BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Antietam Natl Battlefield -- Upper Bridge (Woods, Cornfield, Dunker Church, Mumma)

MD -- Antietam Natl Battlefield -- Upper Bridge (Woods, Cornfield, Dunker Church, Mumma):

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. ANTIUP_130804_003_STITCH.JPG: Dunker Church
2. ANTIUP_130804_017.JPG: A Savage Continual Thunder At Antietam, the open and rolling terrain benefited the artillerymen of both armies. By placing their cannon on high ground, Blue and Gray alike were able to effectively strike enemy troop positions at great distances. Over 500 cannon thundered across the landscape for over twelve hours. The Artillery was a separate, specialized branch of the army that supported the infantry. The basic organizational unit for artillery was called a battery. It consisted of four to six cannons with approximately 70-100 men and was commanded by a Captain. There are many models and sizes of Civil War cannon, but there are two basic types - smoothbore and rifled. A smoothbore cannon barrel is just like a pipe, smooth on the inside. In contrast, a rifled cannon has spiral grooves cut into the inside of the barrel, which forces the ammunition to rotate like a football. It is more accurate and has a greater range than a smoothbore gun. The four cannon displayed here represent the majority of the artillery used in this battle. The two right guns are made of bronze and are smoothbore, the two left guns are made of iron and are rifled.
3. ANTIUP_130804_027.JPG: A Converging Storm of Iron Confederate Col. Stephen D. Lee placed his battalion of nineteen cannons here. Throughout the morning, Union infantry and artillery aimed their attacks towards this high ground and the Dunker Church. Twenty-five percent of his men were killed or wounded and sixty of his horses were killed. Later, when he remembered that terrible morning Lee wrote, "A converging storm of iron slammed into the batteries from front and flank. Wheels were smashed, men knocked down, horses sent screaming, to stay in the field was to sacrifice units needlessly."
4. ANTIUP_130804_044.JPG: Destroy the Rebel Army Two days before the battle, President Abraham Lincoln sent Gen. George B. McClellan a telegram, "God bless you and all with you! Destroy the rebel army, if possible." It was here, on these rolling farm fields, where McClellan and the Army of the Potomac would try. Gen. Robert E. Lee gathered his Confederate army here and decided to "make a stand." His 40,000 soldiers spread out in a roughly three mile line. You are standing near the center of Lee's men. As you face north, it was primarily Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's soldiers who took position on this end of the battlefield. It was his men who would bear the brunt of McClellan's initial assaults. The night before the battle was rainy and dreary. Over 15,000 Union soldiers crossed Antietam Creek and moved into position on the far north end of the field. At dawn on September 17, they attacked south twoard the Dunker Church and Jackson's Confederates. For the next four hours, the woods and fields in front of you changed hands countless times in horrendous combat. "From sunrise to sunset the waves of battle ebbed and flowed...while regiment, brigade and division faded away under a terrible fire, leaving long lines of dead to mark where stood the living. Fields of corn were trampled into shreds, forest were battered and scathed, huge limbs sent crashing to the earth, rent by shell and round shot. Grape and canister mingled their hissing scream in this hellish carnival." -- Gen. George Gordon, Union 12th Corps
5. ANTIUP_130804_050.JPG: Beacon of Peace "May it stand as it did in war - as a beacon to guide men searching their way through the darkness. May it stand throughout all ages as a symbol of mercy, peace, and understanding." -- Maryland Governor Millard Tawes, Church Rededication Service, September 2, 1962 The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle in American History. Yet ironically one of the most noted landmarks on this field of combat is a house of worship associated with peace and love. This historic church was built by local German Baptist Brethren in 1852 on land donated by local farmer Samuel Mumma. The name "Dunker" comes from their practice of full immersion baptism. During its early history the congregation consisted of about a half-dozen farm families from the local area. Although heavily damaged during the battle by rifle and artillery fire, the church survived, only to be blown down by a windstorm in 1921. Rebuilt for the Civil War Centennial, it stands today as not only a step back in time, but also as a solemn reminder of the impact the battle had on the local families.
6. ANTIUP_130804_093.JPG: 25th Penna While forming the extreme left front as Sedgewick's Division was being shot down in the West Woods, the 125th Penna. Inf. Rgt. was at times only 50 yards from Confederate Infantry. Of the Regiment's 54 killed and 91 wounded, most were lost here in the field in front of you. 9 to 9:20 a.m.
7. ANTIUP_130804_100.JPG: The Story in Brief At 7:30 on the morning of September 17, 1862, the Thirty-fourth Regiment left camp near Keedysville, crossed the Antietam Creek and marched westward into the East Woods, now extinct. Facing Westward being on the extreme left of Brigade line it emerged from the East Woods and soon became heavily engaged with the Confederate forces in its front. Crossing the open field and the Hagerstown Pike, it entered the West Woods, now also extinct, the line extending North and South of the Dunkard Church. The left of the Regiment being unprotected was in danger of being enveloped by the enemy, and a hasty retreat became necessary, the Regiment reforming near the East Woods with its organization intact. In a very brief time 43 men had been killed and 74 wounded, the killed being 13 percent of all engaged.
