Another Great Stride Forward

The effort to restore the 48th Pennsylvania Monument at Antietam has taken another great stride forward. . . .

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This morning, artist/sculptor Mike Kraus sent me images of the clay mold he has recently completed of the sword that will soon be replaced on the General James Nagle statue. Simply stated, I am blown away by the level of detail. Indeed, this is an exact rendering of the sword Nagle was presented following his return from the Mexican-American War and of the bronze sword that was originally placed on the monument in 1904. I think you will agree with me that this is superb, stellar work. I certainly could not be happier. The next step is the bronzing!

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Although still tenative, it is looking increasingly likely that the rededication ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 29, 2010. Stay tuned for more details.

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Nagle's Sword, on display at the Historical Society of Schuylkill County.

Mexican-American War Sketch of Captain Nagle with the sword, ca. 1848.

"One Flag, One Country, Three Brothers," or, What They Fought For

In February 1864, the Baum Brothers--James, Charles, and Orlando--volunteered their services to fight for the Union. Although they hailed from Berks County, the brothers were mustered into service in Company D, 48th Pennsylvania, a regiment recruited almost entirely from neighboring Schuylkill County. James Baum was the eldest, at age twenty-one, and he was the only one of the three with combat experience. In August 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company H, 128th Pennsylvania, a nine-month organization that witnessed heavy action at Antietam and Chancellorsville. James's service record mentions that he was "Missing in Action" during the latter battle. As a member of Company D, 48th Pennsylvania, James attained the rank of corporal, perhaps because of his prior service. James's younger brothers--Charles and Orlando--were both eighteen years of age when they volunteered alongside James in February 1864. By occupation, James and Charles were both moulders; Orlando was a Confectionaire. All three survived the war, though Charles fell wounded at Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864, when a musket ball struck his left knee. Following a six-week recuperation in a field hospital, Charles returned to the 48th, to fight alongside his brothers until all three were mustered out of service on July 17, 1865.

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The Baum Brothers were justly proud of their service. During the 1880s, Orlando began recording a history of their experiences and kept a collection of various papers, medals, and so on relating to his and his brothers' wartime service. Of special interest is a large postcard that features a color photograph of the 48th Pennsylvania's battleflags.

On the front of this postcard, Orlando recorded some of his thoughts. Although torn and ripped, enough of Orlando's writing remains, which shed great insight into the thoughts of this particular veteran. "Under these Tattered and shrivelled Battleflags I received my Baptism of fire and dared death on many a hard fought field pitted against the bravest foe mortal man ever met in Battle, 'Our Erring Brothers' of the South."

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On the reverse side of the postcard, Orlando was much more reflective:
"To My Friends All--
May come what will remember always to our credit we done our duty, defended our Nation's integrity, kept unsullied the banner we swore to uphold, rescued a Race 'from Bondage,' and have given you back the 'inheritage [inheritance]' our Forefathers left as a sacred trust and under God's smiles [?] you have a reunited Country, the happiest and best under Heavens Canopies, and we did not war in vain. Remember the old Veterans kindly for what they have done, not what they may be, if you will, and may God forbid any of you or yours should ever have to endure, or do as these my old Comrades done Loyally and willingly (yet some are left to die in Almshouses)- - - -Shame. But thank God, we Hope, there are few and Americans will not forget us after we are gone."

At the bottom, Orlando inscribed, fittingly, "One Flag, One Country, Three Brothers."

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H. Orlando Baum, Co. D, 48th PA

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Unidentified Baum Brother--most likely Charles.

The Army of the Potomac's Chief Law Enforcement Officer: General Marsena Patrick

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Marsena Rudolph Patrick possessed a high degree of personal integrity and a strong sense of justice. He was also deeply influenced by his religious convictions. At the same time, he was a strict, and sometimes severe, disciplinarian. These attributes enabled him to thrive in the position he held for most of the Civil War—Provost Marshal General for the Army of the Potomac. While a competent if not wholly effective battlefield commander, Patrick enjoyed much success as the army’s chief law enforcement officer, serving in this position from the Fall of 1862 through the end of the war and earning the trust of Generals McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, and Grant. His position was unenviable and his duties were many and difficult. Naturally, because he was charged with maintaining order and enforcing discipline in the army, he was somewhat unpopular with the soldiers. However, for the troops who served directly under him during his tenure as brigade commander the opposite was true. He was tough, for certain, but he was also kind, making sure his men were well-provided and cared for. But General Marsena Patrick had three strikes against him—at least as far as the Radical Republicans in Congress were concerned. He was a Democrat, for starters, and his support of General George McClellan made him a target. Finally, Patrick was viewed by the Radical Republicans to be far too lenient in dealing with the white southern population. All of these factors led to his removal from command in June 1865.

