in McDonough, Henry County, Georgia. Nolan was an attorney and he and his wife were the parents of three young children. James Q. Campbell’s siblings also resided in the Nolan household—his brothers P.F., 24, Alonza, 18, and his sister Emma, 11. Both P.F. and Alonza were listed as “student at Law” while James was listed as student. All three claimed $1,800 each as the value of personal estate. The Campbell children appear to have been orphans and it is not clear what relationship they had with the Nolan family. The 1850 Georgia Census shows the Nolans and Campbells residing in the same household. [14]

J.C. Butler is neither listed in NARA records for 10th Georgia and neither does he show up after a more global search in the NPS Soldiers and Sailors system. It is entirely possible that the last name is a mis reading of something similar--e.g., Botler, Buller, etc.

Group 2.

What about the second group? The notation of a "locust tree" is consistent with Loud's drawing of a tree at the end of the burial row. The juxtaposition of the group to the George Burgan property is consistent with Group 1 location. But the here things are a little more confusing. Seven are listed in this grouping. Two can be readily identified.

Captain Thomas H. Wynne of Company F of the 32nd Virginia (not the 32nd Georgia as listed in the Bowie account). He enlisted on May 20, 1861 in Williamsburg. He was elected captain on May 11, 1862. [15]

2nd Lt. Daniel J. Downing, Company F, 24th North Carolina (Ransom’s Brigade, Walker’s Division). The 1860 Census shows a Daniel Dowling (24) living in the household of John S. Richardson, a wealthy farmer and physician in White Oak, Bladen County, N.C. His occupation was listed as overseer. [16]

G. W. Callet is listed in the roster of the 10th Georgia. [17]

As for L.W. Gale, there is no listing for him in any of the Semmes's regiments. The NARA rolls for Georgia carry a William W. Gale, a private with the First Georgia (Mercer-Olmstead) but the outfit remained in the Charleston, S.C. area for most of the war. There are three listings for a Gale in the Soldiers and Sailors system. One of the three, J. S. Gale, was with the 6th Georgia which was at Antietam. A search of NARA records for J.S. Gale of the Sixth Georgia shows that he survived the action of September 17 and was captured at Fredericksburg, May 3, 1863. [18]

The other four in this list present a problem. There is only one Campbell, one Mitchell, one Lowe (or Low) listed in the 10th Georgia rosters. Is John Campbell really James H. Q. Campbell from group 1? Is John Mitchell the same as J.Q.H. Mitchell from group 1? And is James Lowe the same as James M. Lowe from group 1?

So what to make of these two lists? If both are combined, the total number of individuals equals 18, the exact count in Loud's statement to Carman. If what appears to be duplicate entries are taken into account, then the combined list drops to 11. This list includes two individuals for which there are no extant records--L.W. Gale and J.C. Butler. This latter account may be more accurate since the Bowie list has instances of duplicate records. The combined clues in Group 1 and 2 of fence line, Burgan's field, and the locust tree supports Loud's description. Is this the same group of individuals buried on September 18? Unfortunately, at this point, this conclusion cannot be supported and it must be left to further sifting, sorting, and archival sleuthing (at the national as well as the local level) to sort things out.

But this mystery does not end in Burgan's field.

Service record for Brooks Matheiny, 
NARA RG 109, Roll 0251.

The Washington Confederate Cemetery, Hagerstown, Maryland


In September 1872, the remains of Confederate soldiers began to be gathered from locations throughout the field, South Mountain, and other locations in western Maryland. The task of recovering the remains fell to Henry Mumma. [19]

Over the course of the next two years, Mumma brought the remains he found to the Washington Cemetery in Hagerstown, Maryland which had been carved out of the Rose Hill Cemetery in May, 1872.

As the remains were brought into the Washington Cemetery there was very little record keeping. As researcher Greg Stiverson notes: "The trustees of Washington Confederate Cemetery never provided individual grave markers for the reinterred soldiers under their care. Initially, the trustees lacked funds to do so; later, when it became apparent that a large percentage of the bodies could not be identified, perhaps it seemed inappropriate to mark the few whose identities had been preserved."

In May 1888 the superintendent of the cemetery Joseph Coxon drew up a "map of burial" that included some names from the Bowie List. A later study by Sam Pruett "a long time trustee of the Washington Confederate Cemetery and member of the Hagerstown Civil War Roundtable" compiled a master list of those buried at the cemetery.

