Pillars of Stone: Antietam's Tallest Monuments

There are many beautiful monuments located on Antietam National Battlefield. Some of the most picturesque however are the tall, mostly granite monoliths that reach toward the Western Maryland sky.  Two of these stone sentinels are state monuments, two others honor specific regiments.  Three are located on the northern end of the field while the fourth stands proud south of the historic town of Sharpsburg.

                         Philadelphia Brigade Monument

The Philadelphia Brigade Monument is the tallest monument on Antietam National Battlefield. Made of granite quarried in Barre,Vermont the 73 feet tall obelisk was dedicated September 17, 1896.  It stands on top of a four tiered base in Philadelphia Brigade Park, west of the Hagerstown Pike.  The monument honors the 69th, 71st, 72nd and 106th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiments.

                         9th New York (Hawkins Zouave) Monument


The 52 feet tall 9th New York Monument, also called the Hawkins Zouave Monument, is on high ground southeast of Sharpsburg.  The monument was dedicated May  29, 1897.  It was erected where the 9th New York and other regiments of the Union 9th Corps made their last stand on the left of the Union line.  The monument is made of a  40 foot long, single piece of Barre granite.  The obelisk is 4.5 feet square at the base, tapering to 3.5 feet at the top.  

                         Indiana State Monument (NPS photo)

The Indiana State Monument, which was dedicated September 17, 1910, stands at the intersection of the Hagerstown Pike and Cornfield Avenue.  It honors the four infantry (7th, 14th, 19th & 27 Indiana Volunteer Infantry) and one cavalry (3rd Indiana Cavalry) regiment from Indiana that fought at Antietam.  The 50 foot tall Barre granite monument was designed by architect John R. Lowe of Indianapolis.  It was constructed and erected at a cost of $10,000 by J. N. Forbes Granite Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  The 22 foot square monument base is topped by a four sided 35 foot tall shaft which tapers from 3' 6" at the base to 2' 6" at the top.

                             New York State Monument

The New York State Monument, which stands near the Visitors Center, was erected in 1919 and dedicated September 17, 1920.  The monument, built at a cost of $30,000, is a 30 foot tall doric column topped by an eagle, that stands on a 36 foot square pedestal on a tiered base.  The monument honors the 3,765 officers and soldiers from New York's 5 cavalry regiments, 13 artillery batteries, 2 engineering regiments and 66 infantry regiments who were killed, wounded, captured or missing during the Battle of Antietam.

For future reading see "Indiana at Antietam", Indianapolis, Indiana 1911 and"Remembering the Dead" New York Times May 30, 1897.

Pure Gold: Major General Winfield Scott Hancock

Upon his death on February 9, 1886 President Hays had this to say of Winfield Scott Hancock: "If when we make up our estimate of a public man, conspicuous both as a soldier and in civil life, we are to think first and chiefly of his manhood, his integrity, his purity, his singleness of purpose, and his unselfish devotion to duty, we can truthfully say of Hancock that he was through and through pure gold."

 

                        Major General Winfield Scott Hancock

Winfield Scott Hancock and his identical twin brother Hilary Baker were born in Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania February 14, 1824 the sons of Benjamin and Elizabeth Hancock. Another son John would follow six years later. The Hancock family moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania when Winfield was four. At the age of 16 he was appointed to the United States Military Academy from which he graduated on June 30, 1844 ranking 18th of 25 cadets.

Hancock was breveted 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th U. S. Infantry, July 1, 1844. His first post of duty was at Washita on the Red River. He later saw action in the Mexican War where he was breveted 2nd Lieutenant in August 1848, for "gallant and meritorious bearing" at the Battles of Churubusco and Chapultepec.  After the Mexican War Hancock was assigned to Ft. Crawford at Prairie du Chen, Wisconsin.  In 1849 he became the regimental quartermaster for the 6th U. S. Infantry and spent six years at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis Missouri.  While in St. Louis he met and married Almira Russell, January 24, 1850.  They later had two children Russell and Ada Elizabeth.  The Hancock's were assigned to duty posts in Florida, Utah and California prior to the Civil War.