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Born on March 11, 1811, in Watertown, in northwestern New York, Marsena Rudolph was the tenth child of John and Miriam Patrick. The Patricks were a farming family, and Marsena would one day pursue this vocation, but during his childhood the young boy sought an escape from the hard and sometimes unprofitable labors of agriculture and from what has been described as the “domineering Puritanism of his mother.”[1] At the age of ten, he ran away from home and for the next decade found work first as a boat driver on the Erie Canal and then as a schoolteacher. Attempting to make a life for himself, Patrick came to befriend the aging Stephen van Rensselaer, a one time lieutenant-governor of New York and general in the War of 1812. Through his offices, Rensselaer was able to secure an appointment for Patrick to attend the United States Military Academy. Entering West Point at the age of twenty in 1831, Patrick struggled academically but was able to graduate four years later, ranked forty-eighth in a class of fifty-six. Future Union Generals George Meade and George Morell graduated alongside Patrick in 1835.

Brevetted a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Infantry upon graduation, Patrick spent the next fifteen years in the army, rising steadily through the ranks. Promoted to first lieutenant in 1839, Patrick resigned eleven years later as a captain. Throughout these years, Patrick saw action battling Seminoles in Florida and fought throughout the Mexican-American War, where he served as the Chief Commissary for General John Wool’s command. After his resignation on June 30, 1850, Patrick returned to New York and became quite successful in farming and in the railroad business. Settling in the small village of Ovid, in Geneva County, Patrick experimented with agricultural techniques while managing his farm and helped found the New York State Agricultural College in Ovid as well as the New York State Agricultural Society. In 1859, Patrick served as president of the college and held this position until the outbreak of civil war. Throughout the 1850s, Patrick also served as president of the Sackett’s Harbor & Ellisburg Railroad.

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In May 1861, Governor Edwin Morgan appointed Patrick as Inspector General of the New York State Militia and commissioned him a brigadier general of militia. Patrick soon grew weary of all the paperwork inherent in such a position and longed for active command. Finally, on March 17, 1862, and after much lobbying, he was commissioned a brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers and given command of a brigade in Irvin McDowell’s corps. The following month, as McDowell’s men made their way south in an aborted effort to reinforce McClellan’s Army of the Potomac on the Peninsula, Patrick was named military governor of Fredericksburg, and immediately took steps to protect the citizens of this Virginia town. He posted guards at homes occupied by women and children, and made it clear that he would not tolerate looting or destruction of property. His sometimes harsh punishment for the violation of his rules earned him enmity of many, but Patrick was guided by his belief that the army’s good behavior would go far in reestablishing the loyalty of the Southern citizenry. Patrick later held true to this philosophy as the army’s provost marshal general.

Marsena Patrick remained in Fredericksburg until the late summer of 1862 when he rejoined his brigade as it formed part of General John Pope’s Army of Virginia. His first battle of the war came a short time later at 2nd Bull Run where his New Yorkers were heavily engaged. Patrick retained command of his brigade when McDowell’s Corps was incorporated as the First Corps, Army of the Potomac, in early September 1862. He led his men in battle again at South Mountain, and three days later at Antietam his brigade suffered nearly thirty percent casualties attacking Lee’s left flank north of the West Woods.

