Tag Archives: Battle of Antietam

World War I sparked the memory of a Civil War hero’s funeral

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Kevin Pawlak

With the centennial anniversary of the armistice effectively ending World War I having recently passed, it seemed fitting to stumble upon the article reproduced below from the September 21, 1918 issue of the Watertown Daily Times (NY). The article is titled “Funeral of Civil … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership--Federal, Memory, Newspapers, Primary Sources | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Railroads – Tracks to the Antietam: The Railroad Supplies the Army of the Potomac, September 18, 1862

Posted on October 27, 2018 by Kevin Pawlak

“We can distinctly hear firing again this afternoon in the direction of Harpers Ferry,” wrote a Union soldier in the Washington defenses on September 17, 1862.[1] Closer to the Antietam battlefield, one onlooker attempted to count the number of Federal … Continue reading →

Posted in Arms & Armaments, Artillery, Battles, Leadership--Federal | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Did Alexander Gardner photograph Charles Tew’s corpse in the Sunken Road?

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Kevin Pawlak

Charles Tew’s story is compelling. Daniel Harvey Hill called him “one of the most finished scholars on the continent, and [who] had no superior as a soldier in the field.”(1) Indeed he was. Tew graduated first in his class from … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

“A Fury Unequaled”: A North Carolinian’s Account of Antietam

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Kevin Pawlak

Finding personal accounts of battlefield experiences always raises my eyebrows, as it does for many of you. The details and immediate stories they contain are the stuff historians crave. When I read the account of James W. Shinn, a soldier … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Common Soldier, Emerging Civil War, Primary Sources | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Antietam Eve: The Night of September 16, 1862

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Kevin Pawlak

“The quiet that precedes a battle has something of the terrible in it,” wrote an Ohio soldier recalling the night of September 16, 1862. That night in the fields and woodlots surrounding Sharpsburg was an awful night for those who … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Books & Authors, Emerging Civil War | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

“The numbers of cannoneers is so small”

Posted on July 26, 2018 by Kevin Pawlak

Lt. Edward Williston commanded Battery D, 2nd United States Artillery at the Battle of Antietam. While at the National Archives, I found this revealing letter about the issues Williston’s battery encountered on the Antietam battlefield due to a shortage of … Continue reading →

Posted in Artillery, Battles, Leadership--Federal, Personalities, Primary Sources | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Atop Reel Ridge: Examining Lee’s Fallback Position North of Sharpsburg

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Kevin Pawlak

By 8:30 a.m. on the morning of September 17, 1862, the left end of Robert E. Lee’s line on the Sharpsburg Heights crumpled under repeated Federal blows. The Confederates of Alexander Lawton’s and J.R. Jones’s divisions had been forced back … Continue reading →

Posted in Artillery, Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Emerging Civil War, Leadership--Confederate, Leadership--Federal | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Not Just Antietam – September 17, 1862 In Perspective

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Chris Kolakowski

Wednesday, September 17, 1862. is rightly classed as the bloodiest day in American history. In that 24-hour period, more Americans fell killed, wounded, captured, or missing, than in any like 24-hour period before or since. This contention rests almost totally … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Civil War Events, Ties to the War, Western Theater | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

They Fell On The Fields Of Antietam

Posted on September 28, 2017 by ECW Guest Post

Emerging Civil War welcomes back Kristen M. Pawlak (Trout) On the fields to the east of the small western-Maryland hamlet of Sharpsburg and interposed between the Potomac River and Antietam Creek, just under four thousand Federal and Rebel troops lay … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles, Common Soldier | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Voices of the Maryland Campaign: September 17, 1862

Posted on September 17, 2017 by Kevin Pawlak

The flash of musketry fire illuminated the dark landscape around the sleepy town of Sharpsburg while the few visible stars still hovered in the early morning sky. With each passing moment, as the sun rose higher behind the peaks of … Continue reading →

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