8. ANTIUP_130804_117.JPG: Here fell in the foremost of the advance of Sumner's Second Corps John Lemuel Stetson of Plattsburgh, New York Lieut. Col. of the 59th New York 1862 -- Volunteers -- 1919
9. ANTIUP_130804_204.JPG: The Most Terrible Clash of Arms As Union soldiers stepped out of the Cornfield (in front of you) at dawn, September 17, 1862, Confederate troops, aligned in the fields just behind you, unleashed a horrific volley. The single bloodiest day in American History had begun in earnest. For the next four hours the Cornfield was the center of a storm of lead, iron, and flame as Federal soldiers from the First and Twelfth Corps clashed with Lee's men. The Cornfield changed hands again and again as both sides attacked and counterattacked. One soldier remembered, "The air seems full of leaden missiles. Rifles are shot to pieces in the hands of soldiers, canteens and haversacks are riddled with bullets, the dead and wounded go down in scores."More than 25,000 soldiers fought in and around the Cornfield. By 9:30 a.m. thousands of them lay dead and dying. Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood wrote, "It was here that I witnessed the most terrible clash of arms, by far, that has occurred during the war." Union Gen. Joseph Hooker remembered that "every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they stood in their ranks a few moments before. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield."
10. ANTIUP_130804_210.JPG: A Cornfield Unlike Any Other "Through a shower of bullets and shells, it was only the thoughts of home that brought me from that place." -- Pvt. James Dougherty, 128th Pennsylvania Infantry, wounded in the Cornfield (1) At daybreak, Gen. Joseph Hooker's First Corps, approximately 8,000 men, advanced south through the Cornfield where, "the hostile battle lines opened a tremendous fire upon each other." Initially stopped by the heavy musketry, Hooker's men regrouped and began to push Gen. Stonewall Jackson's men back as the casualties on both sides quickly escalated. (2) At 7:00 a.m., Gen. John Bell Hood's Confederate Division of approximately 2,000 men was waiting behind the Dunker Church. Jackson called them into battle and, "In less than five minutes we were advancing toward the enemy. In less than fifteen we were sending and receiving death missiles by the bushel." Hood's men drove north, forcing the First Corps back across the Cornfield. (3) Gen. Lee ordered troops from Gen. D.H. Hill's command at the Sunken Road to move north into the Cornfield. Some of these regiments attacked all the way to the northern edge of the field, where they were crushed by the arrival of the Union Twelfth Corps. (4) At 8:00 a.m., Gen. Joseph Mansfield's Twelfth Corps, over 7,000 strong, arrived and drove back Hood's men and the Confederate reinforcements from the Sunken Road. Gen. Mansfield fell mortally wounded and Gen. Alpheus Williams took command of the Corps. At about 9:00 a.m. there was a short lull in the action. Most of the Confederates on the north end of the battlefield retreated to the West Woods. Almost 8,000 Union and Confederate soldiers had been killed or wounded in and around the Cornfield. A Brave Young Cannoneer: Just west of the Cornfield are two cannon representing Battery B, 4th United States Artillery. Battery B moved forward with the initial Union attack into the Cornfield where it came under intense fire from Stonewall Jackson's men. The Battery's bugler was fifteen year old Johnny Cook. As the other cannoneers were shot down around him, young Cook helped load and fire the cannon in the face of an enemy assault just a few yards away. For his bravery at the Cornfield, the former paper boy from Cincinnati, Ohio was awarded the Medal of Honor. He is one of the youngest Americans ever to be awarded this Nation's highest military honor. A Captured Flag: This flag was presented to the First Texas Infantry by Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond. The star on the flag was made from the regimental commander's wife's wedding dress. In the Cornfield, the First Texas as part of Hood's Division, had the highest percentage of killed and wounded for any Confederate regiment in the Civil War, over 82%. In addition to losing so many men, the regiment also lost its flag in the din and destruction in the corn. A Union soldier who found the flag in the Cornfield said that "thirteen men lay dead within touch of it and the body of one of the dead lay stretched across it." Carnage in the Cornfield Approximate Time of Action: 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Approximate Number of Soldiers engaged: Union 15,000 Confederate 12,000 Total 27,000 Approximate Number of Casualties for Each Army: Union Army of the Potomac 4,200 killed, wounded, missing Confederate Army of Northern Virginia 4,000 killed, wounded, missing
11. ANTIUP_130804_254.JPG: Aftermath Along the Hagerstown Turnpike Throughout the morning of the battle, fighting raged here along the Hagerstown Turnpike. At one point, Union and Confederate forces found themselves just yards away from each other on opposite sides of this road. Afterward, commander of the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry Major Rufus Dawes, remembered, "The piles of dead on the Sharpsburg and Hagerstown Turnpike surpassed anything on any other battlefield of my observation . . . my feeling was that the Antietam Turnpike surpassed all in manifest evidence of slaughter."
12. ANTIUP_130804_292.JPG: Delaware 3rd Delaware Volunteers Major Arthur Maginnis 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, XII Corps This regiment, worn down from active service in the second Manassas Campaign, went into action Sept. 17, 1862 with only five officers and 120 men. It started out on the right of the Union line in front of the West Woods. After heavy action along the Hagerstown Pike, it helped repulse Confederate counter attack following rout of Sedgewick's Division. Final position of the regiment, 65 yards North of this point.
  