When the Civil War broke out in April 1861 Captain Hancock was in Los Angeles, California serving as the Assistant Quartermaster. Although he had many friends who would side with the Confederacy Hancock noted at the outbreak of the war that: "My politics are of a practical kind.  The integrity of the country.  The supremacy of the federal government. An honorable place or none at all."

Captain Hancock arrived in New York in September 1861.  He had been affiliated with the Army since 1840.  "By his strict devotion to duty, his invariable courage, energy and patriotic enthusiasm he had secured the confidence and attachment of all who knew him.  Correct in his personal habits, polite, affable, friendly with all, unselfish and hospitable he was a favorite wherever he went."  He reported to duty in Washington where he was appointed Chief Quartermaster for Robert Anderson, a post he never assumed, because of George McClellan's request he be appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers.  The rest as they say is history.

                                                     
                         Hancock's Equestrian Statue at Gettysburg

Hancock went on to serve in the U. S. Army throughout the Civil War and continued to serve until his death in 1886.  He was nicknamed "Hancock the Superb" following a remark by General McClellan after the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1861.  He took over command of Israel Richardson's Division at Antietam and then assumed command of the 2nd Corps following the Battle of Chancellorsville.  His most conspicuous service might have been at Gettysburg where he was severely wounded and belatedly received the Thanks of Congress for his action.  This description of Hancock, by Frank Haskell, at Gettysburg is iconic: "Hancock is the tallest, and most shapely,  and in many respects is the best looking officer of them all.  His hair is very light brown, straight and moist, and always looks well, his beard is of the same color, of which he wears the moustache and tuft upon the chin: complexion ruddy, features neither large nor small, but well cut, with a full jaw and chin, compressed mouth, straight nose, full deep blue eyes and a very mobile, emotional countenance.  He always dresses remarkably well and he is dignified, gentlemanly and commanding.

                                               
                     Hancock's Equestrian Statue Washington DC
                    (Library of Congress photo)

Hancock commanded the 2nd Corps throughout the Overland Campaign in 1864 when the corps was considered "the Thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac". Hancock's only major battlefield defeat was at Reams Station on August 25, 1864.  He was commanding troops in the Shenandoah Valley when the war ended.

 Lt. General  U. S. Grant paid homage to Hancock in his Personal Memoirs noting: "Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command. He commanded a corps longer than any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. He was a man of very conspicuous personal appearance. Tall, well-formed and, at the time of which I now write, young and fresh-looking, he presented an appearance that would attract the attention of an army as he passed. His genial disposition made him friends, and his personal courage and his presence with his command in the thickest of the fight won for him the confidence of troops serving under him. No matter how hard the fight, the 2d Corps always felt that their commander was looking after them."

Winfield Scott Hancock died at Governors Island, New York in 1886 from complications of a carbuncle and diabetes.  He is buried in Montgomery Cemetery, Norristown, Pennsylvania with his daughter Ada who preceded him in death.

                                     Library of Congress photo

Honoring the Fallen: Memorial Illumination at Antietam National Battlefield

December 7, 2013 marked the 25th Anniversary of the Memorial Illumination at Antietam National Battlefield.

23,110  candles are placed on the battlefield by innumerable volunteers to honor the casualties of the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in all American History.

The event is sponsored by Antietam National Battlefield in cooperation with the American Business Women's Association and the Washington County Convention & Visitors' Bureau.

Volunteers representing Union and Confederate soldiers stand around campfires while the lines of vehicles pass by, viewing the luminaries.

Vehicles line up on Maryland Route 34, hours before the event, waiting for their chance to enter the battlefield via Richardson Avenue.

 It is an awe inspiring experience both to view the luminaries and participate as a volunteer.  I had the honor, this year, along with other living historians representing Battery B, 4th U S artillery to stand around a campfire at the intersection of Dunker Church Road and Starke Avenue.  While not attempting to be a modern day Alexander Gardner I was able to sneak in a few photographs. Cannot wait until next year to do it all again.

