Tom Clemen's Maryland Campaign Blog

Tom Clemens, perhaps the subject matter expert on the Maryland Campaign has joined the blogosphere with his new blog The Maryland Campaign of 1862. Tom's blog will focus on Gen. Ezra A. Car­man and his 1,800 page man­u­script his­tory of the cam­paign. Savas-Beatie LLC will release the first vol­ume of Tom's edition of the Carmen manuscript on May 15, 2010. The first vol­ume con­tains the chap­ters lead­ing up to the bat­tle of Anti­etam and includes the plans of both com­man­ders, the pre­lim­i­nary move­ments of both armies and the bat­tles of South Moun­tain. A sec­ond vol­ume will include the bat­tle of Anti­etam and the imme­di­ate aftermath. I am looking forward to learning more about Carmen and his work at Tom's new blog and I wish him every success in this undertaking. I have added Tom's blog to my list of favorites here and at Antietam Voices .

"Give it to 'em! Drive em! Take anything on my place only drive 'em! Drive 'em" William Roulette

Here is a short video that I shot at the Roulette Farm looking south toward the Sunken Road. It was taken during the Irish Brigade hike at Antietam National Battlefield on March 14 2009. This is the route taken by much of William French's division of Sumner's Second Corps. Union soldiers from near this position may very well have heard these words of encouragement by Mr. Roulette as he emerged from his cellar that morning. The quote is found in Unfurl Those Colors by Marion V. Armstrong (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008). Other photos of the hike will appear in a future post.

2010 Living History Schedule at Antietam National Battlefield

Here is the link to all the living history events, hikes and other activities at Antietam National Battlefield this year. I will soon be posting photographs of this years Irish Brigade hike which occured this past Sunday. Come out to the park this year and enjoy the beauty and history of Antietam.

Getting Ready for Spring

Spring at long last is slowly and tentatively returning. The longer days and warmer sunshine melt the great piles of snow that still hold my front yard in a glacier like grip. My mind turns more and more to anticipating my weekend volunteer activities at Antietam National Battlefield. Next weekend the spring hiking tours resume with a hike centered (not surprisingly as it is Saint Patrick’s Day) on the Irish Brigade at Antietam. This month we resume training of our volunteer historical interpreters who man the Napoleon gun in Battery B, 4th United States Artillery and the muskets of the 3rd Maryland Infantry. Their programs will debut the last Saturday in June and run through September.

For me an essential part of preparing for the new season is pulling out what I believe is the definitive work on the Maryland Campaign. Over the past month, I re-read Joseph Harsh’s classic Taken at the Flood – Robert E. Lee & Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 (Kent: The Kent State University Press, 1999). While perhaps not as well known as the other two comprehensive Antietam histories, Stephen Sears Landscape Turned Red, or even James Murfin’s Gleam of Bayonets, TATF is by far the most objective, comprehensive and best documented work of the three. While designed as a thorough, strategic focus of the Maryland Campaign from the point of view of Robert E. Lee, it nevertheless treats George B. McClellan’s actions as objectively as I have ever seen in print. Harsh who grew up in Washington County knew the ground intimately. His clear description of the terrain make it easy for me, an avid battlefield hiker and photographer at some level, to clearly visualize every place that he describes in the work. Sadly Harsh who intended to write an accompanying book from McClellan’s point of view and perhaps even another on the tactical level view of the battle, was never able to accomplish that. In the course of my study this year, I pulled eighty-three absolutely tremendous quotes from the book that I have added to my collection. Some of them will appear in Antietam Voices soon.

Perhaps one work that approaches Harsh in terms of objectivity and which provides a good look at the Federal side of the Maryland Campaign is Vince Armstrong’s Unfurl Those Colors McClellan, Sumner, & The Second Army Corps in the Antietam Campaign (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008). While a detailed study of the Second Corps, Armstrong also provides what I believe is an objective look at McClellan’s plan and his actions for much of the day. In my mind, a great collection of detailed and skillfully etched maps, properly located in a book are the difference between a good book and a great book. Again, Armstrong like Harsh, do not disappoint here. He has some tremendous maps that I believe are essential to a study of this field. Armstrong’s work is not uncontroversial when it comes to his interpretation of French’s attack of the Sunken Road, but it is a position worth looking at with an open mind. Armstrong uses a large number of primary sources, soldier’s diaries and regimental histories that are also rich in evocative quotes. I understand the he is working on a companion piece that will detail the actions of the Confederates in the Sunken Road and West Woods. I look forward to seeing that work.

The other good book that I am reviewing again is McClellan’s War by Ethan Rafuse (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005). I read the book a year or so ago, but every spring reread the chapters on McClellan’s resumption of command of the Army of the Potomac and his campaign in Maryland. Like Harsh, Rafuse provides an excellent chronological time line in this book, of McClellan’s activities in the days leading up to the Battle of Antietam. He is also very objective and provides a very accurate portrayal of McClellan acknowledging his character flaws but also respecting his great abilities as a planner and organizer and motivator of the men of the Army of the Potomac.