Ten individuals listed in listed in the Bowie list group 1 and 2 are recorded as buried at the Washington Confederate Cemetery: Brooks Matheiny, Brocks Mathering, J. Riley, James M. Lowe, G.W.C. Allen, J.Q.H. Mitchell, John Mitchell, R.B. Hightower, James H.Q. Campbell, and J.C. Butler.

Map of Washington County, Maryland. 
Thomas Taggart. Hagerstown, Md. 1859, 
showing the farmstead of  "Mrs. Grove" 
northwest of Sharpsburg.

The Lavenia Grove Farm

Next to each of their names on the Pruett list is a notation: "W. &  Capt. Sharpsburg. Died at Lavinia Grove's Farm, Md." This notation comes from "State Notes" which probably derive from their service record housed in the National Archives. Each has an undated record in their titled “List of Confederates wounded at the Battle of Antietam and who died at various hospitals near Antietam, Maryland.” Each record shows that the individual was taken prisoner at the “Battle of Antietam” and gives the place of death as “Lavinia Groves Farm.” In the record for Brooks Matheiny a hand written note records "Near Antietam, as taken prisoner at Bt. Antietam_ Place of death Lavinia Groves Farm.”[20]

Aside from those from groups 1 and 2 that appear on the Pruett list of the Washington Confederate Cemetery, G.W. Callett, Thomas H. Wynne, and Daniel J. Downing also have entries in their Archives records of being captured and then dying at the Lavinia Groves Farm. And there are others listed in Archives records as having been wounded, captured, and dying at the farmstead.

Google Earth view of the Lavinia 
Grove farmstead. The barn's silver 
roof is readily seen here is shown at 

ground level in the following picture.

The Lavenia Grove farm was owned by Samuel Grove (1806-1847) and, after his death, his wife Levenia Grove (1811-1856). [21]

 On November 30, 1856, Lavinia Grove signed her last will and testament. She stipulated that her son Jacob "go upon the farm and till it, to be the guardian for his minor Brothers and sister." She also directed that "Eight hundred dollars to be applied to building a barn on the Farm ____ the estate of my dear Husband deceased." [22]


Today, a house and a barn stand on that property along Snyders Landing Road and close to the Potomac River. Is this the Lavinia Grove Farm identified in the Bowie list? The ‘Field Records of Hospitals’ at the National Archives records that the home of a Mrs. Grove was used as a hospital. [23] 

Unfinished Business

What to make of all of this?

Loud tells us in his September 23 official report that "there were 16 killed on the field." And in his letter to Carman 36 years later he reports burying 18 dead from the 10th Georgia the day after the battle. Poffinberger and Good recorded 18 graves. Of these, 16 are from the 10th 

Is this the Lavinia Grove farmstead? 

During the winter, it can be seen from 

Snyder's Landing Road. The farmstead 

is on private property.

Given the acknowledged inaccuracies that shows up in the Bowie report and the possibility of duplicate entries outlined above, the most that can be said of the Burgan field burials recorded in Bowie, is that it is likely that they are the same as those that Loud buried there on September 18th.

The bigger question is this: If Poffinberger and Good accurately recorded the location of the graves as in or adjacent to George Burgan's / Hauser's fields, and if they correctly identified those buried there, then how did the 10th Georgia troops come to be listed in Confederate records as wounded, captured, and dying at the Lavinia Grove farm over two miles away?

Clearly, something doesn't add up here. I hope that someone out in the blogosphere can help make sense of this. If you can, please leave your comments below or contact me at jmbuchanan7@gmail.com.



Notes ===========


[1] Philologus H. Loud to Ezra A. Carman, Williston, South Carolina, Sept 2, 1898, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. [Hereafter, NARA], Antietam Studies, Record Group 94.

[2] For a definitive essay on the work of Ezra Carman, see Thomas G. Clemens' introduction to The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. 1: South Mountain (New York: Savas Beatie, 2010).

[3] John Townsend Trowbridge, South: A Tour of Its Battle Fields and Ruined Cities (Hartford: L. Stebbins, 1866), pp. iii, 15, 46-47.