The "Old Man": James Stewart Commander of Battery B, 4th U S Artillery

James Stewart was born in Leith, Scotland May 18, 1826.  His mother died in 1829.  His father, who was a contractor and a builder died in 1841, leaving Stewart an orphan. He trained as a compositor in the Queens Printing Office in Edinburgh until 1843. In 1846 he immigrated to the United States and worked as a printer in New York.  Stewart enlisted as a private in the United States Army October 29, 1851 and was assigned to Battery B, Fourth U. S. Artillery as a private. 

                                                                        James Stewart

The brown haired, blue eyed Stewart stood 5 foot 6 1/2 inches tall, a short, stocky man by all accounts. He advanced steadily through the ranks of the peace time army, when promotions were notoriously slow and by the time he assumed command of Battery B, Fourth U. S. Artillery on the bloody battlefield of Antietam, September 17, 1862 he was a Second Lieutenant.

Stewart commanded Battery B throughout most of the remainder of the Civil War leading it to distinction on such fields as Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania Court House and Weldon Railroad.  He was breveted twice for gallant and meritorious service, the first time to captain on August 1, 1864 for action at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and a second time to major on August 18, 1864 following the Battle of Weldon Railroad.

Stewart remained in the army after the Civil War.  On July 28, 1866 he was promoted to captain and assigned to the 18th U. S. Infantry.  He served with this unit until his retirement  March 20, 1879.  After retiring Stewart lived in Carthage and Cincinnati, Ohio where he was a instructor for the Ohio Military Institute.  He died April 19, 1905, at Fort Thomas, Kentucky and was buried in Section 1, Grave 736-WS, at Arlington National Cemetery, on Easter Sunday, April 23, 1905.

Stewart's Headstone Arlington National Cemetery

photo courtesy of Christine & Perry Whittaker

James Stewart's headstone at Arlington is one of two known headstones depicting the emblem of the Iron Brigade Association, the other being the headstone of Brigadier General John Gibbon.  The emblem on the headstones recognizes the Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin regiments of the Iron Brigade centered around the crossed cannons of Battery B.  The association purchased Gibbon's headstone.  Stewart's headstone was bought by Charles H. McConnell of Chicago.  Gibbon commanded the Iron Brigade from May to November 1862, training it and turning it into one of the most respected and feared fighting units in the Army of the Potomac.  Battery B was attached to the Iron Brigade throughout much of the Civil War, many recruits that filled the ranks of Battery B in December 1861, came from the Wisconsin and Indiana Regiments in the Iron Brigade.   

Little is known about James Stewart the man.  He was married twice and had ten children.  His first wife, whom he married in 1856, Sabine Haas was from Germany.  They had seven children together, three sons and four daughters, before her death on November 14, 1873.  In 1880 Stewart married Rebecca Duffy.  They had three children, two daughters and a son Thomas Duffy Stewart, who attended West Point for a time.  

Those who knew him in the army said he was a strict, fair disciplinarian as a military officer who was fond of battle and alcoholic spirits.  He reportedly set high standards for himself and his men.  

But there is more to the story.  In a letter written by Stewart to James Gould in 1893 he recounts his wounding at Antietam:  "About ten minutes after being placed in command I was struck by a mini ball breaking my waist belt plate and knocking me down.  On getting up I found my sword belt broken in two.  The shock was trouble for some time, but I knew if I should allow it to be known that I was wounded that someone else would be put in command of the battery.  I suffered a great deal and had to use a catheter for many a year and sometimes especially when I catch cold the old pains will come back.  General Gibbon does not know to this day that I was wounded in the battle.  To when the battle was over, in place of looking over the field and making notes I had to lie flat on my back and obtain all the relief I possibly could until the surgeon came and helped me out of the pain."

It says a lot about the measure of a man who would silently endure and suffer from a wound for the remainder of his life because on that fateful day in September 1862 he did not want to loose command of an artillery battery.

