Whiskey Courage in Abundance

“Whiskey Courage in Abundance”

K. Michael Gamble

As the Battle of Antietam raged into a harvest of death, Confederate and Union soldiers were ordered to remain steadfast in the execution of their orders.  Evidence of their bravery was evident through out the day as both armies attacked and counterattacked.   As the toll of human life mounted, however, many soldiers questioned the decisions that sent men into harms way.  Were these orders given by officers who were thinking in rational and logical ways, or were orders given by intoxicated amateurs who were hell bent for glory at the expense of soldier lives?  How prevalent was the use of liquor at the battle, and did this affect the welfare of the troops? 

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The Irish Brigade had achieved a reputation for its fighting spirit.  These Irish immigrants were proving that they were worthy of defending their adopted country.  During the attack on the sunken road, Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher ordered his troops in Brigade formation over a cornfield, open pasture, and plowed field as well as three fences towards an entrenched position supported by artillery.  This frontal attack was ordered while an adjacent brigade commanded by BG John Caldwell was flanking the Confederates defenders to his left.  In front of the sunken road were troops from previous attacks protected by a small ridge 60 yards from the Confederates.  Troops from Nathan Kimball’s brigade were pouring rifle fire towards Confederate brigades commanded by G.B. Anderson and Robert Rhodes as well as at Richard Anderson’s reinforcements moving towards the lane from the south.  In the middle of this intense fire fight, BG Meagher was urging his men forward.  Meagher will report that near the end of the engagement “My horse having been shot under me as the engagement was about ending and from the shock which I myself sustained, I was obliged to be carried off the field”.  Soon, rumors were circulated that Meagher had been drunk and had actually fallen from his horse.  Colonel David H. Strother, a member of General McClellan’s staff wrote in his diary the following day that Meagher was not killed as reported, but drunk, and fell from his horse.  Another story was circulated by Whitelaw Reid of the Cincinnati Gazette that Meagher was “too drunk to keep the saddle, fell from his horse …several times, was once assisted to remount by Gen Kimball of Indiana, almost immediately fell off again”.  These reports may have reflected prejudiced viewpoints and the power of rumor and innuendo.  However, there can be no doubt that Meagher was a heavy drinker and had a lack of military knowledge and experience.  For example, of the four regiments in the Irish Brigade, only the 69^th NY, 63^rd NY and 88^th NY were ordered to charge the road after discharging five volleys.  The 29^th Mass had the most protective position and was positioned between the 69^th and 63^rd. As Meagher pointed out in his report, he sent orders only to the Irish commanders and not to the 29^th Mass.  Was there any advantage in holding the 29^th Mass back? Was this decision formulated with purpose or a spur of the moment reaction?  What type of shock could have been sustained that would entail evacuation from the field of action?   One of Meagher’s regimental commanders, Colonel John Burke disgraced himself by being conspicuously absent from his post as the 63^rd NY was being shot to pieces.    Many questions remain about Meagher’s actions and whether there could have been a cover-up after the battle.

During the afternoon of the battle, Major Thomas W. Hyde of the 7^th Maine was ordered to take his regiment across open ground south of the sunken road to clear confederate sharpshooters from the Piper farm and orchard.  The officer giving the order was the Sixth Corps Colonel William Irwin.  Hyde will claim that only a drunkard would give such an order and suggested that it was a job for a brigade not a regiment.  Upon Hyde’s request, Irwin repeated his order and the 7^th Maine advanced towards the Piper barn and haystacks where it was hit from three directions by deadly rifle fire.  Retreating back to their jumping off point, the 7^th Maine lost half of their 181 men.  Hyde will later say that the order was “from an inspiration of John Barleycorn in our brigade commander alone”.

Another example of “whiskey courage” might have been MG James Longstreet himself.  Suffering from a painful heel spur and a “crippled hand” Longstreet was wearing a carpet slipper on his left foot during the battle.  As the Union army took possession of the sunken road, they surged through the cornfield south of the road and towards the Piper Orchard.  At this critical point of the battle, Longstreet held the reins of his staff officers’ horses and ordered them to man firing positions among Millers Battery which was on the perimeter of the orchard.  LT William Owen described this situation as follows” Longstreet was on horseback at our side, sitting side-saddle fashion, and occasionally making some practical remark about the situation.  He talked earnestly and gesticulated to encourage us, as the men of the detachments began to fall around our guns, and told us he would have given us a lift if he had not crippled his hand.  But, crippled or not, we noticed that he had strength enough left to carry his flask to his mouth, as probably everybody else did on that terrible hot day, who had any supplies at command to bring to a carry.”  Straw papered liquor flasks and a telescoping silver cup were popular accouterments in both the Federal and Confederate Armies.  The ready source of liquor by officers was a source of much resentment from the enlisted men.

