“Awful carnage” was the Hartford Courant’s description of the Battle of Antietam, fought between Union and Confederate forces — led by Gens. George McClellan and Robert E. Lee, respectively — in Sharpsburg, Md., on Sept. 17, 1862.
Named after a nearby creek, Antietam was, and remains, the bloodiest day in American history with an estimated 22,000 casualties over the nearly 12-hour clash.
Four Connecticut regiments — the 8th, 11th, 14th, and 16th — were present that day, consisting of hundreds of men. However, hundreds were either killed, wounded, or missing in action. One regiment lost more than half its troops during the fight. For some, Antietam was their first battle experience; but “all accounts state that the Connecticut troops behaved splendidly, the new as well as the old regiments,” as the Litchfield Enquirer reported (Sept. 25, 1862).
Though historians consider the battle’s outcome a “tactical draw,” the Union’s valiant efforts — in part, due to Connecticut men — laid the moral foundation for the Civil War’s duration: the end of slavery. On Sept. 22, President Abraham Lincoln, who had been waiting for a Union victory, issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring “all persons held as slaves” in Southern States as free, according to American Battlefield Trust.
The proclamation eventually went into full effect the following New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 1863, thereby changing the war’s trajectory for the betterment of humankind.
Yet the battle had to be fought — mostly by the young. As one soldier, Capt. John Griswold, a native of Lyme in the 11th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment, attested on his death bed during the day, “I die as I have ever wished to do, for my country.”
This is the story of Connecticut’s involvement at the Battle of Antietam.
Dawn to the Mighty Clash
When the Civil War ignited after the Confederate attack of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Connecticut Gov. William Buckingham, who had won a narrow election only months before, was the “leading catalyst” in mustering volunteers for the Union Army at President Lincoln’s behest. Indeed, the two had been friends since the latter’s visit in early 1860 and Buckingham staunchly supported the Union, as well as prohibiting slavery’s expansion.
His tenacity, working tirelessly to procure men and materials, proved effective, as the Museum of Connecticut History emphasizes. In total, Connecticut supplied nearly 55,000 soldiers — which “represented 47% of men between the ages of 15 and 50,” as Connecticut History states. Thirty regiments were formed, including the all-Black 29th regiment.
Sadly, 10% of these men died or were wounded throughout the Civil War.
Nearly a year before Antietam, in the fall of 1861, the 8th and 11th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiments were mustered in Hartford under the command of Col. Edward Harland and Col. Thomas H.C. Kingsbury, respectively. Both would later fight in the consequential battle — and both engaged in combat early the following year, including the Battle of Roanoke Island and the Battle of New Bern, which were Union victories.
The 14th and 16th would not be formed until August 1862. Neither saw action — until Antietam.
However, all would converge in Sharpsburg when Gen. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia invaded northern territory for the first time during early September 1862. It was bold — but not irrational. That summer, the Confederacy had scored major victories like the Seven Days Battles (June-July 1862) and the Second Battle of Manassas (August 1862) south of the Potomac River. The Union Army feared that Confederate success in Maryland could not only “influence” forthcoming elections and European nations to recognize the successionist states as a new nation, but also “lead to the capture of the Federal capital in Washington, D.C.,” according to American Battlefield Trust.
Thwarting Gen. Lee’s advance, then, was imperative. Indeed, the Confederacy endured a setback at the Battle of South Mountain (Sept. 14, 1862), so the general opted “to make one last stand,” selecting Antietam Creek as the strategic position.
At dawn on Sept. 17, more than 132,000 men — 87,000 Union and 45,000 Confederate — would begin the mighty clash, and with it, immense toil and death.
‘The Carnage was Frightful’
Ira Forbes and Robert Kellogg, two 16th Regiment privates, had been praying that morning when the fighting began. Little did they realize, when they joined their ranks, the horrors their Connecticut comrades would endure. Indeed, the regiment had been “wholly unprepared for combat, with predictably catastrophic results,” according to HistoryNet; some may have never even fired a gun before that fateful day.
In the early morning, around 7 a.m., a Confederate battery “opened fire” and “in about ten minutes had got the range so well that a number of the 8th Conn. and 16th Conn. fell dead or wounded,” as Dr. N. Mayer, surgeon of the 11th regiment, wrote in a letter published by the Courant (Oct. 7, 1862).