  Losses
  
  Officers Men
  
  Killed 1 5
  
  Wounded 2 9
  
  Total 17 of 125 engaged
  
  Erected by the Delaware Civil War Centennial Commission May 30, 1964
13. ANTIUP_130804_301.JPG: The Onward Rush to Victory or Defeat Sgt. William Andrews, 1st Georgia Regiment As the battle escalated, Union Gen. Edwin Sumner moved the Second Corps across Antietam Creek and into the battle. The swift waters of the Antietam and the difficult terrain separated the three divisions in Sumner's Corps. One division advanced toward the West Woods, while the remaining two fell behind and later assaulted the Sunken Road. At approximately 9:30 a.m. Sumner led Gen. John Sedgwick's Division, numbering more than 5,000 men, into the battle. The plan was to drive into the woods and then sweep south, delivering the crushing blow to Lee's left flank. As the Union lines moved through the West Woods, Confederate artillery posted on Hauser Ridge opened fire. Within minutes bullets flew from three different directions and cut the Federals ranks into pieces. Gen. Oliver Howard remembered, "We had the enemy's artillery and infantry both pursuing and flanking our broken brigades by rapid and deadly volleys." Confederate re-enforcements from the divisions of Gen. Layefette McLaws and Gen. John Walker slammed into the unsuspecting Union flank. Suffering over 2,200 casualties in about twenty minutes, the Federals quickly withdrew from the West Woods. Gen. Edwin Sumner: Sumner's Union Second Corps advanced across Antietam Creek that morning. His three divisions became separated by time, distance and terrain. Gen. John Sedgwick: His division of 5,000 men was crushed on three sides in the West Woods. Over 2,000 were killed or wounded. Known as "Uncle John," Sedgwick was wounded three times in the woods. He survived, but was later killed at Spotsylvania. Gen. John Walker: Lee ordered Walker's Division to move north from the southern end of the battlefield toward the West Woods. Gen. Lafayette McLaws: McLaws and his men marched all night from Harpers Ferry. Early that morning Gen. Lee ordered McLaws's men into battle. These soldiers did most of the fighting in the West Woods. Gen. Stonewall Jackson: His ranks were decimated in the mornings action. What was left fell back into the West Woods. Confederate Artillery was located on Hauser Ridge. These guns fired on Sedgwick's men as they moved through the West Woods.
14. ANTIUP_130804_309.JPG: "Back Boys, For God's Sake Move Back; You Are In A Bad Fix" -- Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner, Union Second Corps Commander (1) As the battle shifted away from the Cornfield, Gen. John Sedwick's division of Federal troops, personally led by corps commander Gen. Edwin Sumner, advanced from the East Woods. Sumner's plan was to move into the West Woods, hit the Confederates in the flank and drive them toward Sharpsburg. Over 5,000 Union soldiers marched out of the East Woods and headed toward the West Woods at 9:15 a.m. (2) Along with other Confederate forces, Gen. Lafayette McLaws's division went into battle to shore up the left end of the Confederate battle line. As they pressed into the West Woods from one side, Sedgwick's Union soldiers moved in from the other. The result of this convergence was disastrous for the Union soldiers. (3) Union Pvt. Roland Bowen remembered, "The rebs saw their advantage and with grape and canister and musketry they mowed us down." Confederates attacked from three sides into the flanks of the Federal line. The fighting was so confusing that men from New York fired into the backs of the soldiers in front of them. Within twenty minutes, the Union troops fell back from the West Woods toward the north and east. (4) As Sedgwick's men fled the West Woods, the other two divisions of the Second Corps assaulted the Sunken Road. Sedgwick had lost 2,200 out of 5,300 men in twenty minutes. The 15th Massachusetts suffered 340 casualties, the highest number for any regiment on the field during the battle. By 11:00 a.m. other Union soldiers held a portion of the West Woods around the Dunker Church. Within an hour they too were driven back to the East Woods. Federal forces did not venture west of the Hagerstown Turnpike for the remainder of the day. Gen. William E. Starke: Starke took command of the Stonewall Division early that morning after Gen. John R. Jones was stunned by an