 |
| Bloody Lane OAFS Photo |
Walk out of the sunken road and head out in the direction the Union troops came from.
From this perspective, you get the idea that even today, a fellow down in that hollow is pretty protected from any fire you might bring to bear.
 |
| Looking towards Bloody Lane OAFS Photo |
And you're not ...
The ground falls away fairly steeply about thirty or forty yards out from the sunken road. The Union soldiers would have had to climb a fairly steep slope, all the while trying to keep their alignment.
They know that the men in butternut and gray are somewhere ahead, as they crest the slope, they see the fence, much as you can see it above.
Then maybe, over the shouts of their officers and sergeants, over the beating of the drums, maybe they hear a Southern officer scream ...
"FIRE!"
The fence seems to erupt with smoke as the Confederate troops sheltering in the lane fire their first volley. At a distance of perhaps 30 t0 40 yards, nearly every round hits somebody.
The carnage is instant and for those on the receiving end, terrifying.
Our first stop on the Antietam National Battlefield was Bloody Lane as it was the first stop in the direction we were coming from. It was a good place to start.
We had spent the night in Hagerstown (good deal on a hotel) rather than try and drive up from Annapolis, walk the field (one day isn't enough, I need to go back), then drive back.
We stopped at Burnside Bridge (which I'll talk about next time), hit Sharpsburg for lunch (small place, surprisingly good, I haven't had a bad meal on the trip so far!) then stopped at the Antietam National Cemetery to pay our respects.
 |
| Antietam National Cemetery, Vermont section OAFS Photo |
Union Confederate
Killed 2,100 1,550
Wounded 9,550 7,750
Missing/Captured 750 1,020
Total 12,400 10,320
It was a long day, though well worth the effort.
More to come. Right now I'm tired.
Well, Sarge; shoulda figured that you'd be haunting up some history on your southern excursion. Glad you can do things you enjoy with family when celebrating a notable birthday.
ReplyDeleteWalking the ground (however much it may have changed over the years) is always instructive as long as it hasn't changed into a strip mall. Terrain dictates tactics - or it should, anyway for those 2-dimension pre air power battles.
The War Against the States was awful; looking at those numbers, the dead might have had the better of it, given the nature of the wounds and the state of medicine in those days. One wonders how many more died of their wounds or infection after days or weeks of suffering.
T'any rate do please share more of your trip. Thanks for bringing us along!
Boat Guy
The Wikipedia page for the battle has some numbers concerning the after-battle deaths. It feels like a good guesstimate is that almost as many died later from wounds as died on the battlefield.
DeleteBG - It was all rather impromptu. The Nuke asked if there was anywhere I'd like to visit, Antietam immediately popped into my head. So off we went, glad we did!
Deletea bear - Medical care wasn't much advanced from the Napoleonic wars. Hit in the arm or leg? Amputation was the answer. Hit anywhere else? Probably a death sentence. As I recall, the Confederate commander, Albert Sidney Johnston, was hit and actually bled out. His wound might have been survivable had someone noticed in time.
DeleteAS BG mentioned the number of wounded and what happened to them afterwards.
ReplyDeleteBeing wounded was often a lingering death.
DeleteAntietam has a lot more of the "hallowed ground" feel about it than some of the more "touristy" battlefields (*cough*Gettysburg*cough*). Definitely worth going, I've only been to visit once, and am sure I missed a lot. My mom's family has some roots in that part of the world, my grandfather had a farm on the Little Antietam Creek, somewhere in the family is a local newspaper from when some fellows on a countryside jaunt burned Chambersburg, etc. Never did find my great-great-something uncle's name on the PA monument at Gettysburg, though.
ReplyDeleteBeing the middle of the week there were very few people there. Most Americans know about Gettysburg, not as many know about Antietam. Another failure of our school system in my book.
