Chapter Seven, Section Two (pages 661-704)

The Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)

The Battle of Antietam was an important battle during the American Civil War.  The battle took place on September 17, 1862.  This was the first battle to take place in the north, in an Union state, Maryland.

Before the Battle

Robert E. Lee

After defeating the Union army under John Pope at the Battle of Second Manassas, Confederate General Robert E. Lee was faced with a question.  What do I do now?  Although he won a great battle for the Confederacy, he had failed in his quest to destroy the Union army, and was not sure what his next move was.  Believing his options were limited, Lee decided to embark on a bold and daring strategy, to invade the north.  Although his Army of Northern Virginia was low on supplies, ammunition as well as food rations,Lee believed that the Union army would be demoralized after their defeat at Second Manassas and would be not be able to perform offensive maneuvers for several weeks.  Not only that, Lee believed his army would be viewed as liberators, since Maryland was a border state and allowed slavery, he thought that the people of Maryland would flock to his army to join the fight against the Union.   Most importantly though, Lee believed that if he was successful in his invasion of the north, European powers such as France and Great Britain would be enticed to acknowledge the Confederacy as a legitimate nation and would enter in the war on their side. 

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

Lafayette McLaws

Lee's plan for invasion of the north was a very risky proposition.  It was risky because it called for the dividing of the Confederate army, which went against all military training.  His plan, titled "Special Order 191," divided the Confederate army into four different parts.  Three armies were divided and put under the command of threegGenerals,  "Stonewall Jackson, Lafayette McLaws, and John Walker, were to attack the Union city of Harpers Ferry.  By attacking Harpers Ferry, Lee would be able to establish a line of supply as well as communications for his army.  The other part of the army would be divided into divisions under the command of General James Longstreet, who would take up position at Boonsboro, Maryland and wait to be re-joined by the Jackson, McLaws, and Walker's forces. 

John Walker

James Longstreet

Lee's plan was distributed in the form of paper amongst the his various officers.  The papers told them the details of the entire now divided movement for the next three days, as movement was  to begin the next day, the 10th and have concluded on the 12th.  Unknown by Lee, was a duplicated copy of the written orders of Lee's invasion plan, for one of the divisional leaders iin"Stonewall" Jackson's army.  This duplicated copy, was wrapped around three cigars and must have been dropped on accident by the officer, because on September 13th, the plans were spotted on the ground at a recent Confederate camp but union soldiers.  The soldiers seeing the content written on the piece of paper immediately reported the finding to their immediate officer, and within the hour, the document was in General George McClellan's hands.

George McClellan

The magnitude of the find was tremendous.  The document gave McClellan the location of the entire Confederate army.  What was more, was the McClellan was closer to the Confederate's two halves of the army than they were to each other, meaning that the Union army would have the opportunity to destroy the two separated Confederate halves one at a time.  Unfortunately for McClellan there was a Confederate sympathizer within his camp who ran off and told the Confederates the news of McClellan knew the various positions of the Confederate army.  McClellan being the kind of person he was, was very slow to react to this newly found intelligence.  He spent two days dividing up the Union army into two wings, the right and left, to allow the army to march faster on the Confederate position.  On top of that, McClellan still believed that Lee outnumbered him and was cautious during his march towards Boonsboro.  On the 14th of September, Union and Confederate forces faced off in the Battle of South Mountain, were the much smaller Confederate force was able to hold off the much larger Union force.  Around the same time as the Battle of South Mountain was happening "Stonewall" Jackson was seeing a white flag emit from the Harpers Ferry garrison.  Over 12,000 Union soldiers were taken captive as well and the Confederates gladly took the vast amount of supplies which were located there.   A.P. Hill was left one division to take care of the prisoners and various other tasks at Harpers Ferry. 


Due to McClellan's inactivity on the 15th, Lee was able to combine much of his once divided army back into one, since most of the army had as the had fallen back to the town of Sharpsburg. The Union army was there as well but was content to bring up their forces into position.  On the 16th McClellan decides to spend the day looking at the layout of the land at and around Sharpsburg.  Viewing the land, McClellan finally coordinates an attack plan for tomorrow, but his delay in attacking the Confederates yet again, gave the Confederates more time to fortify their defenses.   

