"Perceptions Not Realities"

In the Mumma Barn on a windy Saturday morning, just nine days before the commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the Battle, of Antietam 30-40 fortunate people witnessed what I hope is a turn of the page in the scholarship, and treatment of the Army of the Potomac and its commander George B. McClellan.  Those of us who attended the Save Historic Antietam Foundation Seminar today witnessed Antietam Ranger Daniel Vermilya for the first time deliver his findings on the condition of George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Antietam.  Titled “Perceptions, Not Realities: The Strength, Experience, and Condition of the Army of the Potomac at Antietam," his conclusions which cant be ignored demand the attention of all serious Maryland Campaign scholars. Once and for all they refute the typical assumptions made on the condition of the Federal Army and what exactly McClellan understood the status of that command to be on the eve of battle.

Antietam Battlefield Ranger Dan Vermilya

Dan began with some of the usual assertions made about McClellan and the Union Army at Antietam from such sources as Ken Burn’s Civil War and Stephen W. Sears Landscape Turned Red. As a volunteer and guide here at the park, I hear variations on this theme all the time.  The Army of the Potomac outnumbered the Army of Virginia 2-1 at the Battle of Antietam.  McClellan had 30,000 fresh troops on September 18 and could have administered the final deathblow to Lee’s Army if only he had attacked on that day.

Dan’s serious research uncovers a much different story.  He looks at the condition of each corps.  He reveals correspondence from Hooker, Porter and others who describe the serious degradation of readiness in their commands.  We see a total lack of confidence by Hooker in Abram Duryee, something never known before today.  We see present for duty numbers from different sources and different dates that are conflicting and contradictory.  We discover that straggling was just as serious a problem for George McClellan as it is for Robert E. Lee, and we see what measures he and his generals take to fix the problem.  We see a marked decline in strength of the Federal Army as the days of September go by. 

Dan supported his conclusions with slide after slide of detailed documented original source material.

What Joseph Harsh does in precisely documenting the condition of the Confederate Army in his landmark book Sounding the Shallows, Dan does in part for the Union Army in his research.  Like Harsh, he looks at combat experience, this time for each Federal brigade. He finds that unlike the Confederate Army where all of the combat brigades have seen action in at least one but often two or even three campaigns, many Union brigades have never seen action at all. 

Dr. Tom Clemens recognizes Ranger Vermilya

Dan synthesizes all this information into a portrayal of a different Army of the Potomac than the stereotype we normally envision.  We see a commander with a much more complex set of circumstances to face as he advances out of Washington toward Western Maryland than the commander that history has previously portrayed to us. McClellan faces conflicting orders and direction from Washington, confusing and contradictory unit strength reports. There is massive straggling, green troops, dozens of new brigade, division and even corps commanders, heavy combat losses in men and leaders from the months of heavy fighting on the Peninsula, at Cedar Mountain and during the Second Manassas campaign. Trusted senior officers face imminent court martial charges. 

It is not so simple or cut and dried now, is it?  We must relook at all the unsustainable and sweeping generalities that were the foundation of the interpretation for a hundred years. 

What about McClellan’s decision not to attack on the 18^th?  In correspondence not seen in the OR, we hear the condition of Andrew Humphrey’s division.  Virtually all green troops, they made a 26-mile overnight forced march from Frederick to Sharpsburg and arrive on the morning of the 18^th.  Are they ready for battle? Dan also revealed a never before seen handwritten scrap of paper purportedly jotted by McClellan or one of his staff which listed the strengths of the three divisions of the Fifth Corps and Couch’s division, and a list of senior officers killed or wounded in the fighting.  Mistakenly referring to George Hartsuff as mortally wounded, the document must have been written just after the battle.  McClellan appears to be weighing some of the factors (available units and combat losses among leadership) he is considering for deciding whether to attack on the 18th. 

Antietam Battlefield Superintendent Susan Trail, and Rangers Dan Vermilya, Keith Snyder, Brian Baracz, and John Hoptak

Why didn’t anyone else see this before?  What has Dan done differently?  To begin with when not working at the battlefield, he spent much of he summer in the Library of Congress and National Archives.  He pursued an exhaustive, comprehensive, methodical review of original records including strength reports, correspondence, and military orders.  He has NOT rehashed the ocean of secondary sources and their  usual tired themes.

The scope of Dan’s study was limited. However, we glimpse tantalizing details of what else might be learned if this line of investigation is pursued. We were treated to just a part of Dan’s research in his presentation today.  I know that much more will be revealed when he distills this fine research effort either into an article or even better as a chapter in a more comprehensive work that would be for the Union Army, what Taken at the Flood was for the Confederates. 

Yours Truly and Dan Vermilya

So in the Mumma Barn on a windy Saturday morning, 30-40 fortunate people witnessed what I hope is a turn of the page in the scholarship, and treatment of the Army of the Potomac and its commander George B. McClellan.  At the end of Dan’s talk, Dr. Mark Snell, both a presenter and attendee said as much. I agree with Dr. Snell. Keep it coming Dan!

Dan’s work marks him as an objective, thorough, and passionate scholar of the Maryland Campaign.  SHAF chose wisely in selecting him as its first Harsh Scholar. No doubt his great-great-great grandfather, Private Ellwood Rodebaugh, of Company D, 106th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry who made the ultimate sacrifice at Antietam would be proud of Dan.  His family and we who are his Antietam colleagues and friends sure are!