Prior to the battle, Longstreet may have shown self-discipline regarding drinking alcohol from a practical perspective.  While visiting his new headquarters at the Piper home, Longstreet and D.H.Hill were offered refreshments in the form of wine by members of the Piper Family.  At first, Longstreet politely declined.  But after seeing General Hill not experiencing any ill effects from drinking the wine, said “Ladies, I will thank you for some of that wine”. (Too Afraid to Cry, p. 128)

The other Confederate wing commander, Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, appeared more enamored of fresh fruit than alcoholic beverages.  However, Major Henry Kyd Douglas, a member of Jackson’s staff, reported that he observed Jackson taking a whiskey toddy on the march towards Martinsburg Va (W.Va).  Douglas wrote “While mixing it leisurely, he remarked that he believed he liked the taste of whisky and brandy more that any soldier in the army; that they were more palatable to him than the most fragrant coffee, and for that reason he rarely tasted them “(Battles and Leaders p. 623) Jackson could take his troops to task about the presence of whiskey.  During one trip in the Potomac River, Jackson ordered staves of barrels busted apart and dumped into the water.  Enterprising confederates went downstream with buckets and dipped the diluted beverage for later use. Perhaps the dilution affected the taste.  Commissary whiskey was described as “bark juice, tar water, turpentine, brown sugar, lamp-oil and alcohol.”(p. 253 Billy Yank, Wiley)

Apparently, wine was a favorite drink of the farmers as Mr. William Roulette who resided north of the Sunken Road included “six gallons of blackberry wine @ $2 per gallon on his list of compensatory items presented to the U.S. Government after the battle.  This wine could have been used for “medicinal” purposes since the Roulette farmhouse became the site of a field hospital.  Spirits were used for medicinal purposes.  Regiments had a stock of “commissary” on hand as well as bottles of patient medicine that had high alcohol content. (Soldiers Life, Time Life, 1996)

As the fighting reached its climax at the Lower Bridge, Colonel Edward Ferrero was ordered to take the bridge at about 12:15 PM.  The attack plan called for the 51^st PA and 51^st NY to conduct a direct charge on the bridge from the bluffs east of the Antietam Creek with the 21^st Mass. in reserve.  Standing in front of the brigade before the attack, Ferrero shouted “It is General Burnside’s special request that the two 51sts take that bridge. Will you do it?” Apparently, the stillness was broken when Corporal Lewis Patterson yelled towards the Colonel “Will you give us our whiskey if we take it?”  Ferraro’s reply was “Yes by God, you shall all have as much as you want, if you take the bridge. I don’t mean the whole brigade, but you two regiments shall have just as much as you want, if it is in the commissary or I have to send to New York to get it, and pay for it out of my own private purse, that is if I live to see you through it! Will you take?”  “Yes” was the resounding answer.  On September 19, 1862, Colonel Edward Ferraro was promoted to Brigadier General and on the next day, the 51^st Pa got their whiskey as promised.” (Will you give us our whiskey” p...22 Civil War Battles Brother vs. Brother Special Issue Summer 2006) Perhaps General McClellan was not aware of Ferraro’s promise.  McClellan was on record for condemning the use of liquor amongst his troops. After liquor provoked insubordination in Hookers Division in February, 1862, McClellan stated the following “No one evil agent so much obstructs the army…as the degrading vice of drunkenness.  It is the cause of by far the greater part of the disorders which are examined by courts martial.  It is impossible to estimate the benefits that would accrue to the service from the adoption of a resolution on the part of officers to set the example of total abstinence from intoxicating liquors.  It would be worth 50,000 men to the armies of the United States.” (Hqrs. Army of Potomac G.O. 40. February 4, 1862)

After the Battle of Antietam, the disagreeable task of burying bodies left out in the elements for four days fell to the 137^th Pennsylvania Regiment.  An officer named Bingham secured permission from the provost marshal’s office to buy liquor for his men because he believed they would be able to carry out their orders only if they were drunk. (The Republic of Suffering P. 69).

The evidence is conclusive.  Liquor was used by soldiers during the Battle of Antietam.  At times, officers in positions of authority had been drinking liquor.  Did this drinking affect the final outcome of the battle? It appears as that it was more the absence of well co-coordinated and cohesive planning and the large numbers of inexperienced soldiers that had the most impact.  The horrors of combat affected the soldiers in many ways and the acceptance of liquor in the 19^th century as a panacea for all problems is evident.  It is understandable that the military reflected the values of American society  and that the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest one day in American history, produced enough horror and devastation to be tempted with some induced relief from liquor.

FDR Visits the Battlefield

A Presidential Visit by Ranger Mike Gamble

Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1937

The Last Great Reunion at Antietam

Memories of what it was like during the Battle of Antietam at Sharpsburg Maryland were still vivid to some of the participants who gathered for this historic reunion in 1937.   Approximately fifty Civil War veterans and a crowd of thirty-five thousand gathered at the battlefield to hear the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt,  give a stirring speech and to view a re-enactment of the battle.  From the grandstand erected overlooking the famous Bloody Lane, visitors were able to view one thousand National Guardsmen simulate combat.  Units came from Maryland, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, as well as active army soldiers from Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Major General Milton A. Reckord, Commander of the Twenty-ninth Division was overall commander of the program.  Union solders were dressed in barrack caps, O.D. shirts and blue denim; Confederates appeared  in campaign hats and khaki.  Action started with the "Confederates" waiting in the road for the "Union" attack.  Upon being attacked, the "Confederates"  retreated  and then counterattacked.  The narrator, Major Joseph W. Byron, Retired, described the action which in turn was broadcasted on a local radio station in Hagerstown. Major Byron planned the entire military program for the Antietam Celebration Commission.  The Commission was represented by Senators Tydings and Radcliffe of Maryland, Senator Harry Flood Byrd, of Virginia, Representative David J. Lewis of Maryland, and Representative Charles A. Plumly of Vermont.

