Posted on 09/17/2020 3:01:58 AM PDT by nathanbedford
September 17, 1862, the last hour of the bloodiest day in American military history, Lee knew that his beleaguered line must at last give way to overwhelming odds and the Army of Northern Virginia verged on destruction and, with it, destruction of the Confederacy itself.
Through one of history's oddist twists Lee's orders dividing his army had been discovered by common soldier in an open field days before wrapped around three cigars. The normally slothful McClellan was for once animated by the knowledge that Lee's army could be destroyed piecemeal. Lee drew up his army along Antietam Creek near the village of Sharpsburg Maryland to defend itself while he awaited the remnants of his army to come to his aid and rebalance, at least in part, the overwhelming material and numerical advantage of the Yankees.
Shelby Foote in his first volume of Civil War narrative describes the forced march of AP Hill from Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg:
Jacket off because of the heat, [AP Hill] rode in his bright red battle shirt alongside the panting troops, prodding laggards with the point of his saber. Beyond this, he had no dealings with stragglers, but left them winded by the roadside, depending on them to catch up in time if they could. Not many could, apparently; for he began the march with about 5000 men and ended with barely 3000.
Here was the decisive moment and Lee knew that all would soon be lost. Shelby Foote describes one of the most dramatic scenes of the war:
Observing a column moving up from the south west along the ridge line, Lee called to an artillery lieutenant on the way to the front with a section of guns: "what troops are those?" The lieutenant offered him his telescope. "Can't use it," Lee said, holding up a bandaged hand. The lieutenant trained and focus the telescope. "They are flying the United States flag," he reported. Lee pointed to the right, where another distant column was approaching from the southwest nearly perpendicular to the first and repeated the question. The lieutenant swung the glass in that direction, peered intently, and announced: "they are flying the Virginia and Confederate flags." Lee suppressed his elation, although the words refilled his one hope for deliverance from defeat. "It is AP Hill from Harpers Ferry," he said calmly.
As Shelby Foote wrote about AP Hill, "as was his custom, he struck hard." And so the Army of Northern Virginia was spared, but the North kept the field enabling Lincoln to claim victory and to issue his Emancipation Proclamation thus recasting the whole character of the war.
My great-grandfather was there 158 years ago today.
Good post!
Visited Harper’s Ferry in the 60’s. The tour guide did and excellent job of keeping teenage boys attention and telling the story. Focal point in history.
Bump for later reading
Thanks for posting. WOW. Good to see you. History/education BUMP!
These were gods among men. My ggg grandfather (hey, I’m pretty young!) was in the NVA. 29th VA Inf. The ref started out with over 770 soldiers and he was one of 31 to make it all the way to April 9th at Appomattox. I have a pic of him in his 80’s wearing his his southern cross medal. Saw lots of action from May of 1864 through the end of the war.
Another ggg grandfather was in Company H, 1st Tn Infantry Reg of Sam Watkins fame. He was in all the actions up to Perryville where he was captured, exchanged shortly thereafter and then after Murfreesboro medically assigned to a QM depot in Atlanta for the rest of the war. Died young as a result of his wartime injuries.
Heroes, all of them.
Camped at the battlefield many moons ago, when my son was with the boy scouts. Memories of standing on the stone bridge that crosses the creek, trying to visualize what it must have been like trying to cross it during that battle.
Lol... not the NVA (screw them!) but the ANV rather. (Army of Northern Virginia)
Thank you for reminding us today. We need these reminders as the wicked try to Rob is of our history, our memories, our very selves.
My ancestor was serving a the chief medical steward for The Surgeon Generals Office in Washington ,DC dealing with the human carnage of Lee’s treason.
Really? Lee was never convicted of or even tried for treason, rather, his descendents were awarded compensation by the government for misappropriating the Custis Lee mansion overlooking Arlington.
Lee surrendered according to the terms outlined by US Grant awarding parole to those who surrendered.
A politically correct memory can be a distorted memory and worse than unreliable in these dubious days of intersectionality.
Nathan Bedford was an American Hero, doesn’t matter what side you were on. We were all Americans and we are still.
A cousin of mine was there in the Ct 16th.
We were doing well and advancing.
After crossing Snavely’s ford, within a half a day, A. P. Hill arrived and beat us back hard enough that the CT 16th could not bring enough troops to bear in Fredericksburg and sat that one out in the rear with the gear.
He was wounded in the Peninsula Campaigns, brought to a prison camp and later died. He is buried in the cemetery in New Bern, NC.
Thanks for the post. One of my ancestors was part of a regiment from Thomasville GA in the cornfield. Almost no survivors. he died there. That was before they dispersed men to keep whole towns from losing their young men.
The history I learned taught me that the US army invaded Virginia after a Virginia convention, elected democratically, voted to exercise its constitutional right to withdraw from the union of states.
And Lincoln’s slaughter began.
And when it was all over, northern carpetbaggers descended into the south to assist in the reconstruction out of the goodness of their hearts.
Your desired virtue of one side while demonizing the other very much show a basic lack of understanding of the men who fought. The fighting men were just men who stood for their states, how it was back then, and paid horrible prices. Honor those men on both sides. They deserve their individual honor because the individuals did what they thought was their duty under conditions we cannot even comprehend.
I read stories of honor, valor, courage, ... on both sides then look into the mirror and know that I am not cut of the same cloth no matter what I would like to believe.
We cannot understand the way the country was seen by people back then but loyalty to ones state was very high. In some ways, that would be a good thing to get back too with less reliance on everyone to look at the FedGov for a giant one size fits all government.
Maybe you can make some peace with this period in history and just accept that most were just ordinary men trying to make the least worse decision honorably.
And Lincoln’s slaughter began.
Uh, didn't the war begin like a month or more earlier with the attack on Fort Sumter?
These re-writers of history are dangerous and so are the statue topplers like Nikki Haley.
Depends how you look at. The original 7 gulf states of the CSA attacked ft. Sumter. VA wasn’t part of the CSA at that time. They joined the CSA 5 days later.
So, what’s Fort A.P. Hill’s new name going to be?
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