Further reading:  Giants in their Tall Black Hats Essays on the Iron Brigade, History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; Their Past and Present, page 989.

Hell for Battery B, 4th U S Artillery at Antietam

The September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) is often referred to as artillery hell because more than 500 pieces of artillery of all types were used by both armies during the day long engagement.  One could rephrase that statement and write that Antietam was hell for one artillery company, Battery B of the 4th U. S. who lost nine killed and 31 wounded officers and men and 26 horses while supporting the Iron Brigade and other units of the Union 1st Corps on the northern end of the field on that fateful September morning.

At Antietam Battery B was initially commanded by Captain Joseph B. Campbell a June 24, 1861 graduate of West Point who, in May 1862, replaced John Gibbon as commander of the battery when Gibbon was promoted Brigadier General of Volunteers and assumed command of the Iron Brigade.  When Campbell was severely wounded early in the day command devolved upon 36 year old Scottish immigrant Lieutenant James Stewart.

Battery B had crossed Antietam Creek late in the afternoon September 16, 1862, probably at a ford near the upper bridge, along with John Gibbon’s brigade to which it was attached.  Both had bivouacked on the rainy night of the 16th on the Joseph Poffenberger Farm with other elements of Major General Joseph Hooker’s 1st Corps of the Army of the Potomac.

Before dawn on the 17th and before most of the Union troops had risen from their fitful slumber artillery shells fired form Confederate batteries on Nicodemus Heights, west of the Joseph Poffenberger Farm, came crashing into the ranks of the 1st Corps.  Not long after that, around 6:00 a.m., Hooker directed Gibbon to prepare his brigade to advance south  along the Hagerstown Pike to engage Confederate troops commanded by General Thomas J. “Stonewall" Jackson which were about a half mile to their front.  Gibbon ordered Battery B to advance in support of the Iron Brigade.

As the regiments of the Iron Brigade deployed skirmishers and advanced southward Battery B advanced through the North Woods and went into battery in a plowed field approximately 100 yards south of the woods.  Shortly after unlimbering the company’s six Model 1857 Light 12 Pounders (Napoleons) Gibbon directed Stewart to advance his 2 gun section to a position due east of farmer D. R. Miller’s house.  Stewart went into battery east of the Miller farmhouse and directed counter battery fire against Colonel S. D. Lee and Captain W. T. Poague’s Confederate batteries in his front as well as against Confederate infantry regiments in the woods north of the Dunker Church.  

The Iron Brigade was taking heavy casualties from infantry and artillery enfilading their right flank as they advanced southward along and east of the Hagerstown Pike so around 6:30 a.m., Gibbon ordered Stewart to advance his section to a position west of the pike and south of the Miller barn.  Stewart unlimbered his two cannons and while facing in a southwesterly direction directed spherical case against Poague’s Rockbridge battery and Jackson’s troops. 


 According to Johnny Cook, the battery’s bugler, “No sooner had we unlimbered when a column of Confederate infantry emerging from the so-called West Woods poured a volley into us, which brought down 14 of 17 of my brave comrades to the ground.”

As stated in Lance Herdegen’s “The Iron Brigade in Civil War and Memory”,  “Stewart’s horse fell in a hail of bullets spilling him to the ground but he jumped up unhurt and ran to the limber to gather a makeshift force of horse holders and drivers to replace the downed cannoneers.” 

With Battery B’s support the 2nd and 6th Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade were able to break through Jackson’s line as they advanced through Miller’s cornfield and get within several hundred yards of the Dunker Church before a counter attack by Confederate forces under the command of General John B. Hood forced the decimated ranks of the Wisconsin regiments to beat a hasty retreat back through the corn and ultimately to a position west of the pike in the rear of and in support of Battery B.  