[4] Moses Poffinberger [Poffenberger] (1834-1912). In August 1863 Moses, 28, is enumerated in the Washington County draft list. His occupation is a clerk and he is unmarried. The 1880 Census shows Moses living with his father, Daniel, and working the family farm. He appears to have lived his life out on the farm and passed away on March 8, 1912. 1850 U.S. Census; NARA Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865, Schedule I--Consolidated List for Fourth Congressional District including Washington, Frederick, and Carroll Counties, dated August 1863; 1880 U.S. Census; 1900 U.S. Census; 1910 U.S. Census; Washington County Free Library, Obituary Locator, retrieved at http://www.washcolibrary.org/localhistory/wcflgenealogy.asp?action=textsearch

[5] This was probably Aaron Good (1808-1884). In 1870, Aaron Good was listed as a farm laborer and lived with his sister Harriett in Sharpsburg. He passed away on February 1, 1884. 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 U.S. Census; Washington County Free Library, Obituary Locator, retrieved at http://www.washcolibrary.org/localhistory/wcflgenealogy.asp?action=textsearch

[6] Published By Direction of His Excellency, Oden Bowie, Governor of Maryland (Free Press, Hagerstown, MD). Retrieved from the invaluable research website of the Western Maryland Historical Library at this location.

[7] Loud describes the movement in his Official Report of September 23: "The regiment was marched by the right flank to an open field opposite some hay-stacks and piles of rocks, where, finding the enemy fronting us posted in force, the order was given 'by company into line' and 'forward into line,' which movements were made by the regiment under a most galling fire from the enemy's sharpshooters. These movements having been made and the line formed, the regiment, together with the balance of the brigade, advanced as far as the hay-stacks and piles of rocks, where we opened fire upon the enemy, and maintained this position for about half an hour, when the order was given to advance. Up to and at this point the regiment sustained its principal loss in killed and wounded." Loud noted that "The regiment occupied the position of second in line from the right of the brigade, the Thirty-second Virginia Regiment being on the extreme right, and the Fifty-third Georgia Regiment on the extreme left, the Fifteenth Virginia being on our left."

[8] 1860 U.S. Census for Hamburg, South Carolina; Handwritten note: “Near Antietam, as taken prisoner at Bt. Antietam_ Place of death Lavinia Groves Farm.”

[9] NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0250. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957.

[10] James M. Low enlisted in Company B [“Letcher Guards”] on May 18, 1861 in Augusta, Georgia. The “Descriptive List and Account of Pay and Clothing” lists him as a "private, blue yes, light hair, and fair complexion, standing at 5’ 11”. His age is “not known.” His occupation is Laborer. NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0250. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957.

[11] NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0250. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957; 1850 Pulaski County, Georgia Census record and retrieved at http://www.reocities.com/caramurray/1850Pulas.html.

[12] Record Group 109 Roll 0251. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957.

[13] The register of the General Hospital, Camp Winder, Richmond Virginia shows that he had been wounded in the leg on July 8, 1862 and furloughed for 25 days. That same day, he re-enlisted and received a $50 bounty. NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0249. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957; U.S. Census, Georgia, 1860.

[14] A certificate in his services records dated January 25, 1863 showed that Campbell was due $25 commutation of clothing and fifty dollars bounty. The certificate noted, however, that he “is indebted to the Confederate States Five 50/100 dollars, on account of clothing.” NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0247. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957; 1850 and 1860 Census for Georgia.

[15] The 32nd Georgia was organized in Savannah in May 1862 and served for most of the war in South Carolina and Florida and was not present at Antietam. The 32nd Virginia was formed in May, 1861, by consolidating Montague's and Goggin's Infantry Battalions. Its members were from Hampton and Williamsburg and the counties of Warwick, James City, and York. http://www.newrivernotes.com/cw_va/vaco-ty.htm;

The 1860 Census for Burnt Ordinary, James City County, Virginia shows a Thomas G. Wynne (25), teacher and farmer living with his wife Fannie C. Wynne (18). Also in the household is Thaddeus Malicote (39) overseer, and A. Decker (26), carpenter. The undated “List of Confederates wounded at the Battle of Antietam and who died at various hospitals near Antietam, Maryland” shows him taken prisoner at the “Battle of Antietam” and place of death as “Lavinia Groves Farm.” NARA Record Group 109 Roll 0789. Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Virginia units, labeled with each soldier's name, rank, and unit, with links to revealing documents about each soldier.