artillery shell and left the field. The onslaught of the Union First Corps began to drive his men back. Starke led a counterattack out of the West Woods. He was wounded three times and died within the hour. His body was returned to Richmond where he was buried in Hollywood Cemetery. Flag of the 125th Pennsylvania Infantry: In their first battle, the men of the 125th were on the left flank of the Union advance into the West Woods, where they took the brunt of the Confederate attack. Color bearer Sgt. George Simpson was killed instantly. The flag was saved and was brought back forty-two years later for the dedication of the regiment's monument behind the Dunker Church. For the veterans, seeing the flag again revived in them the "recollections and emotions of that exciting and strenuous day." West Woods Massacre Approximate Time of Action: 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Approximate Number of Soldiers engaged: Union 6,000 Confederate 8,000 Total 14,000 Approximate Number of Casualties for Each Army: Union Army of the Potomac 2,300 killed, wounded, missing Confederate Army of Northern Virginia 2,000 killed, wounded, missing
15. ANTIUP_130804_317.JPG: The Baltimore Battery (Confederate) fired from this spot into the Union forces in the Cornfield. It included a 12-pounder iron howitzer (like the small gun before you), the only one of its kind among the 500 cannon at Antietam.
16. ANTIUP_130804_326.JPG: Maryland Baltimore Battery Jackson's Division CSA The battery under the command of Capt. J.B. Brockenbrough, occupied a position near this marker at daybreak, and opened the battle on the Confederate side. The monument to the Maryland troops is near the Dunkard Church.
17. ANTIUP_130804_330.JPG: Philadelphia Brigade Park During the fighting in the West Woods, the Philadelphia Brigade, commanded by Gen. O.O. Howard, lost more than 550 men in about twenty minutes of combat. Thirty years later the Philadelphia Brigade Association purchased eleven acres for their monument. The veterans decided to use the excess property around the monument to establish a public park. They planted trees, erected a gate, and in 1896 dedicated a monument in what is known today as Philadelphia Brigade Park. Over seventy feet tall, the Philadelphia Brigade Monument is the tallest monument on Antietam National Battlefield. "They poured their blood out like water, and we must look to God and our country for a just reward." -- Gen. O.O. Howard, Commander of the Philadelphia Brigade "My comrades of the Philadelphia Brigade...you have erected a magnificent monument in honor of the private soldier who laid his life on the alter of his country in the time of need. No one could do more, and, therefore none more deserving of this honor. You have fittingly placed it on the field where so many brave comrades fell, and the imperishable nature of it is a guarantee that it will remain long after we have all passed away." -- Capt. John E. Reilly, monument dedication, September 17, 1896
18. ANTIUP_130804_346.JPG: Brigadier General William E. Starke CSA killed here
19. ANTIUP_130804_389.JPG: Dunkard Church "Let us here today, in the spirit of the brethren who built it more than a century ago, rededicate this building to the advancement of peace among nations... to the brotherhood of all mankind." -- from address delivered by J. Millard Tawes, Governor of Maryland, September 2, 1962 Reconstruction of the historic Dunkard Church was made possible in 1961 by a special appropriation of funds by the State of Maryland.
20. ANTIUP_130804_403.JPG: Charge of Second Maryland on Burnside Bridge
21. ANTIUP_130804_410.JPG: Brockenborough's Maryland Battery, CSA repelling charge at Antietam
22. ANTIUP_130804_413.JPG: Fifth Maryland closing in upon Roulettes barns and house
23. ANTIUP_130804_417.JPG: "Walcotts" First Maryland Battery USA at Antietam
24. ANTIUP_130804_420.JPG: Erected by the State of Maryland to her sons, who on this field offered their lives in maintenence [sic] of their principles.
25. ANTIUP_130804_452.JPG: The State of New York in commemoration of the services of its officers and soldiers in the Battle of Antietam Sept. 17th 1862
