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Casualties at Antietam
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Casualties include three categories: 1) dead; 2) wounded; and 3) missing or captured. |
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These are the approximate numbers for September 17th, 1862. No one knows the actual number of men who would later die of their wounds or the number of missing who had been killed. If you take a conservative estimate of 20% of the wounded dying of their wounds and 30% of the missing killed, the approximate number of soldiers that died as a result of this battle are 7,640. |
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Casualties at Antietam by Phase of Battle
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| The casualty numbers below include all three categories. The numbers below are approximations of the casualties that occurred in each phase of the battle. The chaos of battle makes it exceedingly difficult to develop precise numbers for casualties in each phase of the battle. Overall, 1 in 4 soldiers involved in battle that day were killed, wounded, or missing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| *The total numbers for the battle do not reflect the sum of all three phases due to approximations for numbers in each phase. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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free dixie,duckie/sw
Good Afternoon, Foxhole.
Excellent Civil War thread.
Confederate wounded at Smith's Barn, with Dr. Anson Hurd, 14th Indiana Volunteers, in attendance. Keedysville, Md., vicinity.
At least three AMEDD surgeons gave their lives while performing their duties on a single day during the September 17, 1862 action in the Battle of Antietam. VI Corps Surgeon James White was scouting sites for forward aid stations and planning evacuation routes as his unit prepared to attack Confederate positions in the East Woods when he came under sniper fire and was mortally wounded. Major General William B. Franklin, the corps commander, saw his unit suffer 21% casualties within a few hours and termed White’s loss one which was “severely felt.”
Surgeon Albert A. Kendall followed the 12th Massachusetts Infantry into the abbatoir of Miller’s Cornfield, where 3000 men fell within a 30-acre enclosure in the space of three hours on that morning. Kendall’s 325 comrades lost 224 men amid the ruined corn crop. Dr. Kendall was mortally wounded while attending to one of the 165 wounded. A similar fate befell the surgeon of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry, which fought Stonewall Jackson’s troops in the West Woods as an entire Union corps marched into an ambush. Dr. Edward Revere, Harvard Medical School graduate, was the grandson of Paul Revere. He, too, died while dressing the wounds of casualties at a regimental aid station located within musket shot of the firing line.
Official Records of the Civil War - Battle Reports
General George McClellan - Antietam/Sharpsburg
Report of Major General George B. McClellan
Battles of South Mountain and Antietam
Near Sharpsburg, MD, September 29, 1862
I have the honor to report the following as some of the results of the battles of South Mountain and Antietam: At South Mountain our loss was 443 killed, 1,806 wounded, and 76 missing; total, 2,325. At Antietam our loss was 2,010 killed, 9,416 wounded, and 1,043 missing total, 12,469.
Total loss in the two battles, 14,794.
The loss of rebels in the two battles, as near as can be ascertained from the number of their dead found upon the field, and from other data, will not fall short of the following estimate: Major Davis, assistant inspector general, who superintends the burial of the dead, reports about 3,000 rebels buried upon the field of Antietam by our own troops. Previous to this, however, the rebels had buried many of their own dead upon the distant portion of the battlefield, which they occupied after the battle - probably at least 500. The loss of the rebels at South Mountain cannot be ascertained with accuracy, but as our troops continually drove them from the commencement of the action, and a much greater number of their dead were seen on the field than of our own men, it is not unreasonable to suppose that their loss was greater than ours. Estimating their killed at 500, the total rebel killed in the two battles would be 4,000, according to the ratio of our own killed and wounded. This would make their loss in wounded 18,742, as nearly as can be determined at this time. The number of prisoners taken by our troops in the two battles will, at the lowest estimate, amount to 5,000. The full returns will no doubt show a larger number. Of these about 1,200 are wounded. This gives the rebel loss in killed and wounded and prisoners 25,542. It will be observed that this does not include their stragglers, the number of whom is said by citizens here to be large. It may be safely concluded, therefore, that the rebel army lost at least 30,000 of their best troops during their brief campaign in Maryland.
From the time our troops first encountered the enemy in Maryland until he was driven back into Virginia, we captured 13 guns, 7 caissons, 9 limbers, 2 field forges, 2 caisson bodies, 39 colors, and 1 signal flag. We have not lost a single gun or color. On the battlefield of Antietam 14,000 small arms were collected, besides the large number carried off by citizens and those distributed on the ground to recruits and other unarmed men arriving immediately after the battle. At South Mountain no collection of small arms was made, owing to the haste of the pursuit from that point. Four hundred were taken on the opposite side of the Potomac.
George B. McClellan,
Major-General, Commanding
Source: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Official Records of the Civil War - Battle Reports
General Robert E. Lee - Antietam/Sharpsburg
Mr. President:
On the afternoon of the 16th instant the enemy, who, you were informed on that day, was in our front, opened a light fire of artillery upon our line. Early next morning it was renewed in earnest, and large masses of the Federal troops that had crossed the Antietam above our position assembled on our left and threatened to overwhelm us. They advanced in three compact lines. The divisions of Generals McLaws, R. H. Anderson, A. P. Hill, and Walker had not arrived the previous night, as I had hoped, and were still beyond the Potomac. Generals Jackson's and Ewell's divisions were thrown to the left of Generals D. H. Hill and Longstreet. The enemy advanced between the Antietam and the Sharpsburg and Hagerstown turnpike, and was met by General Hill's and the left of General Longstreet's division, where the contest raged fiercely, extending to our entire left. The enemy was driven back and held in check, but before the divisions of McLaws, Anderson, and Walker - who, upon their arrival on the morning of the 17th, were advanced to support the left wing and center - could be brought into action, that portion of our lines was forced back by superior numbers. The line, after a severe conflict, was restored and the enemy driven back, and our position maintained during the rest of the day.
In the afternoon the enemy advanced on our right, where General Jones' division was posted, who handsomely maintained his position. General Toombs' brigade, guarding the bridge over Antietam Creek, gallantly resisted the approach of the enemy; but his superior numbers enabling him to extend his left, he crossed below the bridge, and assumed a threatening attitude on our right, which fell back in confusion. By this time, between 3 and 4 p.m., General A. P. Hill, with five of his brigades, reached the scene of action, drove the enemy immediately from the position they had taken, and continued the contest until dark, restoring our right and maintaining our ground.
R. E. Lee,
General Commanding
His Excellency President Davis
Richmond, Va.
Source: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Interesting. Jackson and his peaches, the bridge, the piecemeal Federal attacks.
So far a nice job. Important subject, capture of the District in '62 was not impossible.