Regular Army engineers simulated the noise of battle.  Smoke bombs burst in the sky, and two wooden farm buildings erected on the battlefield were put on fire and burned to the ground.  One interesting scene was a replica of a wooden Confederate battery that blew up from a charge of explosive planted underneath it as though it had been struck by a Union shell.

Colonel John Oehmann,  District Building Inspector and Head of the District of Columbia National Guard portrayed General Robert E. Lee.  Colonel John D. Markey of Frederick Maryland, Commander of the 1st Maryland Regiment,  portrayed General George B. McClellan.  Twenty-two spectators were treated for injuries; most of whom had fainted from fatigue or perhaps from excitement.  They were treated by the 104th Medical Regiment of Baltimore.

Following the battle, the assembled crowd stood for the playing of the National Anthem as Boy Scouts marched in front of the grandstand  with the flags of  30 states representing the homes of the soldiers who were in the battle.   The President received a memento of the fighting; a brightly polished wood with a bullet imbedded in it chopped from a tree near Burnside's Bridge.

Civil War  veterans from Maryland and Pennsylvania in attendance included George Leighty, from Hancock, Maryland,  one of  two remaining veterans of Washington County.   He served with the 3rd  Regiment, Maryland Infantry.  Other area veterans in attendance were  F.L. Mullinix from Westminster, Maryland who served with 7th Maryland Regiment, and Edward Flickinger, Dry Run, Pennsylvania from the  11th Pennsylvania Regiment.  Flickinger was the  last survivor of the Civil War from Franklin County.

`              The day before the program, September 16, twenty-one veterans toured the battlefield and observed that the corn was "more mature" than what they remembered seventy-five years ago.  Veterans were also part of a special dinner held in their honor at the Hotel Alexander Ballroom in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Twenty-four veterans, the Governors of two states and representatives of governors were guests.

In addition to the program on September 17,   a huge exposition had been held at the Washington County Fairgrounds beginning on September 4.  "On the Wings of Time" was a pageant that  featured a cast of two thousand.  Episodes of history over the past 200 years were depicted twice a night.  The oldest and the newest railway equipment were brought in on a special spur of track.  Airplane and blimp demonstrations appeared overhead. An estimated sixty thousand spectators viewed the pageant during its fourteen-day run.

All of the programs were well publicized through the Associated Press Wire Service and people from throughout the United States became aware of the rich historical heritage found in the surrounding tri-state area.  Coming on the heels of the great depression, it is worthy to note the pride that residents had in celebrating these historical events.

President Roosevelt closed his speech that day with words that placed focus on the importance of a united country.  His words bear wisdom today as they did in 1937. He stated "In the presence of the spirits of those who fell on this field--Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers--we can believe that they rejoice with us in the unity of understanding which is so increasingly ours today.  They urge us on in all we do to foster that unity in the spirit of tolerance, of willingness to help our neighbor, and of faith in the destiny of the United States.”

The Early History of the Battlefield by Brian Baracz

Early History of the Antietam Battlefield

            On September 17, 1862 Union and Confederate forces clashed in and around the peaceful town of Sharpsburg, Maryland.  When the battle was over, more than 23,000 men were strewn across the pastoral fields killed or wounded in what was, and still is today, the single bloodiest day in the history of the United States.  Today, the park shows few signs of this terrible clash of men during the Civil War, only woodlots, cornfields, and an occasional home and bank barn dot the landscape.[1]  It is a place of peace and tranquility, a place for reflection.  Through the early, significant work of the Antietam Battlefield Board, many reunions and monument dedications, and the recorded memories of veterans that took part in this watershed of American history, the Antietam National Battlefield is one of the best preserved battlefields in the country.

            When the plan to preserve America’s Civil War Battlefields was initiated in the 1870’s the country was still very young, not even 100 years old.  Many people had grandfathers who had fought during the Revolution.  Millions of others were witness to or had a connection with the Civil War and they believed it was their duty or obligation to preserve these sacred battlefields.[2]  The establishment of national military parks began in 1890 and initially four battlefields were chosen to act as a Battlefield Park System.  Each site chosen was designated to remember a specific army.  For example, Gettysburg was chosen to memorialize the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia; Chickamauga remembered the Union Army of the Cumberland and the Confederate Army of Tennessee; and Shiloh honored the Union Armies of the Tennessee and Ohio and the Confederate Army of the Mississippi.  After further discussion, it was deemed proper to also remember the Union Army of the Tennessee at Vicksburg because that was thought to be that army’s most successful operation.[3]  Antietam Battlefield was not one of the parks chosen to be included in the Battlefield Park System, but it was still deemed important enough that preservation efforts started in 1890.