[16] NPS, Soldiers and Sailors system, M230 roll 11; 1860 Census.

[17] The undated “List of Confederates wounded at the Battle of Antietam and who died at various hospitals near Antietam, Maryland” shows him taken prisoner at the “Battle of Antietam” and place of death as “Lavinia Groves Farm.” NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0247. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957.

[18] NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0206. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957; First Georgia at http://www.researchonline.net/gacw/unit5.htm.

[19] For more on the history of Confederate interments, see the 1993 essay by Greg Stiverson on the Washington Confederate Cemetery published at the Western Maryland Historical Library website.

[20] NARA, Record Group 109 Roll 0250. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. National Archives Catalog Number 586957.

[21] Samuel Grove (1806-1847) and Levenia Grove (1811-1856) are buried in Fairview Cemetery, Keedysville, MD. Washington County, Maryland Cemetery records. Volume V. Recorded by Samuel Webster Piper before 1935-36. Edited by Dale W. Morrow., 1993. (Willow Bend Books, Westminster, MD, 2000).

[22] Washington County, Maryland, Will Book E. Page 314-315, Dated 24 September 1854, Proven 30 November 1856.

[23] NARA, Field Records of Hospitals, RG 94, Entry 544.

Special thanks goes out to David Maher for his assistance with the 1877 map of Washington County.

"It getting dark and plank scarce:" Philologus H. Loud and the 10th Georgia in the West Woods

Philologus H. Loud[1] to Ezra A. Carman, Williston, South Carolina, Sept 2, 1898

Gen. E.A. Carman | War Dept | Washington D.C.

Dear Sir

For about a year I have been trying to obtain reliable information for you in reply to your request of the position of Genl Paul. J. Semmes Brigade in the battle of Sharpsburg Sept 17^th 1862.

Semmes's (and 10th Georgia) advance
northward across the open fields and rail
fences adjoining the Hauser farmstead.
Cope/Carman Map 1908 edition.
(click on image to enlarge)

I have asked all of the members of my Regiment[2] who I met at the Reunion at Atlanta July 24^th but could not get any information that could indicate our position on the Map sent me.

In Mar[ch] Last Maj. General L. McLaws in whose Division we were, was in Augusta and made me a visit, and I tried to get information from him, but he could not give me any to enable me to indicate it.

But on reflection I think I can give you a clue by which residents there can indicate the ground.

My understanding of the position of our (Semmes) Brigade was the extreme left Brigade (and near the river) of the Confederate line.

Our Brigade left Harpers Ferry on Tuesday about noon and made a forced march reaching the Potomac a little after day on the 17th Sept which we crossed and marched about a mile when the Brigade was halted and cooked breakfast. Just after crossing the river I was ordered to recross the river and order up the Artillery which I did and rejoined my regiment, and while eating my breakfast the Brigade was ordered to fall in and go to the support of Genl Thos Jacksons Corps who were suffering heavily.

We were marched at a rapid pace until we were pretty close to the line of battle then double quicked until we came to a fence running slanting from opposite a farm house to the right of the Brigade in consequence crossed the fence (rail) before the left where our Regiment the 10^th Geo[rgia] was crossed.

There were some Hay Stacks or Straw Stacks about the house or houses we passed who belonged there consequently we could not get names of the owners.[3] Opposite this rail fence some 300 yards was a Stone fence some three to four feet high, back of which were the Federal troops posted who were pouring in a galling fire, as we crossed the rail fence, and so we formed in line, as we crossed and advanced upon them and drove them from behind that wall or fence to another some distance back  and as well as I recollect to the right to another wall or fence and again to another stone fence and from that driving them upon their reserves. Our heaviest loss was from the crossing of the Rail fence to when they were driven from the first Stone wall.[4]

The following information will I think enable you to locate the ground where we fought. In the battle, principally after crossing the Rail fence, we lost 18 killed. On the next day was a truce to bury the dead and alongside of a rail fence not far from where we entered the battle field we buried 15 of our regiment in graves side and side. I cut their names Regt and co[mpany] on their head boards up to a tree near the fence the other three in one grave it getting dark and plank scarce. I wrote their names Regiment and Co in pencil, the best I could do for them. The diagram below will explain the matter more fully viz; 

From the above diagram and description, I think you will be writing to some of the old residents there or their children and neighbors, some would certainly be able to give you the exact locality of these graves.[5] About 100 yards from these graves the land rises with a slight slope^⁠.