Forming into line at 5:30 on the morning of September 17, Patrick’s Brigade—consisting of the 21st, 23rd, 35th, and 80th New York—marched south along the Hagerstown Turnpike behind General John Gibbon’s and Colonel Walter Phelps’s Brigades. After Gibbon’s leading regiments came into contact with Confederate troops posted to their front and right, Phelps deployed his men to Gibbon’s left while Patrick led his men west of the pike, on Gibbon’s right. While forming his regiments in battle formation, Patrick, under orders, detached the 80th New York to provide support for Battery B, 4th U.S. Artillery, which was posted opposite the D.R. Miller farmhouse, where they remained for the duration of the battle. Patrick’s remaining three regiments succeeded in driving Colonel Andrew Grigsby’s Virginians through the West Woods, but were forced back when General William Starke led a counterattack through the woods. Taking cover behind a rock ledge that ran parallel to the Hagerstown Turnpike, Patrick’s men later engaged John Bell Hood’s troops as they pushed their way to the Cornfield. After lending support to Colonel William Goodrich’s Twelfth Corps Brigade a short time later, Patrick’s Brigade fell back to the Miller Farm where they remained for the rest of the day. Of the estimated 850 men Patrick took into battle at Antietam, 235 were either killed, wounded, and missing. In the face of the severe loss he witnessed during the battle, Patrick was deeply disturbed by suggestions made by some officers the following day that the Army of the Potomac should again attack Lee. In his diary entry for September 18, 1862, Patrick wrote: “It is fairly understood, that only the madcaps of the Hooker stripe, would have pushed our troops into action again without very strong reinforcement—We had all that we could do to hold our ground yesterday & if we attempted to push the enemy, today, with the same troops, we should have been whipped.”[2]

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Two and a half weeks after the battle of Antietam, General McClellan named Marsena Patrick as the army’s Provost Marshal General. Although he would never identify exactly why he chose Patrick for such a position, McClellan was, no doubt, well aware of Patrick’s reputation as a strict but thoroughly fair disciplinarian. He had done well as military governor of Fredericksburg earlier in the war, and, perhaps more importantly, he shared many of the same views as McClellan in regards to how the army should treat the white Southern population. And although competent in brigade command, McClellan possibly did not have confidence in Patrick as a battlefield general. Regardless of the reason, or reasons, behind his appointment, Patrick quickly proved to be ideally suited for the role although his responsibilities were vast and tremendous. General Orders Number 161, issued on October 6, 1862, officially made Patrick the army’s chief of law enforcement and outlined his many duties. He was, for example, charged with preserving good order in the army both in camp and on the march, preventing straggling and skulking, carrying out the sentences of courts-martial, caring for Confederate deserters and prisoners-of-war, dealing with the complaints of citizens, preventing looting and marauding, and suppressing gambling houses and brothels. A tall order, to be sure, but Patrick performed so well in his position that he retained the trust and confidence of not only General McClellan, but of his successors to army command as well.

From October 1862 until April 1865, Patrick served under Generals McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, and Grant as the army’s provost general. In the spring of 1863, he helped create the Bureau of Military Intelligence, or B.M.I, which served the Army of the Potomac well in gathering intelligence. Following the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in April 1865, Patrick was given command of the District of Henrico, Department of Virginia, with his headquarters in Richmond, but he soon ran afoul of the Republican controlled United States Congress. While Patrick’s political persuasion and support for George McClellan were well-known, many felt that he was far too lenient in dealing with former Confederate soldiers and the white population in his district. General Grant himself wrote that Patrick’s “well-known kindness of heart might interfere with the proper governance of [Richmond],” and on June 9, 1865, Patrick was relieved. He tendered his resignation from the army three days later. Historian David Sparks, who edited Patrick’s wartime diary for publication, may have said it best when he wrote: “It would appear that Patrick was too kind, too civilized, too much the Christian gentleman to hold an important position in the Confederate capital after Lincoln’s assassination had loosed the Northern desire for vengeance.”[3]

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Following his resignation, General Patrick returned to his home and family in New York, and in the summer and fall of 1865 attempted to enter the political arena by running as a Democrat for state treasurer. He was defeated. Once again engaging himself in agriculture, Patrick served for a number of years as president of the New York State Agricultural Society. Patrick was plagued throughout his life by a host of physical maladies, especially by intestinal disorders. Throughout the late 1860s and into the 1870s, it became impossible for him to continue working on his farm. Even during the war, in 1864, Patrick suffered from the partial paralysis of his left arm and shoulder, and by 1872, the sixty-one-year-old former general was unable to walk even a short distance. After his wife, Mary, passed away in 1880, Marsena Patrick left his native New York behind and accepted the position of Governor of the Central Branch, National Home for Disabled Soldiers, in Dayton, Ohio. Here he remained until his death eight years later, on July 27, 1888. Marsena Patrick’s remains were buried in the National Soldiers’ Home Cemetery in Dayton.