By 7:20 a.m., Gibbon was forced to call-up the other four guns of Campbell’s Battery  who came galloping up the Hagerstown Pike and unlimbered to the left of Stewart’s two cannons.  One of the bronze Napoleons was actually placed in the road by Captain Campbell. By this time the battery had changed positions and was now facing southeastward with their fire directed at Hoods troops in the cornfield.  

The intense infantry fire from Hood’s veterans soon wounded Captain Campbell and killed or wounded a number of his cannoneers even though the battery was firing single and double canister as quickly as the guns could be loaded.  As quoted in Herdegen’s book, “The steady firing of Battery B’s guns began to falter.”  

Seeing this, and also seeing that at least several of the guns were firing over the heads of the Confederate troops in their front, General John Gibbon drew his horse up alongside the gun in the road and shouted at the gunner to raise the elevation screw which would depress the muzzle.  He could not be heard above the din therefore “in the full uniform of a general officer, his face begrimed with powder smoke and (with) perspiration running down his face, Gibbon was still servicing the guns of his old battery.”  He raised the elevation screw and with the help of the remaining members of the guns crew, “double charges of canister were thrown into the corner of the cornfield, the aim was low, the stones and dirt on the road was plowed up, the fence rails were splintered and thrown into the air, and as the smoke and dust cleared away, groups of the enemy was seen running toward the rear.” 

With the regiments of Hood’s command that had been engaged with Battery B and the Iron Brigade in full retreat back toward the Dunker Church, around 7:30 a.m., Lt. Stewart was able to limber up the guns of Battery B and head northward down the Hagerstown Pike to the safety of the plowed field south of the North Woods where they unlimbered again around 8:00 a.m. 

Around 8:30 a.m. Gibbon again ordered Stewart to advance the battery to the fields east of the Miller house.  Steward advanced the cannons and came into battery on the left of Captain Dunbar Ransom’s Battery C, 5th U. S. Artillery.  He could not fire the guns here because federal infantry regiments were in position 20 yards in front of the battery.  When Ransom retreated Stewart followed him to the edge of the North Woods where he removed wounded horses and redistributed the remaining men and horses amongst the cannons.  Around 9:00 a.m. when Gibbon, for a third time, ordered Stewart to advance to the position east of the Miller house he was only able to take two of the battery’s guns.  The remaining four were removed to a position north of the Joseph Poffenberger Farm where they were unlimbered with the other 1st Corps batteries to guard the right flank of the Army of the Potomac.  

Stewart's 2 guns of Battery B remained in position east of the Miller house and a little later a little farther south but still east of the Miller house firing in support of Sedgewick’s Division of Sumner’s 2nd Corps as they advanced into the West Woods and later as they retreated northward through the woods. Sometime around noon or 1:00 p.m., Stewart withdrew his section and rejoined the other four guns of the battery on the ridge behind the Poffenberger Farm where they remained for the remainder of the day.  Late in the afternoon, along with other 1st Corps batteries, they lobbed a few shells toward Nicodemus Heights which silenced Confederate artillery fire from that position and convinced Stonewall Jackson it would be foolhardy to attempt to turn the right flank of the Union Army.

Battery B’s losses in action at Antietam on September 17, 1862, which officially included 40 officers and cannoneers killed or wounded and 27 horses killed, was the third highest loss of any artillery company in combat during the entire war.  Three Medals of Honor were earned by members of Battery B at Antietam including one issued to 15 year old bugler Johnny Cook and one each to infantryman William P Hogarty (detached from the 23rd New York Volunteer Infantry) and John Johnson (detached from the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer  Infantry.)

There is one additional casualty however that appears to have been missed by those compiling statistics.  In an 1893 letter to John Gould, Lieutenant James Stewart refers to the 41st casualty:  “About ten minutes after being placed in command I was struck by a minie ball breaking my waist belt plate and knocking me down.  On getting up I found my sword belt broken in two.  The shock was trouble for some time, but I knew if I should allow it to be known that I was wounded that someone else would be sent to command the battery.  I suffered a great deal and had to use a catheter for many years and sometimes especially when I catch cold the old pain will come back.  General Gibbon does not know to this day that I was wounded in the battle.” 

