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| Alpheus Williams |
Occasionally we are asked why Alpheus William’s division at
Antietam did not have a Second Brigade. A look at the order of battle indeed
shows that there was a First Brigade commanded by Samuel Crawford, and a Third
Brigade commanded by George Gordon. While the four Ninth Corps divisions at
Antietam were also two brigade organizations, the normal divisional
organization in the Army of the Potomac was a three-brigade structure. Is there
a typo on the order of battle? Is the
Third Brigade actually the second brigade of the division? If not, is the Second Brigade detached and
serving elsewhere.
When George McClellan began his organization of the Army of
the Potomac in August 1861, Major General Nathanial Banks commanded one of the
divisions in that nascent army. This
division is the direct ancestor Alpheus Williams division, the organization
that pushed down the Smoketown Road 13 months later. In the beginning, Banks’ division had four
brigades:
First Brigade commanded by Alpheus
Williams
Second Brigade commanded by John J.
Abercrombie (USMA 1822)
Third Brigade commanded by George
Gordon (USMA 1846)
Geary’s Separate Brigade commanded
by John Geary
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| Nathaniel Banks |
Bank’s division was stationed in Western Maryland. It was
destined to play a major role the campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley through
the summer of 1862. In March of 1862 when President Lincoln imposed a corps
level organization on McClellan’s army, Banks was elevated to command of the
Fifth Corps.[i] When
he moved up to corps command, Alpheus Williams assumed command of his
division. Dudley Donnelly, commander of
the 28th New York Infantry replaced Williams in command of the First
Brigade. James Shields commanded the
second division of Bank’s corps.
The original Fifth Corps would last but three weeks. On April 4, 1862 it was discontinued and
resurrected as the Department of the Shenandoah remaining under the command of
Banks. Williams and Shields continued to
command the department’s two divisions.
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| George Hartsuff |
This is where it gets a bit complicated. On April 10, 1862 George Hartsuff (USMA 1852)
replaced James Abercrombie in command of the Second Brigade. The brigade was transferred to the Department
of the Rappahannock on May 10th.
On May 25th, John Geary’s brigade (less Geary) was
transferred to the Washington defenses.
A new brigade was created for him on June 6, 1862 consisting of the 5th,
7th, 29th and 66th Ohio Infantry
Regiments. For five weeks, this brigade
continued in Alpheus Williams’ division as the Second Brigade. During this period (May 27th),
Donnelly turned over command of the First Brigade of William’s division to
Samuel Crawford.
But it’s not over. On
July 16th, Geary’s Brigade was transferred to Christopher Auger’s
(formerly Shields’) division. For a
second time, William’s division was without a second brigade. It would remain this way through the Maryland
Campaign.
Two brigades could therefore lay claim to being Alpheus
Williams “lost” second brigade. Both
fought at Antietam. The first one as we
have seen, is the brigade of George Hartsuff.
It was a charter member of Nathaniel Banks division lead first by James
Abercrombie and eventually commanded by Hartsuff. At Antietam, it belonged to James Rickett’s
division and fought in the Cornfield.
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| Hector Tyndale |
The second is Geary’s “new” brigade. It was only part of Williams’ division for
five weeks until reassigned to Augur’s division. Both Augur and Geary were wounded at Cedar
Mountain on August 9, 1862. This paved
the way for George Greene to assume temporary divisional command and George
Candy to replace the wounded Geary.
Candy was not in command of this brigade however at the battle of
Antietam. For the two-day period of September 17 – 18 1862 Hector Tyndale
commanded this unit. The brigade
advanced with other elements of George Greene division to the Dunker Church
plateau.
After Antietam, William’s division would receive a new
“second” brigade of green soldiers. At
Fredericksburg, this brigade was commanded by Thomas L. Kane and consisted of
the 20th Connecticut, 123rd New York, and the 124th
and 125th Pennsylvania.
While Alpheus Williams division only consisted of two
brigades at Antietam, brigades previously associated with his command were not
far away on the bloody northern flank of the battlefield.
[i]
This corps should not be confused with the provisional Fifth Corps that
McClellan later created on the Peninsula.
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