Marsena Patrick's Grave in Dayton (www.findagrave.com)

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[1] Marsena Patrick, Inside the Army of the Potomac, edited by David Sparks (New York: Thomas Yaseloff, 1964): 12.
[2] Marsena Patrick, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 151.
[3] Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 19.

Say What. . .? [Antietam Voices]

Jim Rosebrock, a volunteer and Battlefield Guide at Antietam Battlefield, is a friend of mine who shares an interest in the lives of America's Civil War commanders. You can sometimes find us behind the Visitor Center desk talking at great length about the most minute detail of the most obscure officers; their careers on and off the field and their relationships with another. Over the years, Jim has taken this interest one step further; he scours the books for any and every quote made by one Civil War commander about another, sometimes complimentary, other times. . .not so much. By last count, he had nearly 1,000 such quotes, categorized, labeled, etc, and now, he has begun the process of posting them online at his new blog titled Antietam Voices. As the title suggest, Jim's focus right now is on those officers associated with the fight along the Antietam. As he states on his blog: "I enjoy collecting notable contemporary quotations by and about the men of Antietam. These words often add a degree of color and character not found elsewhere in their stories. This blog is honors the words and deeds of these men and women, soldiers and civilians who lived through this battle."

I do encourage you to stop on by and see what these fellas thought and said about one another.

Looking Back. . .Looking Ahead

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2009 will soon be no more. And with yet another year coming to an end, I cannot help but look back on the year that was. . .and look ahead to the year that will be. Both personally and professionally, 2009 was in many ways a memorable year. On a professional level, June 25 of this past year witnessed the start of my fourth season as a ranger at Antietam National Battlefield. Even after all these years, I still find it hard to believe how fortunate I am to work in one of America's best National Parks doing what I truly love to do and to work alongside some of the best rangers the nation has to offer.

In addition to daily interpretative presentations--talks and tours--I also had the great privilege of helping to lead this year's Battle Anniversary Hikes on September 17. The day began with a steady pour, and although the rain did eventually end, the day remained cloudy and overcast. No matter; it was a rewarding and humbling experience, and one I will long remember.

I will also never forget the great honor I had in 2009 working at the January 20 inauguration of President Barack Obama. . .


. . . and the December 3 National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the White House Ellipse. Both of these were memorable events, ones I will surely tell the grandkids about. . .someday.

(Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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In 2009, my efforts to restore the 48th Pennsylvania Monument at Antietam took gigantic steps forward. Through the generosity of scores of individuals and organizations, I am happy to say that the money for this project has been raised and that artist/sculptor Michael Kraus is, at this moment, working on completing the sword. I am beginning to plan a rededication ceremony, which I hope will take place sometime in early April 2010.

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I kept myself busy while away from the battlefield this year working on a number of projects. In July, my book on Schuylkill County soldiers at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam was published. I must thank everyone for their kind reviews, including Mike Noirot, who was kind enough to conduct a book interview for his website This Mighty Scourge. You can listen to the interview here, and read some of the reviews here and here.

In addition to Our Boys Did Nobly, 2009 also witnessed the publication of They Will Be Remembered By A Grateful People: Civil War Heroes of Schuylkill County, a book designed for a younger audience, and illustrated by Jared Frederick.

(Thanks, Jared, for your great work. I am hoping we can work together again).

Lastly, my book on Antietam Trivia "hit the shelves" back in April of this year.

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Yes, 2009 was, indeed, a memorable year, both on the battlefield and off. And no reflection on the year that was would be complete without mentioning that in early November, the World Series title returned to the Bronx when my Yankees beat the Phillies in six.