And next spring when I am doing this all over again, I will have two other books to add to my collection of reviews. In just a couple of months, Dr. Tom G. Clemens edition of The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 Volume 1 South Mountain will appear. Published by Savas Beatie, this work promises to be the definitive edit of Ezra Carmen’s long unpublished manuscript of the Maryland Campaign. I will have more to say when this one comes out. The other is Antietam September 17, 1862 that is authored by Antietam Ranger John Hoptak. It will be published by the Western Maryland Interpretive Association in the late spring of this year. John is the author of the important work Our Boys Did Nobly, Schuylkill County Pennsylvania, Soldiers at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam.

So as this warm Sunday morning brings further promise of spring, I am heading for the battlefield. See you there!

Between Snow Storms

In the short break between snowstorms, my daughter Rachel and I escaped from our snowbound house yesterday and got some pictures of a wintery Antietam Battlefield and Harper's Ferry. We said hi to Rangers Mannie Gentile and John Hoptak manning the Visitor's Center. Needless to say, it was a quiet day and we had the battlefield all to ourselves. Rachel is a very good photographer and a number of these snowy scenes are hers. We are back inside as the next storm starts to blow out there. Enjoy the pictures of familiar views once again covered in a snowy blanket. 40 days until spring (I think).

“I was beholding what must be the turning point of the war.”

Being socked in this weekend with 28 inches of snow here in Jefferson Maryland, I have had a bit of time to return to my neglected Antietam blogs. This is quite a contrast to last weekend when I was in Sydney Australia traveling to a conference. These two pictures, the first taken last Sunday of the Australian Pacific coast south of the Sydney, and the second, a view out of my front door on yesterday offer a contrast of where we would certainly like to be and where we are now. In the dead of winter with no apparent hope of a quick release into spring's embrace, I spent the weekend compiling many of the quotes that I collected by soldiers on both sides who fought at the battle of Antietam. Below is a selection of some of my favorites. The entire collection is found at Antietam Voices.

“I was beholding what must be the turning point of the war.”

a Confederate staff officer

a confederate staff officer commenting on the invasion of Maryland

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 139

“Never were want and exhaustion more visibly put before my eyes, and that they could march or fight at all seemed incredible.”

a Virginia woman

a woman who lived in Virginia commenting on Lee’s veterans at this time

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 152

“those corn acres of hell.”

A Virginian

Describing the Cornfield

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 154

“brought down the enemy as grain falls before a reaper

Confederate Officer

Confederate officer’s description of French’s attack into the Sunken Road

Sears, Stephen. George B McClellan – The Young Napoleon. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1988 pg 311

“the hottest place I ever saw on this earth or want to see hereafter…The dogs of war were loose, and ‘havoc’ was their cry

One of Hood’s Texans

Sep 17 1862

One of Hood’s Texans describing their attacks through the Cornfield. Confederate Veteran, 22 (1914) : 555

Robertson, James I. Stonewall Jackson The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1997 pg 614

“It was horrible in the extreme to witness the men with mangled limbs and bodies making their way to the rear….The whole face of the country seemed covered with them.”

Richmond Daily Dispatch

Sep 27 1862

Comments by a Virginia soldier

Robertson, James I. Stonewall Jackson The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1997 pg 898

“the incessant explosions of artillery, the shrieking whistles of the shells, and the sharper, deadlier more thrilling roll of musketry; while every now and then the echo of some charging cheer…and as the human voice pierced that demoniacal clangor, we would catch our breath and listen.”

Richmond Enquirer

Sep 23 1862

How the battle sounded from Shepherdstown, 4 miles away

Robertson, James I. Stonewall Jackson The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1997 pg 614

“The Federals in apparent double battle line were moving toward us at charge bayonets, common time, and the sunbeams falling from their well-polished guns and bayonets gave a glamour and a show at once fearful and entrancing.”

Staff Officer in the Stonewall Bde

Sep 17 1862

A staff officer of the Stonewall Brigade noting the Union advance through the Cornfield. Confederate Veteran, 22 (1914) : 66

Robertson, James I. Stonewall Jackson The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1997 pg 612

“a seamless wall of canister”

describing the fire from Nicodemus heights into the West Woods

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008, pg 156

“For a time the loss of life was fearful. We had never seen anything like it.”

a Massachusetts soldier

describing the fire from Nicodemus heights into the West Woods

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. pg156

“pouring in a sweeping fire as they advanced, and our men fell like sheep at the slaughter”

a member of the 4th RI

Sep 17 1862

describing AP Hills attack at Antietam . George H. Allen, Forty Six Months in the 4th RI Volunteers (Providence 1887), 147

Robertson, James I. General A. P. Hill. New York: Random 1987. Pg 146

all realized that there was ugly business and plenty of it just ahead.”

a Pennsylvania soldier

Pennsylvania soldier talking about upcoming battle of Antietam

http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/upload/Battle%20history.pdf

“The shouts of our men, and their sudden dash toward the sunken road, so startled the enemy that their fire visibly slackened, their line wavered, and squads of two and three began leaving the road and running into the corn.”

a soldier of the Irish Brigade

Sep 17 1862

A soldier of the Irish Brigade describing their last attack

Mason, Jack C. Until Antietam The Life and Letters of Major General Israel B. Richardson, U.S. Army. Carbondale IL: Southern Illinois Press, 2009 pg 181

“I thought I had seen men piled up and cut up all kinds of shape, but never anything in comparison to that field.”

