Opposing the Second Corps at Antietam: The Fight for the Confederate Left and Center on America's Bloodiest Day
214
Opposing the Second Corps at Antietam: The Fight for the Confederate Left and Center on America's Bloodiest Day
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780817361693 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Alabama Press |
| Publication date: | 02/15/2024 |
| Pages: | 214 |
| Sales rank: | 672,084 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d) |
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Opposing the Second Corps at Antietam
The Fight for the Confederate Left and Center on America's Bloodiest Day
By Marion V. Armstrong Jr.
The University of Alabama Press
Copyright © 2016 University of Alabama PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8173-1904-5
CHAPTER 1
Maintaining the Initiative
I
Just as understanding the operations of the Second Army Corps at Antietam requires an understanding of Major General George B. McClellan's plan of battle, so also understanding the Confederate opposition to the Second Corps in the West Woods and at the Sunken Road requires an understanding of General Robert E. Lee's plan of battle at Antietam. McClellan and the Army of the Potomac were fighting an offensive battle with the objective of defeating Lee's Army of Northern Virginia or, at least, of forcing it back across the Potomac River from Maryland into Virginia. Accordingly, McClellan developed a plan of maneuver in which all of the corps of his army had a definite role. Lee, however, was fighting a defensive battle and consequently his plan was less definitive with regard to maneuver and was more oriented toward reacting to Federal movements. Lee's objective was to regain the initiative in order to sustain his campaign north of the Potomac.
Lee chose the field on which the Battle of Antietam would be fought. He first saw it early on the morning of 15 September as the elements of the Army of Northern Virginia that had fought at South Mountain the previous day were withdrawing from that field toward a Potomac crossing near Shepherdstown, Virginia, called Boteler's Ford. At that time Lee intended to cross into Virginia, where he could safely reunite with the elements of his army that had been detached for the purpose of capturing the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry before moving the entire army into Pennsylvania, the objective of the campaign. Because the Harpers Ferry operation, under the direction of Major General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, had taken longer than anticipated, and because McClellan's pursuit of Lee's army into Maryland had been hastier than expected, Lee had had to turn back the lead elements of the army from Hagers- town to defend the South Mountain passes. The battle there on the 14th slowed the advance the Army of the Potomac, but by the end of the day the Federals gained the summit and the Confederate position was no longer tenable. Lee was forced to order a withdrawal toward Virginia and to abandon his original campaign plan.
After passing through Keedysville, Lee, who was riding in an ambulance because he had severely injured both hands in a fall more than two weeks earlier, stopped in a high meadow east of Antietam Creek to survey the terrain. Gazing west across the creek toward Sharpsburg, he noted the strength of a ridge running from north to south over which the road to the Potomac passed. This ridge was the height of land between Antietam Creek and the Potomac little more than a mile farther to the west. As Lee was making his observations, a courier arrived with a dispatch from Jackson announcing the capitulation of the Harpers Ferry garrison. Instantly Lee determined that rather than withdrawing to Virginia, he would occupy the high ground near Sharpsburg and reassemble his army on Maryland soil. It was a risky decision. Although the ground was well suited to the defense, he was being pursued by a Federal army of much greater strength. If forced from this defensive position his army would be pinned against the Potomac and likely destroyed. But if he was not pressed by the enemy and he could reassemble his army, the turnpike north from Sharpsburg to Hagerstown — thirteen miles distant — offered the opportunity for reseizing the initiative and restarting the campaign.
II
When the Army of Northern Virginia began crossing the Potomac into Maryland on 4 September 1862, Robert E. Lee had been its commander for only ninety-five days. He had taken command on 2 June when that army numbered only sixty thousand men and was backed into the trenches in front of Richmond, threatened from the east by the Federal Army of the Potomac, which numbered more than one hundred thousand men. During that month, a second Federal army of almost fifty thousand, the Army of Virginia under Major General John Pope, was formed in central Virginia, and began threatening Richmond from the north. In two spectacular campaigns of initiative and maneuver, however, the Seven Days Campaign from 25 June to 1 July and the Second Manassas Campaign in August, Lee managed first to drive McClellan's army away from Richmond and then to defeat Pope's army on the plains of Manassas, forcing it back to the defenses of Washington and the recall of McClellan's army from the Peninsula.
As spectacular and successful as these campaigns were in clearing Virginia of major Federal formations, they did not appreciably change the military equation in Virginia. Safe inside Washingion's fortifications, the Federal armies, though "much weakened and demoralized" as Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis on 3 September, could easily be reinforced and rebuilt. The Federals could then reseize the initiative with several months of excellent campaigning weather remaining in 1862. To keep the initiative on the Confederate side, Lee told Davis that the "present seems to be the most propitious time since the commencement of the war for the Confederate Army to enter Maryland." Lee went on argue, "We cannot afford to be idle, and though weaker than our opponents in men and military equipments, must endeavor to harass if we cannot destroy them."