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With the year now at an end, I am looking forward to 2010. I am happy to announce that my book Antietam: September 17, 1862, published by the Western Maryland Interpretative Association will be out, hopefully, in the Spring. Also, an article I penned on Nicholas Biddle and the First Defenders will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of Pennsylvania Heritage magazine. I am currently working on a few other projects, including one with one of my Antietam colleagues and Ten Roads Publishing, but I'll keep the topic a mystery for now.

Finally, I want to thank all my readers out there who take the time out of their busy lives to stop on by this blog. It's been more than three years since I first launched this blog, and I can only hope that you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoy posting.

Gettysburg Winter Wonderland

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Growing up in the mountainous coal regions of east-central Pennsylvania, I am accustomed to wintry weather. . .but it has been a long time since I've seen a snowfall such as today's. By the time I awoke at 6:00 a.m., there was already several inches and by noon, well, about a foot of the white stuff has fallen. The older I get, the more I can do without this kind of weather. . .but it sure is pretty. With the snow falling and winds a-blowing, I braved the elements and headed out to get some photos of today's winter wonderland.

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A deserted town square. . .

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Just to give you an idea of its depth, here snow obscures an interpretative wayside panel.

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Entrance to the Gettysburg National Cemetery Annex.

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The 55th Ohio Monument at the intersection of Steinwehr Avenue & Taneytown Road

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Ziegler's Grove and the General Alexander Hays Monument

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Looking south down Hancock Avenue at the Bliss Farm

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The 111th New York Infantry Monument

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General George Meade Equestrian Monument on Cemetery Ridge

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Looking southwesterly toward the Angle

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The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry monument

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The Copse of Trees

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Snow falling around the statue to Brigadier General Alexander Webb

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The Maryland Monument. . .

With visibility now almost gone and soaked to the bone, I decided to head on home. I'll be thawing out for quite some time to come.

The 48th Pennsylvania at Fredericksburg

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This Sunday, December 13, will mark the 147th Anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg. With nearly 18,000 casualties, it was a terribly bloody and savage fight. Although the battle extended well beyond the Federal assaults against Marye's Heights, much popular thought centers solely on these attacks, with the forlorn charges of the Irish Brigade and, to a lesser degree, Humphreys's Fifth Corps Division capturing the lionshare of historical memory. Lost in most traditional interpretations of the battle was the attack made by the Ninth Army Corps, commanded at Fredericksburg by Brigadier General Orlando Willcox. Yet their attack against Marye's Heights was no less valiant. Total Ninth Corps casualties at Fredericksburg exceeded 1,300. The 48th Pennsylvania lost 51 men killed, wounded, and missing.

The following are several accounts written by soldiers of the 48th, describing their experiences at Fredericksburg:

Sergeant Joseph Gould, Co. F:

"On the 11th of December a heavy artillery duel took place, and the troops on our side of the [Rappahannock] river were moving towards the bank ready to cross. Our brigade did not take any part in the movement until the 12th, when we crossed the river on a pontoon bridge opposite the city, and lay in the streets all that day and night. The shells from the enemy were exploding all around us while occupying this position, and quite a number of the regiment were disabled. On the 13th our brigade, now consisting of the 48th Pennsylvania, 2nd Maryland, 6th and 9th New Hampshire and 7th Rhode Island, was ordered to the assault at 2 p.m. Prior to this we had been in an exposed position, the right wing lying up one street northward and the left wing on another street eastward. Directly in front of the right wing was a large brick barn, behind which [division commander] Gen. Sturgis and staff were standing, until a solid shot came flying clean through the walls, scattering the bricks and debris in all directions, and with is scattered the general and his staff."

Sergeant William J. Wells, Co. F:

"Just prior to this incident, while General Sturgis was seated upon a camp stool and leaning against the barn, General Ferrero, commanding the 2nd Brigade of his division, came in from the front, much excited, and told Sturgis that his brigade was all cut up, and demanded to know why in the hell he did not send them reenforcements. Sturgis replied: 'Oh, I guess not, General, keep cool; take a little of this,' lifting the canteen to his lips. While so engaged, the shot came through the barn, just over his head, but he never lowered it until he had finished his drink; then, handing the canteen to Ferrero, he rose, went to the corner of the barn, looked over the field, and then said to Col. [Joshua] Sigfried [commanding the 48th], who was standing near, 'Now is your time, Colonel. Go in.'"