DeletePhysical geography - the sort that impacts battles and travels - is largely unreal today; it is perhaps two points on a screen or a series of pictures. The time to get between those two points is at the speed of modern convenience, and the physical efforts required of and impacts generated by that geography are theoretical instead of actual as at the time of events. When one considers the distances that Hannibal went to get to Italy or Alexander covered in his conquest of Persia and India, of the battlefields that cut off the ability to move (Bannockburn, Crecy) or the battlefields that allowed full range of movement (any invasion of the Russian Steppe in general), one is left with the conclusion that history is as much a function of who was on what piece of ground and how long it took them to get there as anything else.
ReplyDeleteSomething I like to use Google Maps for is to get directions between two points, say Warsaw and Moscow. Then switch to walking mode! And that's with modern hiking gear and plenty of places to et and drink along the way. Also, no one is trying to kill you along the way!
DeleteI was admiring the dual use of all that firewood in the pictures...
ReplyDeleteA lot of those rail fences went into cook fires during the war.
DeleteThe 22,720 American casualties at Antietam were a steep price to pay. But, sufficient for Lincoln to decide it was time to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Mark any balance due for "reparations" as "paid in full" as 9 April 1865 when the war essentially ended.
ReplyDeleteBut, we must remember that in addition to the deaths during, or because of battles, TWICE AS MANY soldiers died from disease during the Civil War. Death was far more common in those days, with poor understanding of sanitation, infection, or treatments, both at home and in the Army.
Almost no medications available, and no x-rays or other diagnostic tools. There were surgeons, with minimal skills, assisted by hospital stewards of even less knowledge with little organized plan for first aid, evacuation of wounded, triage, treatment, or transportation to hospitals, such as they were.
Surprisingly, a significant number of people survived to live into their 80s, 90s or more despite the priitive state of medicine in the 19th century.
John Blackshoe sent above
Delete"Mark any balance due for "reparations" as "paid in full" as 9 April 1865 when the war essentially ended."
DeleteTruer words were never spoken. Well said, Mr. Blackshoe!
juvat
Yeah...about that "Proclamation" ... seems at least as much a wartime manpower move as anything. It exempted slaves held in the border states, thus only applying to territory not under the control of the federal government. Call me cynical; I'll own it.
DeleteBG
Which was rectified on Dec 18, 1895 when the war was over by the 13th amendment to the Constitution. Getting that amendment passed during the war might have been problematic at a minimum and possibly encouraging those states to join the confederacy. As we see now, quite clearly, Politics is ugly, Wartime politics even more so.
Deletejuvat
Seems to be apples and oranges; one's an EO, one's an Amendment to the Constitution. Seems like the guy issuing the EO coulda done what he wanted. Didn't stop him from doing things like suspending Habeas Corpus.
DeleteDon't wanna start something, just not a Lincoln fan
BG
JB #1 - Concur. Prior to the 20th Century most deaths in the military were from disease.
DeleteJB #2 - I figured that out using geometric logic ...
Deletejuvat #1 - "Reparations," ya mean vote buying, right?
DeleteBG #1 - Yup, economic warfare, hurts the South, helps the Union. Though there was somewhat of a humanitarian impulse behind it, that wasn't really the reason for it.
Deletejuvat #2 - I'm still conflicted over that amendment, I know why they did it, but I mean common, outlawing owning a fellow human being has to be codified in law? Politicians make more of a mess every time they try to "fix" something. How about illegal confinement? There must have been something on the books that would obviate the need for a gesture such as this. Every single time we touch the Constitution, we (pardon my French) fuck it up.
DeleteBG #2 - Lots of "not a Lincoln fans" around, the alternative was far worse. Think not two separate countries but four or more. Do you think Texas would have stayed in the Confederacy once the war was over. Would they listen to the pompous asses in Richmond? (Any more than they'd listen to those in DC?) New England would have been gone. No doubt California would have gone their own way as well.
DeleteHello Balkans in the West.
An interesting compilation above. Before the Emancipation Proclamation, Federal troops had their own methods. If a fugitive slave was within Union lines, he was free, as the Union did not recognize existing slavery law applying to a state which had left the Union. Alternatively, if the fugitive was considered a slave, he was property, and could be confiscated by the Union from the owner of a state in rebellion, same as a horse or mule. Fine sharp legal points, especially backed by a line of leveled bayonets.