            There were two laws passed in Congress in 1890 that provided the legal basis for the Antietam National Battlefield.  Today, relatively little is known about either of these laws except for the fact that they provided money for maintaining the National Cemetery, improving the grounds around the National Cemetery, and “for the purpose of surveying, locating and preserving the lines of battle.”[4]   The first step for locating the lines of battle came on August 1, 1891 when the Secretary of War appointed Colonel John C. Stearns, who served in the Union Army, and Major General Henry Heth, from the Confederate Army, as the men who formed the Antietam Board.

            When the Antietam Board was organized, one man was highly recommended to be placed on the Board, but he was overlooked.  His name was Ezra Carman, and he served as Colonel of the 13^th New Jersey Volunteers at the Battle of Antietam.  He was wounded during the war at the Battle of Williamsburg in 1862 and lost almost all of the use of his right arm and during the fight at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia in 1864 suffered almost a complete loss of hearing.  Despite these physical setbacks, his military career was capped by being brevetted Brigadier General in 1867.[5]

            When he was informed of a new opening on the Board he made another attempt to become a member and was not overlooked a second time.  On October 8, 1894, Ezra Carman was appointed to the position of “historical expert.”[6]  At the same time he was added to the Board, two new positions were created.  Former Union General George B. Davis was named the first President of the Antietam Battlefield Board.  Jedediah Hotchkiss, former Confederate mapmaker for General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, was selected as mapmaker for the Antietam project.[7]

            The Antietam Board sought to contact veterans asking for their reminiscences of the great battle.  This process was already underway because of the formation of the various veterans groups during this time period.  In addition to receiving much information from these groups, ads were placed in newspapers announcing the work of the Board and their request for information from veterans regarding the battle.  Once a veteran contacted the Board it was not uncommon for numerous letters to be sent between the two parties and for the veteran to send back, in addition to their written memoirs, a map provided by the Board asking the old soldier to mark the map with the position held by their regiment during the day of battle.[8]  The amount of information that flowed into the Antietam Battlefield Board’s office enabled the men the opportunity to cross reference information regarding battle specifics from numerous sources, thus providing the most accurate tactical study of the battle.

            It would seem with Hotchkiss enlisted to draw the map of the Antietam Battlefield that this job of the Board would have been completed with little effort, but that is quite the contrary.  When Hotchkiss received his letter of appointment, he was informed he would only have sixty days to complete his task.  Because of numerous problems and setbacks, the map was not completed in the allotted amount of time and Jedediah Hotchkiss was let go in April 1895 from the Antietam Battlefield Board.  It was at this point, they were left to go about collecting veteran’s recollections with only the crude maps created by Stearns and Heth during their few years together. [9]        

   

            An important accomplishment of the Antietam Board was the eventual completion of a map of the Antietam Battlefield.   (It is important to note at this time that during the late summer of 1895 a new President of the Antietam Battlefield Board was named, George W. Davis.   The first President Davis had been promoted and transferred to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.)[10]  In May of 1897, President George W. Davis requested help from the Gettysburg Battlefield Commission, “in connection with the preparation of a Map of the Antietam Battlefield.”[11]  Col. Emmor Bradley Cope, Hays W. Mattern, Edgar M. Hewitt and John E. Cope began their work at Antietam and as it turned out Mattern and Hewitt did most of the work on the Antietam map.  Because of the proximity of Gettysburg to Antietam, Col. Cope was not at Antietam on a regular basis; he remained at Gettysburg and just offered suggestions to Mattern and Hewitt in their preparations of the map.

            With the completion of the base map, (known today as the Carman-Cope Map) it was time to add all the information from the Official Reports, unit histories, and veteran’s correspondences to the map to provide a minute-by-minute history of the battle.  Due to the passing of Heth in 1899, Carman became the foremost authority in the implementation of this task.  The project was initially going to be nine maps, with six of the nine showing the various positions regiments held throughout battle.   When the Antietam maps were completed in 1904 there ended up being fourteen maps with the final artwork done by a man named Charles H. Ourand.[12] 

The final report of the Antietam Board was submitted by President George W. Davis on March 18, 1898.  The cost for the salaries of the civilian board members, surveys and maps, land, roads and fencing, observation tower, tablets and other various markers  (monuments to the six generals who were killed or mortally wounded during the battle), and finally other miscellaneous costs totaled $74,081.69.[13]  (It should be noted that no actual land was acquired, just right-of-way access on the roads.)   Over the next forty years, that there were no major improvements or federally funded undertakings at Antietam.  The one exception came in 1904 when Ezra Carman was allowed to make a few corrections and additions to the tablets for a nominal cost.[14]  The early work of acquiring the lands around the Antietam Battlefield and establishing it as one of the most significant battlefields of the Civil War can be attributed to the actions of a few individuals and the memories of the thousands of veterans who corresponded with the Antietam Battlefield Board, specifically Ezra Carman.[15]

The transfer of Antietam and other “historical areas” from the War Department to the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior took place on August 10, 1933 by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[16]  From that day forward, it has been the mission of the NPS to continue the work started the War Department over one-hundred years ago.  Today the Nation Park Service strives to preserve, protect, interpret, and improve for the benefit of the public the numerous resources associated with the Battle of Antietam and it legacy.