'Attention! Right face! Forward, march!' and the 48th moved quickly to the right, until the barn was uncovered, when the Colonel commanded: 'By the left flank; march,' and the regiment swung into line, rapidly marching to the front, then to the right, then again to the front, when we halted, the right companies finding themselves for a short time lying flat on their faces behind a frame house and a long pale fence, while grape and canister played a tattoo through the same. We had been carried too far to the right and could not advance farther to the front from that position. Up again, then to the left until the house was cleared, then by the front; forward, with a rush, into shelter under the brow of a slight elevation, when our advanced was impeded by a mass of men, many deep, seeking similar shelter. Here we stayed doing sharpshooting, picking off the officers and gunners from the batteries upon the heights until nightfall, when we were withdrawn under the cover of darkness."

Sergeant Gould:

"It has been truly said that only those who participated in the contest know much and how little they heard. We remember how the smoke, the woods, and the inequalities of the ground limited our vision when we had the leisure to look about us, and how every faculty was absorbed in our work; how the deafening noise made it impossible to hear orders; what ghastly sights we saw, as men fell near us, and how peacefully they sank to rest when a bullet reached a vital spot. [Sergeant August] Farrow and [Private David] Griffiths of Company F stood in the ranks to deliver their fire, though repeatedly commanded to lie down, until Griffiths was shot through the left lung and carried to the rear. Wounded men shrieked and others lay quiet; the singing and whistling of the balls from the muskets was incessant; and we knew very little of what was going on a hundred yards to the right or left. Participants in real fighting know how limited and confused are their recollections of the work, after it has become hot. All efforts to dislodge the enemy were unsuccessful, and the losses very heavy. Night put an end to the contest, and, having exhausted our ammunition, we were relieved by the 12th Rhode Island regiment and marched back to town. Cannon and musketry fire ceased their roar, and in a few moments the silence of death succeeded the stormy fury of the ten hours' battle. We were soon fast asleep in the streets of the town, tired out."


Brigadier General James Nagle, Commanding 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Corps:

"From 12:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m., the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers was held in reserve. It was the ordered to the front. The men marched under a most galling fire like true veterans. The whole of my brigade remained in the front until after sixty rounds of ammunition had been expended, and until they were relieved by other troops. . . ."

Colonel Joshua K. Sigfried, Commanding the 48th Pennsylvania, to the Miners' Journal, 12/16/1862:

"We bivouacked in the street on the right of the city the preceding night; towards noon on the 13th marched toward the left and to the support of the 2nd Brigade of same Division. At one o'clock P.M., received orders from General Nagle to march to the open field in the rear of the city, when my regiment was kept in reserve (while the rest of our brigade marched forward) until half-past two o'clock, when General Sturgis ordered me to forward my command to assist in repelling a charge the enemy was about making on our line. We started and went at double-quick (a distance of half a mile) under a most terrific fire of shell, grape and cannister from the enemy's batteries. Arriving at the hill (about four hundred yards from the enemy's breastworks), I was requested by Colonel Clark, of the 21st Massachusetts Volunteers, to relieve his regiment; their ammunition was nearly expended; I did so; when we remained on the crest of the hill until our ammunition was exhausted (sixty rounds per man), when Colonel Brown, of the 12th Rhode Island Volunteers, relieved us. At dusk the hill became crowded, and seeing other regiments still coming up, Colonel Clark and myself concluded best to return to the city for ammunition, and give room for fresh troops to get under the shelter of the hill.
"Too much praise cannot be given to all the soldiers (and the following officers who were in the battle, viz: Lieut-Colonel Pleasants, Major J. Wren, Adjutant D.D. McGinnes, Captains U.A. Bast, G.W. Gowen, Winlack, Hoskings, O.C. Bosbyshell, J.A. Gilmour, John R. Porter, Isaac Brennan, and Lieutenants H. Boyer, Eveland, John Wood, Humes, Chas. Loeser, Jr., Bohannan, Fisher, James, Williams, Jackson, Pollock, A. Bowen, Schuck, Douty, and Stitzer), for their gallantry during the entire engagement. Their line was steady and unbroken while advancing under the most murderous shelling of the enemy, and their fire deliberate, well-aimed and effective.
"I deeply sympathize with the families and friends of those who have fallen, but it is a source of great gratification to know that they fell while gallantly defending a just and holy cause."