As argued by Joseph Harsh in Taken at the Flood, Lee's objective in entering Maryland in September 1862 was nothing less than winning the war. Harsh concluded that Lee recognized "that Confederate victory must necessarily result from the frustration rather than the destruction of the enemy." Moreover, by September 1862 a nascent antiwar movement was growing in the Northern states. Congressional elections scheduled for November would offer Northern voters the opportunity to speak out concerning the war. To take advantage of antiwar feeling and possibly influence the elections, Lee suggested that the Confederate government propose to the U.S. government the formal recognition of Southern independence. "Such a proposition coming from us at this time ... would show conclusively to the world that our sole object is the establishment of our independence and the attainment of an honorable peace." Rejection of the offer, Lee predicted, would demonstrate that "the continuance of the war does not rest upon us" but on the party in power in the United States. "The proposal of peace would enable the people of the United States to determine at their coming elections whether they will support those in favor of a prolongation of the war, or those who wish to bring it to a termination." Making this proposal work, though, would mean demonstrating that the war would be a prolonged one, which could best be done by continued Southern military success, particularly if that continued success was on Northern soil. If Lee could lure the Army of the Potomac out of the Washington defenses before it had fully recovered from the reverses of the summer and draw it into battle in western Maryland or central Pennsylvania well away from its sources of supply, he would have an excellent chance of achieving just such a success.
Accordingly, Lee planned a campaign in Maryland that would allow him to retain the strategic initiative and ultimately determine the time and place of the campaign's concluding battle. But when Federal forces did not vacate Harpers Ferry as expected and McClellan moved more precipitously than anticipated, Lee lost the initiative and concluded that he had no choice but to abandon the campaign and return to Virginia. But now on the morning of the 15th with Harpers Ferry about to surrender, Lee was looking at terrain that might permit him to regain the initiative, continue the campaign, and realize the objectives for which the campaign was undertaken.
Laying almost literally at Lee's feet as he surveyed the landscape was Antietam Creek, a modest stream running on a north-south axis. Beyond it, at distances that varied between two and a half and four miles, was the Potomac, also following a meandering north-south course. In between was a ridge of high ground — the height of land — that at its highest point was 210 feet above the streams, raising in sometimes dramatic undulations characteristic of rolling farm country. Indeed, the entire area was in cultivation with randomly arranged fields of corn, pastures for livestock, fields plowed in anticipation of winter or spring planting, and carefully gleaned woodlots that provided fuel for cooking and heating. It was strong defensive terrain that would allow Lee to arrange the portion of the army withdrawing from South Mountain in such a way as to create the impression, if not the reality, of an imposing defense. Behind that exterior, unseen by the enemy because of the intervening ridge, he could assemble the rest of his army as it arrived from Harpers Ferry.
In addition to the terrain itself, there was another geographical feature that made this the ideal location for reassembling the army: the road network. Western Maryland was crisscrossed by excellent roads and turnpikes that afforded ease of movement and maneuver for large bodies of infantry and cavalry and their supporting artillery and wagon trains. One of those turnpikes, the Boonsboro-Sharpsburg- Shepherdstown Pike, was being used at that moment to withdraw Lee's army rapidly from South Mountain. This road ran from Boonsboro and the National Road at the western foot of South Mountain southwest to Sharpsburg, a village nestled about a mile west of Antietam Creek in a trough behind the height of land, and then continued on another four miles across the Potomac to Shepherdstown, Virginia. The bridge that in better times had carried this turnpike across the river had fallen victim to the war, so crossing the river meant using Boteler's Ford a mile downstream. The road that most attracted Lee's attention, though, was the Hagerstown Turnpike running north from Sharpsburg to Hagerstown, a distance of about thirteen miles. This first-class turnpike would permit Lee's reassembled army to make a rapid march to Hagerstown from whence he could continue into Pennsylvania drawing the Federal army after him.
But the terrain also made problematic taking position and reassembling the army at Sharpsburg. To begin with, the army would be in a sack formed by the confluence of Antietam Creek and the Potomac two miles south of Sharpsburg. From this sack Lee's forces would have only two exits. The first was to the north following the height of land along the Hagerstown Pike. An easterly bend of the Potomac two miles north of Sharpsburg narrowed this opening to just a little more than two miles. An enemy force gaining possession of the Hagerstown Pike east of the bend could effectively close this exit. The second was Boteler's Ford southwest of Sharpsburg. If the enemy attacked in force and drove the army back on this inadequate escape route, the Confederates might be crushed against the river. Next, the area was too large to be effectively defended by the force available to Lee even if the whole army were present. It is true that his flanks could be anchored on the Potomac to the north and Antietam Creek to the south, but the distance to be defended between these two points would seriously overextend the army. Last, Lee could not effectively cover at one time the three main avenues of approach available to the enemy — the three strong stone bridges crossing the Antietam in the vicinity of Sharpsburg. The Middle Bridge that carried the Boonsboro Pike and the Rohrbach Bridge a mile south could be defended because high ground overlooked both. But to cover the Upper Bridge, which was a mile and a half north of the Middle Bridge and well east of the height of land, would stretch the army too thin. This left Lee with no option other than to leave that avenue of approach open.