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[1] Bank barns are the style of barn most typically found in this region of Maryland.  The barn has an upper and lower entrance to make it easier for a farmer to store their crop in the upper section and drop feed to their animals in the lower area.  These barns are also distinctive because of the ‘cuts’ or ‘slits’ in the side stonework.  The cuts are needed because when ‘curing’ green hay, enough heat can be produced that spontaneous combustion could occur and burn the barn to the ground.  The cuts provide ventilation to prevent this from happening. For more information on historic barns see, Michael J. Auer, The Preservation of Historic Barns, [on-line book] available at http://www2.cr.nps.gov/tps/briefs/brief20.htm.  Last accessed November 3, 2003.

[2] Ronald F Lee, The Origin and Evolution of the National Military Park Idea (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior: National Park Service, 1973) 2.

[3] Lee, Military Park Idea, 24.

[4] Snell and Brown, ANB & NC: History, 69.

[5] David A. Lilley, "The Antietam Battlefield Board and Its Atlas: or The Genesis of the Carman-Cope Maps." Lincoln Herald 82, no. 2 (1980): 382.

[6] Snell and Brown, ANB and NC: History, 84-85.

[7] Lilley, ABB and Its Atlas, p.382.  Davis was the president of the board on the publication for the Official Records and through this project became familiar with Hotchkiss’s work and expertise thus bringing him onboard for this project.

[8] Lilley, ABB and Its Atlas, 383.

[9] In his article on the Carman-Cope maps, Lilley wrote, “In justice to Hotchkiss it is also important to observe that Col. Emmor Cope first estimated that Antietam could be mapped in three months; more than five times that period elapsed before the job was completed, a revealing footnote to compare with the time originally allotted Hotchkiss.” Lilley, ABB and Its Atlas, 384.

[10] Davis wrote in regards to his being at West Point, “I am at too great a distance to direct the work to advantage.” Snell and Brown, ANB and NC: History, 101.

[11] Snell and Brown, ANB and NC: History, 106. 

[12] Lilley, ABB and Its Atlas, 385.

[13] Snell and Brown, ANB and NC: History, 108.

[14] Snell and Brown, ANB and NC: History, 113.

[15] The wealth of information and material collected by the Antietam Battlefield Board can be located at: 1. National Archives Record Group No.92, Office of the Quartermaster General, Entry 705- Correspondence and maps of the Antietam Battlefield Site Board, 1893-1894. 2.National Archives Record Group 94, Records o the Adjutant General’s Office, The general Ezra A. Carman Papers, three or four boxes of correspondence 1895-1897, consisting of letters sent and received by Carman regarding troop positions at Antietam. 3. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Ezra A. Carman Papers, in eight boxes.  Seven contain an unpublished manuscript “History of the Maryland Campaign” and one box has notes and maps for this unpublished work.

[16] The transfer of forty-eight properties included eleven national military parks, two national parks, ten battlefield sites, ten national monuments, four miscellaneous memorials, and eleven national cemeteries.  Snell and Brown, ANB and NC: History, 146.

Baptized by Fire (part 3 of 3)

Baptized by Fire: The 125^th Pennsylvania at Antietam, Part 3

By Ranger Daniel Vermilya

This is the third of a three part series on the 125^th Pennsylvania Infantry at the Battle of Antietam. You can read parts one here, and part two here.

Just as their experience in battle had been new, the aftermath of Antietam brought unforeseen experiences for the men of the 125^th Pennsylvania. Many searched the battlefield to look for their dead and wounded comrades on the war torn landscape. The morning after the battle, Private Robert Cozzens of Company F made his way to the Dunker Church to search for his comrades who had fallen. Before reaching where his company fought, Cozzens came across the body of George Simpson, laying as though he was still holding the Regimental Colors in death as he had in life. After Confederates stymied several attempts to remove Simpson’s body during the day, that evening Simpson’s remains were brought back into Union lines.

On the evening of September 18^th, Captain William Wallace made his way to the Hoffman Farm, where some of the wounded and dying from the regiment were being treated. Wallace wrote of this visit with great emotion, contrasting the terrible sights with the higher calling to which he and his men were dedicated:

My visit to the barn hospital when darkness set in left some unfading memories. The amputated limbs strewn about outside made a ghastly sight under the glare of the torchlights, and the audbile sufferings of the maimed and wounded comrades and the comatose condition of others would have made the vocation of a soldier for empty honor or fame utterly abhorrent to me. But we were actuated by higher motives, and the righteousness of our cause justified the sacrifice.^[1]

Among the wounded in that barn was John Randolph Simpson, the brother of George Simpson. After being severely wounded in his retreat from the West Woods, Simpson had been helped to the Hoffman barn by a comrade, and there he lay in agony for several days. Surgeons initially diagnosed his wounds as being mortal, but upon reexamination, it was determined that Simpson could survive if given the proper care at home because none of his major organs had been damaged.

            While John Simpson struggled for life, his father needed to be told what had become of his sons.  J. W. Curry, a reverend and first cousin of George and John Randolph Simpson who was with the 125^th in an unofficial capacity, sent a letter home to his Uncle John Simpson, informing him of the fate of his two sons. The letter, dated September 19, told George Simpson’s grieving father that his son was shot down “while nobly bearing forward the ensign of his Country.”^[2] While he had hoped to bring the body home to Huntingdon, Curry noted that due to the warm weather, decay had begun and he was forced to purchase a coffin and bury George on the field.