“To when the battle was over, in place of looking over the field and making notes I had to lie down flat on my back and obtain all the relief that I Possibly could until the surgeon came and helped me out of the pain.”   

           

Sacrifice Lost to History: Honored Dead of the 39th Illinois Volunteers

There are 4,776 graves at Antietam National Cemetery containing the remains of Union soldiers who died during the four year Civil War that raged between April 1861 and April 1865.  Many of those soldiers were killed in action or died of wounds following such well known battles as South Mountain (September 14, 1862), Antietam (September 17, 1862) or Monocacy (July 9, 1864).  Others died in obscure places often times of unknown causes and their sacrifice has been largely forgotten or unrecognized by historians.  Such is the fate of a handful of soldiers of the 39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry who are buried with their comrades in the Illinois Section of Antietam National Cemetery.

The 39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was mustered into federal service on October 11, 1861.  The regiment traveled to St. Louis from whence they were ordered to Williamsport, Maryland on October 29, 1861.  The inexperienced troops were assigned as railroad guards, to protect the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in the Department of West Virginia.  The regiment's companies were split up and assigned to various strategic locations in West Virginia including Bath (present day Berkeley Springs), Alpine Station (present day Hancock) and Great Cacapon Bridge.

In early January 1862 during the Bath-Romney Campaign soldiers of the 39th Illinois were attacked by 8,500 veteran soldiers commanded by Stonewall Jackson.  The Illinoisians were pushed across the Potomac to Hancock, Maryland as Jackson's troops destroyed the railroad from Great Cacapon to Hancock before heading west toward Romney.

In late January and February, 1862 the 39th was deployed to guard the railroad at Cumberland, Maryland and  later New Creek, Virginia.  The weather was cold and miserable.  Many of the soldiers were without adequate food, clothing or shelter.   Several died of disease.  Others of the 39th died of unknown causes.  They were originally buried at Cumberland, Maryland and later disinterred and reburied at Antietam National Cemetery.

Private/Drummer Charles Rowley, from Homer, Illinois enlisted in Company G, 39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.  He died at Cumberland, Maryland of unknown causes on February 20, 1862.

Private William H. Perry a resident of Esmona, Illinois mustered in with Company C, 39th Illinois in October 1861.  He died at Cumberland, Maryland of unknown causes on February 25, 1862.

Private Harmanus Borchers of Peoria enlisted in Company G of the 39th.   He died of disease at Cumberland, Maryland  on February 13, 1862. 

Private George H. Mott of Wilmington, Illinois enlisted in Company A. 39th Illinois.  He died of unknown causes at Culberland, Maryland on February 2. 1862.

Private William S. Littleton, a resident of Mahomet enlisted in company I, 39th Illinois.  he died at Cumberland of unknown causes on February 6, 1862.

Private Hiram G. Dunham, a resident of Hartford, Michigan enlisted in Company G, 39th Illinois.  He died of disease at Cuberland, Maryland on February 23, 1862.

There are ten soldiers from the 39th Illinois buried at Antietam National Cemetery.  Seven of those died near Cumberland, Maryland in February 1862.  Non of the deaths are attributed to being killed or wounded in battle.

A View of the Past: Horse Drawn Artillery

A reenactment was held on October 21 & 22, 2012 at the Cedar Creek Battlefield near Middletown, Virginia, commemorating the battle's 148th Anniversary.  One special treat, which appears to be an annual occurrence, is the presence of a ten pound Parrott Rifle drawn by a matching team of six bay horses.

As you can see several of the cannoneers ride on the limber, others on the team pulling the cannon.  The cannon itself is attached to the back of the limber.   The cannon is pulled on the field of battle and unlimbered.

As several of the cannoneers prepare the gun for firing, others take the team and the limber to a location behind the gun.

The gun ready to fire.

 The cannon had to be extricated quickly so it was dragged away by attaching the prolonge rope to the limber.

The gun was set up at the new position and commenced firing.