General Burnside Talking With General W.B. Franklin at Fredericksburg

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48th Pennsylvania Casualties at Fredericksburg

Killed

Private James Williams, Co. A
Corporal Reuben Robinson, Co. B
Private Michael Divine, Co. B
Private John Williams, Co. B
Private William Hill, Co. B
Sergeant Henry Williamson, Co. D
Private Thomas Kinney, Co. D

Wounded

Company A: Joseph B. Carter, William F. Heiser
Company B: Sergeant Nelson W. Major, William Brown, Clement Betzler, Carey Heaton, Philip Carling, Lieutenant John S. Wood
Company C: Corporal Henry Weiser, Samuel Harrison, Charles Walker, Andrew Scott, Michael McLaughlin, John Murray
Company D: Corporal John H. Derr, H.C. Burkholder

H.C. Burkholder, Co. D

Company E: Robert Hughes, Edward Murphy, John Sunderland, Corporal Michael Sandy, Corporal Samuel Clemens

Company F: David Griffiths, Evan Thomas, William Fulton

David Griffiths

Company G: Sergeant James C. Nies, Daniel Donne, John Tobin

Daniel Donne

Company H: Captain Joseph A. Gilmour, Corporal Alba C. Thompson, Valentine Kinswell

Joseph A. Gilmour

Company I: Sergeant Francis D. Koch, Corporal James Miller, Wilson Kerns, Edward F. Shappelle, Jacob Gongloff, Charles E. Weaver, Anthony Beltz, Joseph Gilbert, Elias Faust

Company K: John Currey, Thomas Currey, Frank Simon, Michael Delaney

Missing

George Airgood, Co. A

Brigadier General Edward Harland

At Antietam, Colonel Edward Harland's Ninth Corps Brigade, composed of Connecticut and Rhode Island troops, suffered some of the highest casualties in the entire Army of the Potomac. At the Lower Bridge and on the left of the Ninth Corps line during the afternoon advance against the Confederate right flank, Harland’s four regiments lost more than 600 men killed, wounded, and missing. Bearing the brunt of General A.P. Hill’s devastating flank attack, Harland’s men were forced from the field. While attempting to rally his troops and stay the retreat, Harland had a horse shot from underneath him, and he fell hard to the ground. In the afternoon, only a fraction of his command remained. His men were so used up that in his Official Report Harland stated: “At the bridge I collected the shattered remnants of the brigade, in hopes of making a stand, but owing to the large loss of officers and the failure of ammunition, it was impossible to render the men of any material service.”[1]

Possessing neither a West Point education nor experience in a pre-war militia unit, Edward Harland nonetheless served in high command with quiet competence throughout the four years of the Civil War. Born in 1832 in Norwich, Connecticut, Edward Harland was descended from an English watchmaker who immigrated to the colonies just a few years before the Americans declared their independence. Graduating from Yale University in 1853, Harland next took up the study of law and was admitted to the Connecticut bar two years later. Practicing law in his native town, Harland quickly became a leading citizen of Norwich. Thus, when the war broke out in the spring of 1861, Harland helped recruit and was mustered into service as captain of Company D, 3rd Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. At the First Battle of Bull Run, Captain Harland, the lawyer-turned-warrior, proved himself an able battlefield leader and when the regiment’s term of service expired later that summer, he was commissioned to lead a new three-year unit. Mustered in as colonel of the 8th Connecticut in October 1861, Harland led his new command to the shores of North Carolina where they formed part of General Ambrose Burnside’s expeditionary force, seeing action at Roanoke Island and New Bern. After Burnside’s command was transferred to Virginia in the summer of 1862, Colonel Harland was assigned brigade command. Leading his brigade throughout the Maryland Campaign, Harland was only lightly engaged at the battle of South Mountain. Three days later, however, he and his men witnessed savage combat and suffered heavy losses at Antietam.