Despite Curry’s best wishes for eventually bringing his cousin’s remains home, it was at Antietam where George would remain. In 1916, a much older John Randolph Simpson, by this time an accomplished attorney in the Huntingdon area, came back to visit the same field where his brother had been killed. After touring the countryside with his family, Simpson went to the National Cemetery where he visited his brother’s grave. The Cemetery Superintendent informed Simpson that one year before his visit another member of the regiment had come to pay their respects to their fallen color bearer. Upon seeing the grave, the old soldier broke down in tears. He asked that Simpson’s grave be adorned with flowers each year on Decoration Day, and he provided some funds to this end. That veteran was none other than Private Eugene Boblitz of Company H, the man who had picked up the flag after Simpson had fallen in battle at Antietam, only to be shot down himself.^[3]

            Stories such as these tell of the significance that the Battle of Antietam had for these green soldiers from Pennsylvania, a significance that extended for the rest of their lives. The men would go on to serve out their nine month enlistment in the Union army, only seeing significant combat again at Chancellorsville. The regiment mustered out of Federal service on May 18, 1863, though many of its members would again volunteer their services as Pennsylvania Emergency Militia during the Gettysburg Campaign.

More than four decades later—on September 17, 1904—the survivors of the 125^th Pennsylvania met near the Dunker Church on the fields of Antietam to dedicate a monument to their shared sacrifices, a monument adorned with a statue of George Simpson bravely clutching the regimental colors. Several men who had been instrumental in the formation of the regiment and had fought bravely in its service were there to dedicate the monument with speeches and remarks. Among these men was the former Captain of the regiment, William Wallace. In his remarks, he harkened back to the formation of the Company that he had raised in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, quoting both Shakespeare and Scripture, noting both that “there is a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will,” and “in all our ways [we]should acknowledge Him, who doeth according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.”^[4] Wallace went on to introduce his friend and former Lieutenant, Theodore Flood, the same divinity student who had prayed with Wallace many years earlier in the back of his Huntingdon office. When introducing Flood, Wallace noted that he was a man who had “received his baptism by fire near this spot.”^[5]

While Wallace was speaking of only one man with these words, they applied to all of the Huntingdon Bible Company, and to the 125^th Pennsylvania as well. The story of this company and this regiment is one of faith and courage in the midst of terrible suffering and slaughter. Only one month removed from their homes and farms, these men had their baptism by fire on the now peaceful fields surrounding the Dunker Church. Of the many green regiments in the Union ranks at Antietam, the 125^th Pennsylvania performed as bravely and effectively as any. Their experience at Antietam ranged from the success of boldly taking a valuable position at a crucial time in the battle to the depths of facing a withering Confederate counter attack. For the men of Company C, having left home with a Bible in one hand and a musket in the other, they acquitted themselves well on America’s bloodiest day. At Antietam, their battle cry of “In God We Trust” led them forward into a tempest of death and despair. As their call was taken up by the rest of the 125^th Pennsylvania, these men declared that the same faith and determination which had drawn them from their homes and into the army would likewise draw them into one of the bloodiest and fiercest firefights of the entire Civil War. Their baptism by fire at Antietam is one that should not soon be forgotten.

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[1] O.R. Vol. 19, Part 1, 177.

[2] J.W. Curry letter to John Simpson, September 19, 1862 (typed transcript), Antietam National Battlefield Library, 125^th Pennsylvania File.

[3] “J.R. Simpson, Esq., Visits Antietam”, Huntingdon Globe, June 22, 1916.

[4] William Wallace, September 17, 1904, in 125^th Pennsylvania, 220.

[5] Ibid.

Baptized by Fire (part 2 of 3)

Baptized by Fire: The 125^th Pennsylvania at Antietam, Part 2

By Ranger Dan Vermilya

This is the second post in a three part series on the 125^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at the Battle of Antietam. Click here to read part one of this series.

By September 16, the 125^th  Pennsylvania, along with the rest of the Union Twelfth Corps, had arrived along the banks of Antietam Creek. That evening, the regiment’s colonel Jacob Higgins received orders to prepare the 125^th Pennsylvania to move across the creek to prepare for battle the next day. Beginning in the late evening hours of September 16, the men of the Twelfth Corps began a long and winding march across the Upper Bridge over the Antietam and through the farm fields and woodlots just west of the creek, moving to the support of Joseph Hooker’s First Corps.  After marching through the darkness and the rain, the men of the 125^th Pennsylvania came to a halt at around 1:00 AM on the 17^th and began settling down on the plowed fields of the Line Farm for a few hours rest. As soon as the first rays of dawn began to break through the misty, rainy morning, the men of the 125^th Pennsylvania and the 12^th Corps could hear the sounds of battle echoing through the air. The rookie soldiers of the 125^th were soon ordered forward toward a twenty four acre cornfield owned by David Miller.  Advancing with the rest of Brigadier General Samuel Crawford’s Brigade, the 125^th Pennsylvania began to encounter enemy fire as they came close to the front lines, just north of the East Woods. On their way to the front, they saw their corps commander, Joseph Mansfield, fall mortally wounded; several members of the regiment claim to have helped carry the mortally wounded general back to a hospital at the George Line farm.^[1]