After our Brigade drove them from the first stone fence my recollection is, they were driven to the right behind a stone fence[,] a cross fence, and two more to the right of that making in all four stone fences and our Brigade halted in the middle of the field from whence they were recalled.

Trusting this information will subserve your purpose, and enable you to locate the ground over which our Brigade fought as desired I remain

Very respectfully Yours

P. H. Loud^⁠

Col. 10^th Geo. Regt^⁠

Notes======

Letter retrieved from Antietam Studies, Record Group 94, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

[1] Philologus H. Loud (ca. 1824-1905) “[a]ssumed command of the [10th Georgia] Regiment when Major Holt was wounded during the defense of Crampton's Gap on September 14th. He reports that he was 'assisting' Captain William Johnston, of Company F, in commanding the regiment during the battle at Sharpsburg. He also reports that both he and Capt Johnston were wounded and he had to leave the field before the fighting ended on the 17th.” Philogus Loud's family were well known Philadelphia piano makers before the war. In an advertisement, they claimed "superiority for their pianos over any of English or foreign make, and they 'confidently challenge any huckster in the city who has the arrogance to call himself an importer, to disprove the assertion.'" Loud's family settled in Georgia around 1835. On February 13, 1850 Philogus married Sarah Elizabeth Williams, a Georgia native, in Montgomery, Georgia. Antietam Studies, Record Group 94, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Brian Downey’s Antietam on the Web under entry for Loud (for Loud's Official Report follow this link);  birth place and date from 1880 U.S. Federal Census Record for P.H. Laud, South Carolina, Barnwell County; marriage data from Jordan Dodd, Georgia Marriages to 1850, database online; John Thomas Scarf, History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, (Philadelphia, L.H. Everts & Co., 1884), Vol. 3, p. 2290; Martha Novak Clinkscale, Makers of the Piano, Vol. 2. 1820-1860 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 237. For more on Loud's post-war activities, see Tim Hicks, "History Mystery: Virginia Man Seeks Clues on 19th Century Williston Inventor" The People-Sentinel [Barnwell County, S.C.], November 26, 2008. For more on Bill Waldrop's research, follow this link. Many thanks to William Waldrop and Joseph Belgan for their correspondence on Philologus Loud's pre and post war life. Joseph Belgan is currently completing a manuscript titled Pianos in the Attic that chronicles the Loud family piano business. I will post additional links to Bill and Joe's research articles as they become available.

[2] The 10th Georgia was organized at Jonesboro, GA June 1861 from the counties of Clayton, Chattahoochee, DeKalb, Wilcox, Bibb, Richmond, Fayette and Pulaski. At Antietam, the regiment suffered 56% casualties. Semmes OR; Muster Roll of Company H, 10th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry…retrieved at http://www.wilcoxga.com/10th_reg_roster.htm 


[3] There are three farmsteads west of the West Woods--the Hauser farmstead, the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead, and, further north, the Nicodemus farmstead. The Miller barn and a few outbuildings lay just west of the Hagerstown Pike (See Cope / Carman map above).

[4] There is a stone wall west of the Nicodemus/Poffenberger farm lane that runs roughly east to west (see map at A} for about 50 yards and then skirts north. Another stone wall runs along the east side of the Hagerstown Pike adjacent to the Miller farmstead (see map at B). Loud may be describing the advance of his regiment against remnants of the 1st Minnesota, the 82nd New York, and the right of the 15th Massachusetts. Semmes, in his Official Report, describes taking heavy fire as his brigade advanced northeastward from the Hauser property. The route would have taken them across at least two rail fences (see map).

[5] A possible location is the fence line and grave site is described in the 1869 "Bowie List" of Confederate graves on the field. The list records a line of 10th Georgia "Buried in G. Burgan’s field along the fence line between Burgan and Mrs. Lucker and in a direct line with the fence back of Burgan’s orchard. Some boards still remain, also some unknown Board." The Burgan property is the Hauser farmstead and "Mrs. Lucker" is likely the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead. The location of this site is the subject of a follow on post. The "Bowie List" is available online at the invaluable Western Maryland Historical Library website.