26. ANTIUP_130804_509.JPG: Clara Barton "I have been permitted to stand by your loved ones when the trial hour came..." For some, service to their country ended with the Civil War. For Clara Barton, this was the beginning. Barton, a forty year old teacher, patent clerk and patriot, was frustrated by reports of inadequate relief supplies at battlefields. She gathered needed items and transported them to the front. At Antietam, Miss Barton followed the sound of artillery and arrived on this part of the battlefield. She delivered bandages and lanterns to field hospitals. Clara Barton and her staff of thirty men prepared gruel (meal mixed with warm water) which they carried out to feed the wounded and dying where they fell. She worked here for three days, providing whatever assistance she could. This is just one of the many battlefields on which Miss Barton worked. After the war, Barton established the Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army, an organization which located the graves of missing U.S. soldiers. She established the American Association of the International Red Cross in 1881, adding civilian disaster relief to its mandate of providing neutral assistance during war, and in 1904, Clara Barton established the American First Aid Association.
27. ANTIUP_130804_516.JPG: Clara Barton During the Battle of Antietam September 17, 1862 Clara Barton brought supplies and nursing aid to the wounded on this battlefield. The act of love and mercy led to the birth of the present American National Red Cross
28. ANTIUP_130804_520.JPG: This symbolic red cross has been made from a brick from the chimney of the home where Clara Barton was born at North Oxford, Massachusetts on Christmas Day, 1821.
29. ANTIUP_130804_549.JPG: The Culmination of Another Great Tragedy was at Hand Pvt. William Goodhue, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry The night before the battle, the Union First and Twelfth Corps crossed Antietam Creek and marched onto the farm fields just behind you. It was the First Corps, commanded by Gen. Joseph Hooker, that opened the battle the following morning. "A foggy morning was the 17th of September," remembered Sgt. Austin Stearns, "and each army was astir and preparing for the deadly struggle that the lowest private knew was to take place." Pvt. Frederick Hitchcock wrote how, "all realized that there was ugly business and plenty of it just ahead." At the earliest blush of dawn, the deep toned thunder of artillery, mixed with the steady rattle of musketry, could be heard through the fog. The soldiers of the First Corps advanced toward the catastrophe in the cornfield, one-half mile to the south." "...tomorrow we fight the battle that will decide the fate of the Republic." -- Gen. Joseph Hooker, as he turned in for the night on the Joseph Poffenberger Farm Early that morning, Confederate cavalry commander, Gen. J.E.B. Stuart positioned more than a dozen cannon three-quarters of a mile southwest on high ground called Nicodemus Heights. Led by Maj. John Pelham, the shells from these guns devastated the Union soldiers as they advanced out of the North Woods and across the open ground toward the Cornfield. Federal artillerist Albert Monroe vividly remembered the fire that came from Pelham's guns: "... we could see the first rays of the sun lighting up the distant hilltops, when there was a sudden flash, and the air around us appeared to be alive with shot and shell... The opposite hill seemed suddenly to have become an active volcano, belching forth flame and smoke."
30. ANTIUP_130804_577.JPG: Major General Joseph KF Mansfield USA, mortally wounded 38 yards N 70 degrees W
31. ANTIUP_130804_585.JPG: The East Woods "The shells crashing through the trees and fluttering overhead as well as the musketry...all contributed to mark the time, and place, fixed in one's memory forever." -- Diary of Sergeant Charles Broomhall, 124th Pennsylvania Infantry You are standing in what was at the time of the battle the East Woods. The first infantry engagement at Antietam took place here during the early evening hours of September 16. As darkness fell, Federal soldiers from Hooker's First Corps clashed with Confederates under Stonewall Jackson. The opposing picket lines exchanged fire throughout the damp and dismal night. Shortly before sunrise on September 17, First Corps soldiers advanced through the East Woods and engaged Confederates posted along Mumma Farm Lane (behind you). During the next three hours the woodlot changed hands numerous times as both sides pushed reinforcements into the fray. Finally, near 