Tour Stop 9 - The Final Attack

 

Introduction

After taking the Lower Bridge, Burnside moved across these fields from east to west, pushing back the Con­federate right flank. Just as it appeared that Lee's line was breaking, Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill's Light Division arrived from Harpers Ferry to drive Burnside back to Antietam Creek.

 

"The Advance Was Made With the Utmost Enthusiasm"
Gen. Jacob Cox, Union Ninth Corps

After finally driving the Confederates from the bluffs overlooking the Lower Bridge, close to 10,000 Federal troops crossed Antietam Creek and formed for the final push to drive the Confederate army back. At approximately 3:00 p.m., a mile-wide battle line of Union soldiers swept forward across the extremely
rugged terrain. About 2,500 Confederate soldiers and forty cannon awaited their advance.

Burnside's men moved through a withering fire of artillery and infantry, surging to the Southern
line on the high ridge south of Sharpsburg. At about 4:00 p.m., the last of Lee's Confederate reinforcements arrived on the field. Although exhausted and footsore after marching seventeen miles from Harpers Ferry, Gen. A.P. Hill's Confederate soldiers slammed into the exposed Union left flank and drove them back. As darkness fell, the battlefield finally grew quiet. One soldier in the Ninth Corps remembered: "The conflict died away, the enemy also had got all the fighting they wanted for the day. It had been an afternoon in the valley of death."

"Before it was entirely dark the 100,000 men that had been threatening our
destruction for twelve hours had melted away"
Gen. James Longstreet, Army of Northern Virginia

 

(1) After defending the Lower (Burnside) Bridge, the Confederates fell back to the high ground east of Sharpsburg. When the final Union attack started, there were more than 2,000 Confederate soldiers and more than forty cannon stretching from Sharpsburg south toward Millers Sawmill Road.

(2) Over 8,000 Federal troops, commanded by Gen. Ambrose Burnside, formed on the ridge 300 yards to the east. At 3:00 p.m. the attack began. A few regiments from Gen. Isaac Rodman's division advanced to the high ground 400 yards to the west. Col. Harrison Fairchild declared, "We charged over the fence, dislodging them and driving them from their positions down the hill toward the village."

(3) When it appeared that the Federals had finally gotten the better of Lee's army, Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill and his men arrived from Harpers Ferry. Striking Burnside's left flank, Hill remembered that his soldiers "were not in a moment too soon," and how with a "yell of defiance" and "destructive volleys" they "drove them back pell-mell…the tide of the enemy surged back, and, breaking in confusion, passed out of site."

Burnside's men fell back. That evening over 23,000 Union and Confederate wounded and dead covered the fields around Sharpsburg. Both armies maintained almost the same positions as they did when the day began. Neither Lee nor McClellan would renew the battle the next day. On the evening of September 18, Lee started his retreat across the Potomac River and back to Virginia.

 

Open Transcript 

Transcript

Hello everyone. My name is Mark Cheney. I'm a park Ranger here at Antietam National Battlefield. Today we're here at tour. Stop 9. The final attack now the ground we're standing on. This will witness the final hours of fighting on September 17th of 1862. After Union General Ambrose Burnside takes the lower bridge, he now has the daunting task of organizing his entire core on the western side of the Antietam Creek.

It takes nearly two hours for the divisions of the 9th chord to cross the Creek, resupply and organize fresh troops for the final advance towards Sharpsburg. By 3:00 PM, Burnside will have over 8000 troops and supporting artillery forming along this ridgeline.

With Sharpsburg in the Confederate line just 500 yards away, the advancing 9th core has some of the most difficult terrain to scale. The entire Confederate right flank is now in the hands of David R Jones and more than 2000 Confederate soldiers. With their own artillery support, the US line would start to advance through these fields behind me. Now, despite the high ground that the Confederate line controls, they're lined with, not hold without additional reinforcements. Captain John Dooley of the first Virginia remembers the Union assault quote, “Now they are at the last elevation of rising ground, and whenever a head is raised, we fire. Now they rise up and make a charge for our fence, hastily emptying our muskets into their line. We fled back through the cornfield.”

At around 4:00 PM, the Confederate line was starting to break and the Federals could see the town of Sharpsburg. It is at this moment that the last of Lee's reserves will arrive, Confederate General AP Hill and his light division. Despite being exhausted after marching nearly 17 miles from Harpers Ferry, they would slam into the exposed union, left flank and drive them back by 5:30. Burnside's men will fall back and regroup, but before another attack can be organized, the Sun will begin to set, bringing the battle to an end. That evening, over 23,000 union and Confederate soldiers lay dead or wounded on the fields of Sharpsburg.

Antietam remains the bloodiest day in Americas history. 23 thousand sons, husbands, brothers, uncles, nephews and families affected by this gruesome 12 hours of fighting. The next day, neither army would renew the battle. But the evening of the 18th, Lee would retreat across the Potomac, allowing General McClellan and President Lincoln to declare Antietam to be a Union victory.

This victory would allow President Lincoln to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation stating that all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then thenceforward and forever free.

This document will forever change the history of our country and forever change the lives of nearly 4 million enslaved people. Despite the battle being over the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation signed the work at Antietam is still not over. Join us at our final tour stop and Team National Cemetery where we will talk about the dead of Antietam.

Duration:

3 minutes, 59 seconds

Final Attack Tour Stop 9

 

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