A Yankee

Describing the Cornfield

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 154

“The Confederates had gone down as grass falls before the scythe. They were lying in rows like the ties of a railroad, in heaps, like cordwood mingled with the splintered and shattered fence rails. Words are inadequate to portray the scene.”

northern correspondent

Sep 18 1862

a northern correspondent reaches the bloody lane on Sep 18,1862

Krick, Robert K. ” It Appeared As Though Mutual Extermination Would Put a Stop to the Awful Carnage Sharpsburg’s Bloody Lane”, Gallagher, Gary W. ed The Antietam Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Pg 223

“With fixed bayonets [at] the double quick, [they] passed through a narrow opening in a strong chestnut fence-which there was no time to remove-and charged in the most gallant manner directly up the road to the bridge. As the attacking party led by Colonel Griffen debouched from the field into the road, the rebels from heir entrenched position, redoubled the fury of their fire, sweeping the head of the column with murderous effect. Of the first hundred men who passed through the opening in the fence, at least nine tenths were either killed or wounded. Such sweeping destruction checked the advancing column, but the men sheltered themselves behind logs, fences, and whatever other cover they could find, and bravely held the ground already gained. 6th New Hampshire soldier

soldier 6th NH

Action at the Burnside Bridge during attack by 6th NH

Tucker, Phillip T. Burnside’s Bridge The Climactic Struggle of the 2nd and 20th Georgia at Antietam Creek Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole, 2000. Pg 102

“freshly plowed and manured field”

Description of 12th Corps bivouac site night before the battle

Wagner, Richard. For Honor, Flag, and Family Civil War Major General Samuel W. Crawford, 1827-1892. Shippensburg: White Mane Books, 2005 pg 134

James Ewell Brown Stuart

This morning, I added to Antietam Voices, 131 quotes that I have collected on Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown Stuart. Most are from Jeff Wert's outstanding biography Cavalryman of the Lost Cause (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008). From the collection, you see a very well rounded view of the man. Regarded by many including John Sedgwick as "the greatest cavalryman ever foaled in America", Stuart also acquitted himself well as a commander of infantry. The most well known event was at the Battle of Chancellorsville where he temporarily assumed command of the Second Corps upon the wounding of Jackson and A. P. Hill. Despite his combat command skills, Stuart nevertheless was a man who triggered different reactions from those around him. He was viewed by some as vain and chillingly ambitious, as William (Grumble) Jones, Wade Hampton and others would attest. But Stuart was warm and considerate to the many who he counted as his friends. Among them was Stonewall Jackson, a person who in many ways was a complete opposite of Stuart. Very much a lady's man, he was nonetheless a faithful husband to his wife Flora and father to his two children.

Stuart's rides around the Union Army and his activities during the Gettysburg campaign are well known. However not as much appreciated were his actions in Lee's first incursion into the north during the Maryland Campaign - a field of battle like Gettysburg, where he again did not show himself to the best advantage. Stuart early in the campaign seemed to discount the approaching Union Army of George McClellan as it occupied Frederick and pushed toward South Mountain. Believing the northern gaps were threatened by only two brigades of the Union Army, he pulled his cavalry off Turner's Gap and sent much of it south. Stuart left D.H. Hill's lone infantry division to confront not two brigades of the Union Army as Stuart had supposed, but the seven divisions of Burnside wing, which included Hooker's First, and Reno's Ninth Corps. Similarly, he spent little time at Crampton's Gap leaving William Parham and Thomas Munford's small forces to defend William Franklin's Union Sixth Corps. Stuart sent most of his available cavalry under Wade Hampton to guard the approaches to Harper's Ferry along the Potomac River at Weverton.

Stuart acquitted himself well at Antietam posting his cavalry on both flanks of Lee's Army. He positioned on the Confederate left with Jackson. There, at Nicodemus Heights, John Pelham and Stuart's Horse Artillery with some of Jackson's guns blasted the flank of advancing Union forces emerging from the North and East Woods into the Cornfield and points south for most of the day. Later that afternoon, Stuart was given command of a scratch force of Confederate infantry and artillery charged with trying to get beyond the Union right flank to open a path to the north. If successful, this would give the ever aggressive Lee another opening to resume his northward advance. Stuart's force made no progress in that direction and was blasted back by massed Federal artillery.

Stuart had a premonition that he would not survive the war and he told this to several of his friends. On May 11, 1862, while repelling Philip Sheridan's cavalry raid at Yellow Tavern, Stuart was mortally wounded and died the next day. Shortly after his death, Lee wrote in a letter to his wife that "more zealous, ardent, brave & devoted soldier than Stuart, the Confederacy cannot have."