8:00 a.m., the Union Twelfth Corps drove the Confederates from this area for the last time that day. The Twelfth Corps had taken the woods, but they lost their commander Gen. Joseph K.E. Mansfield. Gen. Joseph King Fenno Mansfield entered West Point at the age of fourteen and graduated second in the Class of 1822. Fifty-nine years old at Antietam, one of Mansfield's men described him as "venerable, but not old; white haired, yet fresh and vigorous, his face showed that intelligent courage which a soldier admires." Confusion reigned in the East Woods as the Twelfth Corps advanced. Gen. Mansfield rode to the front telling his men to stop shooting, "You are firing into your own men!" He was wrong. Just then a Confederate bullet went through his chest. Carried to the rear through the "tornado of deadly missiles," Mansfield died within 24 hours. He was one of six generals killed at Antietam. It was Confederate Gen. Alexander Lawton's soldiers who took the brunt of the initial Union attacks. At dawn, Lawton's Division of approximately 2,500 men were in the open ground south of the Cornfield and the East Woods. In the furious fighting across the ground, over 1,100 of Lawton's Confederates were killed or wounded. Lawton, educated at West Point and Harvard University, was also wounded. He survived the Civil War and became president of the American Bar Association in 1882. He was appointed Minister to Austria in 1887, and died there in 1896.
32. ANTIUP_130804_635.JPG: TEXAS Remembers the valor and devotion of her sons who served at Sharpsburg September 16 - 17, 1862 Here in the Cornfield early on the morning of September 17 the Texas Brigade helped blunt the attack of elements of Mansfield's Union Corps. Almost alone during this powerful Federal onslaught the Texas Brigade sealed a threatening gap in the Confederate line. In so doing the 1st Texas Infantry Regiment suffered a casualty rate of 82.3 percent, the greatest loss suffered by any infantry regiment, North or South, during the war. Of approximately 850 men engaged the Texas Brigade counted over 550. CASUALTIES Texas troops at Sharpsburg were: 1st Texas Inf., Lt. Col. P.a. Work; 4th Texas Inf., Lt. Col. B.F. Carter; 5th Texas Inf., Capt. Ike N.M. Turner. (Col. W.T. Wofford's Texas Brigade Hood's Division, Longstreet's Corps)
33. ANTIUP_130804_676.JPG: Woolfork's, (Ashland) Virginia Battery Cpat. Pichegru Woolfolk, Jr. Part of SD Lee's Battalion, Woolfolk's battery supported the Confederate efforts on the northern end of the battlefield. When the fighting in the Cornfield was at its worst, Woolfork moved to this advanced position where the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry captured two of their guns. In addition to Woolfork, twelve other Union and Confederate batteries tried to hold this high ground throughout the day. About 8:30am
34. ANTIUP_130804_686.JPG: A House Was Burning This cemetery and the farm buildings to your right were part of Samuel and Elizabeth Mumma's farm in 1862. Warned of the coming battle, the Mummas and their ten children fled to safety. Fearful that Union sharpshooters would use the farm buildings as a strongpoint, Confederates set fire to them. The column of fire and smoke was visible all morning above the battlefield. This fire was the only deliberate destruction of civilian property. One Union soldier remembered, "Just in front of us a house was burning, and the fire and smoke, flashing muskets and whizzing of bullets, yells of men...were perfectly horrible." The Mummas spent the winter at the Sherrick farm near Burnside Bridge and were able to rebuild in 1863. After the war, the Federal Government compensated residents for damage caused by Union soldiers. However, since this farm was burned by Confederates, the Mummas received no compensation. Starting in 1870 the family deeded interest in this burial ground to local families. Neighbors who suffered from war and came together to rebuild their community, now rest together in this peaceful enclosure. "...a set of farm buildings in our front were set on fire to prevent them from being made use of by the enemy." -- Confederate General Roswell S. Ripley Years later, Sgt. Maj. James F. Clark, of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry, Ripley's Brigade wrote a letter (left) to the postmaster of Sharpsburg, asking how to contact the family. Clark explained how the men in his regiment burned the house during the battle. Ironically, the postmaster at the time was Samuel Mumma, Jr. He responded with what he knew of the incident, and added "As to your burning our house, we know that in doing so, you were carrying out orders."