Around 8:30 AM, the 125^th Pennsylvania began to push southwest along the Smoketown road, heading straight for the Dunker Church and the West Woods behind it. Their advance occurred just after Brigadier General George Sears Greene’s Division had moved south along the same road to a pasture east of the small white-washed church. Why this advance occurred is not entirely clear. Several different accounts claim this movement was ordered, yet none are clear as to who ordered it. In his report, Brigadier General Samuel Crawford, noted that the 125^th “in the general movement had pushed on into the woods beyond our lines, and had become seriously engaged with the enemy…”^[2] Colonel Higgins attributed the movement to a request by an unnamed colonel who needed support for his overwhelmed troops. Upon ordering his men forward, an order which Higgins claimed that Crawford approved, the 125^th moved toward the Dunker Church and the West Woods.

As they moved across the battle scarred fields, the rookie Pennsylvania soldiers were ready for a fight. When the regiment neared the Hagerstown Turnpike, they prepared to push across it and to enter the West Woods near the Dunker Church.  It was at this time, Lieutenant Theodore Flood later recalled, that Captain Wallace stood in front of the line and yelled, “Boys, remember our Battle-cry ‘In God We Trust’”.^[3] Flood and Wallace were each members of Company C, the famed Huntingdon Bible Company (discussed further in part one of this series). The cry was soon taken up along the regiment’s line and the green soldiers moved forward with thoughts of God and Country in their hearts. Pushing forward into the woods, the regiment’s right flank entered a ravine and the left remained within twenty or thirty yards of the Dunker Church.

Lieutenant Theodore Flood later suggested a connection between this phrase and the same words appearing on U.S. coinage in February 1864, noting that in his visit to Antietam in October of 1862 Abraham Lincoln learned of the 125^th Pennsylvania and their story, thus suggesting to Salmon Chase that the phrase “In God We Trust” was an appropriate one to use. While this story is plausible, there are no corroborating definitive accounts to prove the link between the regiment, Lincoln, and Chase. Rather than inspiring the same phrase on currency, the most remarkable aspect of this battle cry was that it brought the men of the Bible Company full circle; just as they had left home a few weeks prior with a Bible in one hand and a musket in the other, they now had proclaimed their trust in God in the midst of the most terrible day of the American Civil War. As they pushed into the West Woods, they did so with a firm reliance in the righteousness of their cause and in the protection of Divine Providence.

Unbeknownst to them, the 125^th Pennsylvania was about to be a part of one of the fiercest fights on the field that day.  At this point in the battle, they were the only unit from the Twelfth Corps which had entered the West Woods that far south, establishing a tenuous yet important foothold. To their south-east sat George Sears Greene’s Division, and to their north was George Gordon’s brigade of Alpheus Williams’s division. They were now in one of the most pivotal spots on the field, threatening Lee’s flank from the west side of the Hagerstown Turnpike. As the 125^th Pennsylvania pushed into the West Woods, they quickly encountered advance elements of Jubal Early’s Brigade. After driving these Confederates away with a brisk line of fire, more trouble stirred in the distance.

All morning, Robert E. Lee had been worried about his left flank. Lacking any key defensive terrain, he needed to continually throw reinforcements north to fend off the repeated Federal assaults. As the 125^th Pennsylvania entered the West Woods, Lee began sending the divisions of Lafayette McLaws and John Walker toward that area. Unbeknownst to Lee, a large Federal division was also heading toward the West Woods. Major General John Sedgwick’s division was the first command from the Union Second Corps to arrive on the field that day. Being led both by division commander Sedgwick and 2^nd Corps commander Major General Edwin V. Sumner, these Federals moved due west from the East Woods, entering the West Woods just north of the 125^th Pennsylvania’s position. This occurred at around 9:15 am. Sedgwick’s infantry advanced to the north of the 125^th Pennsylvania and encountered Confederate artillery and infantry posted on Hauser Ridge.

Amid the confusion of this advance, the 34^th New York, part of Brigadier General Willis Gorman’s lead brigade in Sedgwick’s division, broke away from the rest of its command and drifted south toward the Dunker Church. The 34^th New York ultimately occupied a plot of ground just behind and to the right of the 125^th Pennsylvania.

It was at this point, having just been reinforced, when the tide of battle began to turn against the Pennsylvanians; Lee’s reinforcements had arrived. Lafeyette McLaws’s men spearheaded a massive attack directly into the flank of the Federals in the West Woods, as men from Jubal Early’s brigade advanced directly against the 125^th Pennsylvania, engaging them in a fierce firefight behind the Dunker Church. As Early’s brigade went head on into the fight, Joseph Kershaw’s brigade of South Carolinians began to advance directly against the left flank of the 125^th Pennsylvania position. Early and Kershaw were also supported by William Barksdale’s Mississippians, who were threatening the right flank of the Pennsylvanians.