III
Deciding to risk taking position at Sharpsburg for the purpose of reassembling his army, Lee began posting the three divisions that were withdrawing from South Mountain on the high ground west of the creek to cover the avenues of approach at the Middle and Rohrbach bridges. The first division to arrive was Major General Daniel Harvey Hill's. Hill had with him three of his five brigades, which, shortly after they crossed the Middle Bridge and began ascending the height of land, turned north and took position along an old zigzag farm lane facing east. Hill's remaining two brigades, which had gone through Sharpsburg during the night toward Boteler's Ford, were recalled and placed in position on the extreme left of this line. The brigade of Colonel Alfred H. Colquitt took position facing north in a sunken farm lane that was the westerly extension of the lane Hill's other three brigades were posted along, and the brigade of Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley took position as a reserve even farther to the west near where the sunken lane met the Hagerstown Turnpike on the farm of Henry Piper. Next to arrive were two divisions under the command of Major General James Longstreet: first came the division of Brigadier General David R. Jones and then that of Brigadier General John B. Hood. These divisions, consisting of eight brigades, were used to extend the line south of the Boonsboro Pike along the height of land as far as the Rohrbach Bridge.
With all of the available troops posted, Lee's line on the afternoon of the 15th was about two miles in length, on strong ground, supported by more than one hundred guns, and with a brigade of cavalry covering either flank. It was a formidable array that would be clearly visible to the lead elements of the Army of the Potomac arriving east of the creek. Lee's purpose in establishing the line as he did was probably to discourage a hasty attack by the Federal army. The appearance of a strong defense would force McClellan to deploy his own army, reconnoiter the ground, and prepare a deliberate plan of attack. All this would take time, time that Lee could use to assemble the rest of his army behind the height of land and possibly even enough time, given McClellan's reputation for caution, that he could reseize the initiative of the campaign by moving north before McClellan was ready to attack.
If this was Lee's plan, it worked. When the lead elements of the Army of the Potomac began arriving at about 2:00P.M. on the 15th, Major General Joseph Hooker, leading the Federal van, estimated the strength of the line to be about 30,000 — twice what it actually was — and too strong to attack in front. McClellan, who arrived at about 5:00 P.M., concurred. He had earlier issued orders "that if the enemy were overtaken on the march, they should be attacked at once," but now seeing the strength of Lee's line and with only two divisions immediately available, McClellan decided that it was too late in the day to make a hasty attack and directed the bivouacking of his army for the night on the east side of the creek. Several Federal batteries, however, were established on the high ground above the creek and commenced a duel of long-range guns that lasted until sunset.
Lee was no doubt pleased that he avoided an engagement on the 15th. Late in the afternoon, he made a final adjustment to his line by strengthening his left, anticipating a general movement in that direction. He ordered Hood with his two brigades, commanded by Colonels William T. Wofford and Evander M. Law, from their positions south of the Hagerstown Pike to a position somewhat north of Ripley's brigade near a small church and wood on the Hagerstown Pike, sites history would soon recognize as the Dunker Church and West Woods. During the night, Lee also ordered Colonel Stephen D. Lee to take four of the six batteries of his artillery battalion, which had been supporting the center, north to the vicinity of the Dunker Church; there, Lee reported that they took "a sheltered position on the Sharpsburg and Hagerstown Pike, in front of [the] church."
On the morning of the 16th, a dense fog covered the valley of the Antietam, buying Lee even more time since it would make an early attack by the enemy impossible; it would even prevent planning one because reconnaissance would necessarily be delayed until the fog had burned off. At about 8:00 A.M., Jackson arrived from Harpers Ferry and found Lee with Longstreet on Cemetery Hill on the eastern edge of Sharpsburg where the Boonsboro Pike crossed the height of land. Jackson brought the welcome news that three of his divisions, those of Brigadier Generals John R. Jones (Jackson's own), Alexander R. Lawton (Ewell's), and John G. Walker, were crossing the Potomac at Boteler's Ford and would be in Sharpsburg by early afternoon.
With the fog burning off and little indication that the enemy was about to launch an attack, Lee told Jackson to halt these divisions west of the town and allow them some rest after their strenuous night march, rest they would certainly need if Lee were to restart his campaign of maneuver by marching north. Earlier in the day Lee had taken another step in preparation for just such a move by sending the cavalry division commander, Major General James E. B. (Jeb) Stuart, with three regiments of cavalry on a reconnaissance of the area north of Sharpsburg between the Hagerstown Pike and the Potomac.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
List of Maps vii
Preface ix
1 Maintaining the Initiative 1
2 The West Woods 20
3 The Sunken Road 68
4 The Afternoon 142
Notes 167
Selected Bibliography 183
Index 187