35. ANTIUP_130804_694.JPG: Historic Cemetery: Although now part of the Mumma Farm, and known as Mumma Cemetery, this site was first established as a burial ground by the Orndorff family. Living on this farm at the time of his death, Major Christian Orndorff II was buried here in December 1797. Orndorff came to the Sharpsburg area in 1762 from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and settled on the banks of Antietam Creek where he established a milling operation. A known patriot, he became an active organizer and leader during the Revolutionary War. He was commissioned a major in the American army in 1776. In September of 1781, at the request of General Washington, he returned home and operated his flour mill to furnish supplies for the Continental Army. Christian acquired large tracts of land and settled on this property after retiring from milling in 1790. The Orndorff heirs sold this farm to the Mumma family in 1811. When Elizabeth Hoffman Orndorff, wife of Christian II, died in 1829, it is believed that she was also buried here. The exact location of these early Orndorff graves has unfortunately been lost to time and the elements. In 1873, the cemetery was enlarged, the stone wall was constructed and the Mumma family deeded to specific members of the Dunker Church the right to be buried here.
36. ANTIUP_130804_701.JPG: Samuel Mumma
37. ANTIUP_130804_739.JPG: I Found the Enemy in Great Force About 9:30 a.m. the battle started to shift from the north end of the battlefield toward the Sunken Road, 180 yards to your right (south). Two divisions from the Union Second Corps moved across the Mumma and Roulette farm fields in front of you. Initially, over 5,000 soldiers commanded by Gen. William H. French assaulted the Confederate position. French, who was ordered "to press the enemy" with all of his force, locked into a bloody and costly struggle against Confederates positioned in the well worn sunken farm road. Approximately an hour later, Gen. Israel Richardson's division of over 4,000 men moved in to support their comrades. Gen. Nathan Kimble, whose men advanced across the ground in front of you, remembered that, "Directly on my front, in a narrow road running parallel with my line, ... forming a natural rifle-pit between my line and a large corn-field, I found the enemy in great force... As my line advanced to the crest of the hill, a murderous fire was opened upon it from the entire force in front. My advance farther was checked, and for three hours and thirty minutes the battle raged incessantly, without either party giving way." Richardson's Division followed French, arriving about an hour later, adding additional forces to the fight. French's Division led the assault. Moving from left to right in front of you. Seventy percent of his men had never been in a battle. In fact, many had enlisted in the army only two weeks before Antietam. During the battle this field was planted in corn. The trees along the fence line in front of you were not there and the ground to the right (south) of the fence was open pasture. Confederates under commanding Gen. D.H. Hill were strongly positioned behind stacked up fence rails in the Sunken Road.
38. ANTIUP_130804_748.JPG: Delaware 3rd Delaware Volunteers Major Arthur Maginnis 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, XII Corps This regiment, worn down from active service in the second Manassas Campaign, went into action Sept. 17, 1862 with only five officers and 120 men. It started out on the right of the Union line in front of the West Woods. After heavy action along the Hagerstown Pike, it helped repulse Confederate counter attack following rout of Sedgewick's Division. Final position of the regiment, 65 yards North of this point.
  
  Losses
  
  Officers Men
  
  Killed 1 5
  
  Wounded 2 9
  
  Total 17 of 125 engaged
  
  Erected by the Delaware Civil War Centennial Commission May 30, 1964
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Losses
	Officers	Men
Killed	1	5
Wounded	2	9
Total	17 of 125 engaged

Losses
	Officers	Men
Killed	1	5
Wounded	2	9
Total	17 of 125 engaged