They were not the only ones to suffer significant casualties.
During the battle, most of the Connecticut regiments fell under the command of Major Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commander of the IX Corps, who was ordered to “storm a small bridge (which ever afterward would bear his name) that spanned the Antietam, southeast of Sharpsburg,” as noted by John MacDonald in Great Battles of the Civil War. He had 11,000 men to complete the task.
Yet, on the creek’s opposite bank, overlooking the bridge, lay Rebel troops — roughly 550 men — from Georgia led by Brigadier Gen. Robert Toombs. The 11th Connecticut Infantry Volunteer Regiment, led by Col. Kingsbury, would make the first assault over the narrow bridge. Despite the Union artillery shelling the Confederates, the Connecticut men “never had a chance” of success due to the logistics. They “bore the brunt of the fighting,” as The Norwich Morning Bulletin attests (Sept. 23, 1862). Kingsbury was killed. Lieut. Col. Griffin Stedman took command, but too was “badly wounded in the leg,” though he “refused to leave the field until the battle was over,” according to The Civil War in the East.
As gunfire rained down, the 11th regiment managed to cross the bridge, though “being entirely unsupported, they were compelled to fall back,” The Bulletin reported. During the fray, Capt. Griswold was also killed. The Yale graduate was 26 years old. Like others, Dr. Mayer admired Griswold’s courage and final words related to his duty toward country.
For his part, Dr. Mayer was tending to the dying and the “most frightful hurts” in a barn not far from the battlefield. When he did leave the barn to find more wounded, he witnessed a harrowing scene:
“The carnage was frightful. …Still on went the brave regiments, rallying as often as they were broken. …when one hears the awful whistle of a shell, and sees the cornstalks breaking and hears them crashing around, and directly after is stunned by the tremendous explosion in your direct neighborhood, one feels like lying down and hugging the ground as closely as possible.”
In total, 37 men from the 11th regiment were killed; and more than 100 others were wounded. Indeed, it took the Union Army three attempts to secure the bridge, suffering 500 casualties in the process to the Confederacy’s 160.
The 16th regiment fared no better than the 11th, though they “did their State no discredit,” as The Willimantic Journal reported, Oct. 10, 1862. Still, their bravery under the Confederate crossfire could not completely overcome the glaring inexperience when ordered to take a cornfield. One soldier, Sidney Hayden, described how the Rebels “got closer to us by dressing in our clothes and carrying our flag, firing volley after volley on us.” It was “an awful sight to see so many young men slaughtered and cripled [sic] but it is so.”
The regiment had been ordered to “outflank the Confederates and find a crossable ford on Antietam Creek,” about a mile from Burnside’s Bridge, as HistoryNet notes. However, by the end of the battle, most of the men were “dead, wounded or absent from the field,” the latter due to panic from the pounding gunfire. Privates Forbes and Kellogg, though, would survive the day.
The 8th regiment, meanwhile, had crossed Burnside’s Bridge, pushing back the Confederates, even forcing their “gunners to abandon their pieces.” However, like the 11th, support was lacking — and “its advanced position exposed it to fire from both flanks,” according to Antietam Stone Sentinels. They took on heavy casualties, losing more than 50% of their men.
In the end, Burnside’s advance was stalled due to Confederate reinforcements by Major Gen. A.P. Hill’s division after a “long march from Harpers Ferry,” which “sav[ed] the day for the Army of Northern Virginia.”
The 14th regiment was the only Connecticut group under the command of Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner, who led the 2nd Corps, which engaged the Confederacy’s center. At nearly 9 a.m., the men fought in “furious combat” near Roulette Farm, as the Union pushed toward what is called the “Sunken Road” — later called “Bloody Lane” due to immense casualties — totaling 5,500 soldiers. Like the 16th regiment, men in the 14th were “untrained, bewildered, and most likely, very frightened when confronted with the gross realities of war,” as noted by the State Capitol Preservation & Restoration Commission.