It was not long before the effects of this Confederate counter attack began to take a heavy toll on the men from the Keystone State. Men began to fall by the dozen, and among them was Color Sergeant George Simpson. When Simpson was struck in the head by a rebel bullet, both he and the regimental colors fell down in a bloody heap. Private Milton Lytle later remembered that Simpson was killed instantly. As Simpson’s body fell it did so with the regimental colors wrapped firmly in his arms.^[4] Quick to pick up the flag was Private Eugene Bablitz of Company I, only to be hit twice by rebel bullets, forcing him to throw the flag toward the regimental line. The banner, now stained red with the blood of two color bearers, fell several more times as each man who bravely stepped forward to raise it was shot down. Sergeant Walter Greenland was the last of those who picked the colors off the ground to hold it aloft. Writing home to his brother the next day, Walter recalled:

I was about 300 yards to the left of the colors and when we came out of the woods, I saw the colors laying on the ground. I threw away my musket and ran for them, by the time I got them in my hands the “Reb’s” [sic] were not fifty yards off. But I got out safe. I tell you what, the bullets flew around me, I was not hurt bad, a ball struck my ear. It stung considerable, my musket was struck in the middle, knocked all to pieces.^[5]

As the battle flag of the 125^th Pennsylvania fell from one man to the next, the regiment’s line of battle was likewise falling apart. The Pennsylvanians were out in front of the largest Confederate counterattack against Union lines that day. Kershaw’s South Carolinians and Barksdale’s Mississippians proved to be more than the 125^th Pennsylvania and the supporting 34^th New York could bear.

The subsequent Union withdrawal from the woods was by no means orderly. Several men wrote of not knowing the line had fallen back until they noticed a decrease in the rate of fire from those around them. One such individual was Sergeant John Randolph Simpson, whose brother George had just been killed. Simpson remembered being left “almost alone in the line” near the church. Deciding quickly that he “would sooner take the chances of being shot than of being captured and taken to Libby prison,” Simpson fell back across the Hagerstown Turnpike towards his retreating comrades. Once across the road, Simpson stopped to load his musket, noticing that the enemy infantry was now only fifty yards away. As he loaded his gun, Simpson felt a sharp pain, saw his left arm fall limp and blood begin flowing from his chest. In a state of panic, he dropped his weapon and made for the rear along with the rest of the now routed 125^th Pennsylvania. During their retreat from the West Woods, Sergeant Greenland came upon Captain Wallace of Company C. Wallace assumed the colors from Greenland and, with the colors safely furled, headed for their prior position in the East Woods; once there he unfurled the flag and began rallying his scattered regiment.

For the remainder of the day, the 125^th Pennsylvania played only a supporting role for the action on the northern end of the field. After their retreat to the East Woods, Colonel Higgins was approached by Sixth Corps commander William Franklin and told to help support the placement of artillery and infantry units. As the day stretched into late afternoon, it became clear that the heavy fighting at Antietam was moving southward, and those men on the northern end of the field could begin to assess the damage that they had suffered that morning.

The 125^th Pennsylvania had entered the field that day with approximately 700 men present for duty, almost the size of a small brigade. During the time in which they were engaged, the regiment lost 145 men killed and wounded for an official casualty rate of twenty percent. Several veterans later suggested that eighty four men were wounded but did not report their condition, bringing the casualties up to 229 for a rate of thirty three percent. In the Huntingdon Bible Company, roughly twenty percent had been killed or wounded. Other regiments that day sustained higher casualties, but few green regiments performed as well or suffered as heavily as did the 125^th Pennsylvania.

While they did not hold their position for long, the 125^th Pennsylvania had been the first Union regiment to push into the West Woods behind the Dunker Church that day. Because of their forward position, they were exposed and vulnerable to the largest Confederate counterattack at Antietam. The Confederate attack which swept into their flank was the only time during the battle when Confederates outnumbered Federals on a particular part of the field. Despite their full ranks, there was little these Pennsylvanians could do to stop the Confederate onslaught. In his official report, Samuel Crawford, who had taken command of the First Division of the Twelfth Corps when Alpheus Williams took the place of the mortally wounded Joseph Mansfield, allotted special praise for the 125^th Pennsylvania, as well as the green 124^th and 128^th regiments from that state, all of whom behaved “with great promptness and with the coolness of old troops, although they had not before been under fire.”^[6]

Part three of this series on the 125^th Pennsylvania at Antietam will be posted in a few days. It will discuss what happened to the regiment and some of its soldiers after Antietam.

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[1] Different accounts from members of the regiment mention several men of the 125^th Pennsylvania helping to carry Mansfield to the rear. Among them are accounts from Captain William Wallace and Colonel Higgins, which both appeared in letters and Huntingdon newspapers after the war (copies in Antietam Battlefield Library).

[2] O.R. Vol. 19, Part 1, 485.

[3] Theodore Flood, “On the March and in Fire of Battle,” in The History of the 125^th Pennsylvania, ed. William Wallace.

[4] Huntingdon Globe, June 26, 1902.

[5] Walter Greenland letter to brother, September 18, 1862, (typed transcript), Antietam National Battlefield Library

[6] O.R. Vol. 19, Part 1, 484.