DeleteWell, prior to Antietam the North wasn't winning many battles. So I doubt that happened much.
DeleteA note on the necessity of the 13th Amendment. Slavery was implicitly embedded in the Constitution for representation based on population. Nothing said slavery was legal (it was implicitly assumed). Nothing said it was illegal either. Hence the amendment.
DeleteI'll need to dig into that, the word "implicitly" is bothersome to the nth degree.
DeleteWell Sarge, guess I'll continue in my contrarian way; not sure that four or more "countries" woulda been worse, especially had the Confederate been allowed to secede more peacefully.
DeleteAs to the "Balkanization" thought; the folks in those parts ( spent some time there) resented being run by a central government at least as much as they resented the "other". One local summed it up well " We waited 45 years for Tito to die, we can wait 45 years for you to leave"
BG
Balkanization predates Tito, but yeah they outlasted him. Wait for us to leave so they can go back to killing each other I guess. Crazy world.
DeleteWhen we were stationed in the 5 sided rendition of Hell, Little J was of scouting age, so he and I joined a Boy Scout troop. One of the outings we went on was to Antietam. I didn't remember that specifically as there are a lot of battlefields within reasonable distance from DC. However, this morning when I saw the pictures...Well,who said time travel isn't possible. Interestingly, I was the only Scout Leader with any military experience, hence I was the expert on the subject. Fortunately, SAMS had spent quite a bit of time on the Civil War, so I was up on a lot of it and could answer a lot of questions. It was a good time and very educational and given the current situation, positively terrifying.
ReplyDeleteGod forbid!
juvat
All civil wars/revolutions are terrifying, only the absolutely stupid want anything like that.
DeleteStop in Frederick, MD and visit the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. https://www.civilwarmed.org/
ReplyDeleteNo time.
DeleteSome random thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take much of a feature in the landscape to hide a body of troops. While those coming towards the road would be seen before they could be seen, they disappeared from view out of the usual range of the rifle-muskets and reappeared at almost bayonet range (how many steps does it take to cover 30 yards?).
Most of the shoes of that era were made with smooth leather or wood. If you hadn't hobnailed them going up even a gentle slope can be interesting.
I've seen some revisions of casualties from the usual ~650,000 to closer to ~725,000. Throw in the wounded and you end up close to 1,250,000. Civilian casualties are harder to come by. Usual is around 50,000 killed directly. I don't recall seeing anything about wounded, or died later from wounds. In some long dormant little gray cells I recall a reference to a War Department publication saying that "excess civilian deaths" (over and above what would normally be expected in the population, may have been as high as half a million. That would be directly killed, died later from wounds, died from disease or starvation. And that may have included a year or two after the war, people who were unable to recover either from wounds received or long term illness contracted during the War. Unfortunately, that was about 6 hared drives ago that I found it.
Doesn't take too long to cross 30 yards, even while maintaining one's alignment. After one enemy volley, there is a huge desire to stop and shoot back, which officers were trained to avoid, either close with the bayonet or resolve yourself to a very costly firefight. After a second volley, that last 30 yards might as well have been hundred miles. The urge to live will overwhelm any and all military discipline.
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech here. A memory from 5th grade is stuck in my brain. We started getting, shall we say, less than stellar teachers around my 5th grade year, ~'69-'70, in my little public elementary school. The History teacher pronounced the battle as "AN-Tee-TAM", so when I discussed it with my father at some point, he corrected me. "It's pronounced Sharps-Burg" said he. Then he allowed as that place name is actually pronounced "an-TEE-tam". I learned very little from that teacher of History, but my father made up for it with excursions to Land's End Plantation (a field hospital during the Battle of Mansfield), and other places on family vacations (Vicksburg comes to mind, terrible battle of attrition that one, once again, terrain favored the defenders, until they ran out of supplies).
ReplyDeleteTerrain nearly always favors the defenders, unless they hve an idiot in command who knows nothing about terrain.
DeletePotato, potahto.