After two hours of fighting, the regiment was ordered to support Col. John R. Brooke’s 53rd Pennsylvania Infantry, and then Col. John Caldwell’s 11th Maine Infantry and Brigadier Gen. Thomas F. Meagher’s Irish Brigade, which attacked the Confederates on “Bloody Lane.” They held this position from around 5 p.m., and were then relieved at 10 a.m., the following morning. In total, the regiment suffered 20 killed, nearly 100 wounded, and nearly 50 missing in action.
One casualty was Sgt. Frederick Eno of Bloomfield, who, after being mortally wounded, was asked if he had a message home. According to reports, his dying response was “Tell them I have done my duty, and die like a man.”
‘I Have Done My Duty’
There were several skirmishes the following day — but most of the fighting had ceased. On Sept. 19, Gen. Lee slipped back across the Potomac; and Gen. McClellan failed to pursue the retreat with any vigor. Consequently, President Lincoln relieved McClellan of command that November.
The death toll was tremendous. Indeed, in his letter, Dr. Mayer “felt the real terror of the battle when seeing shattered limbs around me, and the terrible destruction of flesh and bone by deadly projectiles used in warfare of the present day.”
One member of the 16th regiment, Adjutant Burnham, collected the bodies, placing them “near a large tree standing alone” for a mass grave midway between Sharpsburg and Burnside’s Bridge. Several remains were sent back for funerals in Connecticut, including Sgt. Washburn of the 8th regiment at the Congregational Church in Berlin. He was 26 years old, and “highly praised for his heroic bravery” during the Battle of Antietam, as The Courant reported, Oct. 14, 1862.
The living, meanwhile, tried to console grieving families. In one such case, Capt. William J. Roberts of the 11th regiment, wrote a sympathetic letter to the family of David Lake, a New Milford native, who served in the same regiment. Roberts remarked how “there was a very pleasant smile on his countenance” during his death, “as if he had died very easy, realizing that his duty was done and his race well run.” He even expressed how Lake was “always cheerful and contented,” and “cool and brave” on the battlefield, adding that he would “miss his pleasant smile and friendly voice about our campfires.”
In the following months and years, the Connecticut regiments valiantly fought at Fredericksburg (December 1862), Chancellorsville (May 1863), Gettysburg (July 1863), the Battle of the Wilderness (May 1864), Cold Harbor (June 1864), and other major engagements. By the war’s end, the 14th regiment had “captured the most enemy flags, [and] suffered the highest number of combat casualties of any Connecticut regiment in the Civil War.” They were even present during Gen. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865, which effectively ended the conflict.
The Civil War was the most cataclysmic struggle in the nation’s history — and the Battle of Antietam is the epitome of its destruction. Yet the Union’s efforts that day temporarily held the Confederacy’s northern invasion. Gen. Lee would try again the following year, but ultimately failed in his endeavors at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.
More importantly, Antietam provided President Lincoln the opportunity to present the Emancipation Proclamation, which, though redundant in the North, nevertheless signaled the Union’s aim for the war effort. As the U.S. National Archives describes:
“It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery’s final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom.”
Currently, the Connecticut regiment flags are on display at the State Capitol.
Today, however, Americans are divided, so much so that eight-in-ten U.S. adults cannot agree on “basic facts,” according to a July Pew Research Center survey. Moreover, a plurality believe a new civil war is likely over the next decade. The recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has highlighted this damaging rift among Americans.
Yet the nation should take heed of Antietam, which serves as a stark warning to when we fail to see the inherent dignity of others. There is time to avoid a new reckoning; perhaps the solution can be found in reengaging with civil society and a recommitment to the sacred truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, that all men are created equal. All are endowed with inalienable rights.
Yankee Institute, in its own way, daily strives to live up to the values embodied in our founding documents by promoting policies that advance the principles of liberty and opportunity articulated therein, here in Connecticut. We embrace the spirited debate that sometimes accompanies discussion of policy in a free society — debate in which violence should have no part.
At Antietam, the Connecticut regiments fought to preserve the United States, and, by doing so, ushered in a new birth of freedom with the moral cause to end slavery. We cannot forget the blood spilled, soaked beneath those fields in Maryland. We must strive toward our better angels.
By doing so, we will protect all we hold dear: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Till next time —
Your Yankee Doodle Dandy,
Andy Fowler