Traveling along the east bank of the Antietam on the morning of September 17, Harland’s Brigade was minus one regiment as it searched with the rest of Rodman’s Division for a ford south of the Lower Bridge. Earlier, the 11th Connecticut was detached in order to serve as skirmishers for George Crook’s Brigade as it made the first of what was to be several attacks against the bridge. Charging straight for the bridge, the 11th Connecticut lost more than thirty percent of its number in their vain effort. Among the killed was the regiment’s commander, Colonel Henry Kingsbury, whose brother-in-law, General David R. Jones, commanded the Confederate division south of town, including the Georgia troops posted on the high ground west of the three-arched bridge.
Sometime around 1:00 p.m., and while Edward Ferrero’s men were storming across the bridge, Colonel Harland’s other three regiments finally crossed the Antietam at Snavely’s Ford, and took up a position on the extreme left of the Ninth Corps line, which eventually stretched one mile in length. With the town of Sharpsburg and the possession of the Harper’s Ferry Road their objectives and the thinned ranks of D.J. Jones’s Division their only obstacle, the Ninth Corps moved forward around 3:00 p.m. However, things had gone astray in the ranks of Harland’s Brigade from the start. While the 8th Connecticut moved out as ordered, aligning on the left flank of Harrison Fairchild’s Brigade, Harland’s other two regiments—the4th Rhode Island and 16th Connecticut—remained in their position. Then, off to the west, Colonel Harland and division commander Isaac Rodman noticed an approaching column of Confederate infantry. A.P. Hill’s Confederate Division had arrived from Harper’s Ferry almost entirely undetected and was heading toward Harland’s exposed left flank. Galloping to warn the two lagging regiments of this threat and to reposition them to meet it, Harland fell to the ground after his horse was shot from underneath him. At roughly the same time, Rodman fell with a mortal wound. Command of the division then fell to its senior brigadier, Colonel Edward Harland. As the 4th Rhode Island and 16th Connecticut finally advanced, they were met by the vigorous attack of General Maxcy Gregg’s brigade of South Carolinians. Confusion reigned among the stalks of corn in Mr. Otto’s Forty-Acre Cornfield, especially in the ranks of the Connecticut regiment. These men were fighting in their first battle and had been in the service for less than three weeks. With men falling by the score, Harland’s shattered New Englanders were finally driven from the field, retreating toward the high ground immediately west of the bridge. The number of men lost that day in Harland’s four regiments exceeded six hundred. The 16th Connecticut alone lost 302 men killed, wounded, and missing, the highest number of casualties in the entire Ninth Corps.
Harland reverted back to brigade command following the battle of Antietam. Promoted to brigadier general of volunteers to date from November 29, 1862, Harland led his men at Fredericksburg, which proved to be his last major battle of the war. Transferred to southeast Virginia in March 1863, he commanded a brigade in the Seventh Corps for four months before being transferred, yet again, to General George Getty’s Eighteenth Corps Division in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. He remained with the Eighteenth Corps throughout the duration of the war, but spent the final year and a half of the conflict in command of various districts and posts. In March 1864, he was given command of the Subdistrict of the Pamlico, a position he held for just two months before sent to command the defenses of New Bern, North Carolina. Remaining here until January 1865, Harland briefly held command of the Department of New Bern before finishing out the war in command of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, District of Beaufort. After more than four years of service, General Harland tendered his resignation from the army on June 22, 1865.

Thirty-three-year-old Edward Harland returned to Norwich after the war where he enjoyed great success in a number of endeavors. After first returning to his law practice, Harland next served a number of terms in both houses of the Connecticut legislature, and sat for a time as a probate judge. Continuing a distinguished career as a public servant, Harland also served on the state board of pardons and as the adjutant general of the Connecticut state militia. In 1890 the aging bachelor was named president of the Chelsea Savings Bank. Harland suffered from chronic emphysema during the final ten years of his life; indeed, this affliction was listed as the cause of his death, which came on March 9, 1915, in Norwich, Connecticut. He was eighty-two years of age.



[1] Official Report of Colonel Edward Harland, September 22, 1862, in OR Series I, Vol. 19, Part 51