September 17th:  The Battle

Joseph Hooker

John Bell Hood

The The battle began at dawn on the Confederate left.  Union forces under Joseph Hooker are led from the woods fighting Confederate forces all the way toward the focal point on the left flank, the famous cornfield.  Taking heavy causalities while moving forward, Hooker and his troops appear to be taking the field when to his dismay, Confederate forces under John Bell Hood emerge from the west wood, the woods directly behind the cornfield, and delivered volleys at pointblank range.  Its effect was devastating.  Hooker's forces were driven back from the  back beyond the cornfield.  While this occurred corps under the command of Joseph Mansfield which were stationed at the edge of east woods, the woods on the other side of the cornfield, repulsed the counterattack by Hood's Texans and preformed a counterattack of their own.  This counterattack pushed the Confederates back to through the cornfield to the west woods, however, before this happens Mansfield was shot and killed, never seeing his troops repulse the Confederate advance. 

Joseph Mansfield

Edwin Sumner

In order to avoid being overrun by the Union on the left, Lee pulled Walker's divisions from the center of the battle and sent them to the left side of the battle.  Walker's troops arrived just like Hood's forces earlier in the day at the climax, and successfully stopped the Union advancement, but not dislodging them from their position.  Reinforcements under Corps commander Edwin Sumner march toward the center of the battle on the left side of the cornfield (from Union vantage point) but before they can get to Mansfield's troops, Lafayette McLaws  who was leading  his troops to reinforce Walker's forces completely annihilated Sumner's forces, "more than two thousand of them were shot down within quarter of an hour" (Foote, 692).  This caused Union forces to retreat and the battle on the Confederate left flank was over.

D.H.Hill

The middle part of the battle was just getting started as McLaw's forces were causing the shattered Union left to retreat.  Confederate forces under D.H. Hill, were located in one of Sharpsburg's road's called the sunken road.  The road was called this because the road really sunk in, and this acted like a barricade providing Confederate forces some protection from Union barrages.  Problems arose here for the Confederates when a divisional officer was shot and killed, leaving a large portion of Hill's force leaderless and in effect largely effective as they no longer fought as a unit, rather they fought as individuals.  The other problem occurred when a Confederate brigade retreated from the field after misunderstanding a command, which opened up the Hill's left flank.  Union forces soon were able to converge on Hill's flank and decimated his forces as they retreated.  Union forces proceeded to follow Hill's retreating forces when Hill somehow managed to to rally some of his forces.  Convinced that he would not be able to hold the line, Hill's depleted forces counterattacked and caused the much larger Union force to retreat, and to Hill's relief did not attack again.  

The last part of the battle took place on the Confederate right flank.  A Union Corps under the command of Ambrose Burnside had ineffectively been probing and trying to find away to Antietam Creek.  For several hours Burnside looked for a natural ford to cross, but by the time his forces found one, two of his division's had already taken the bridge and were ready to attack.  At this point, however, the lead division realized they had ran out of ammunition, and instead of bringing up ammo for this division Burnside decided to bring up a whole new division.  This took time, two hours in fact, and was known as the "great lull."  Once in position, Burnside began the attack.  Confederates at this point were not in good position.  Lee had thinned out their right flank in order to repeal the Union attack on the left and in effect, had left the right flank too weak to repeal a Union attack.  

A.P. Hill

This becomes apparent as Union forces push the Confederates back, however, at the last possible moment A.P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry.  He had left one brigade to finish the work left at Harpers Ferry and had sent the other five on the way to Sharpsburg.  His division had started out with 5000 troops on the 17 mile march and arrived with only 3000 men, as the rest were scattered along the way due to pure exhaustion.  His division arrived at precisely the right moment and was able to repel the Union advance until the cover of darkness.  The next day each side perpares for the expected attack from the opposing side, it never happens.  On the 19th Lee retreats, and McClellan against the wishes of Lincoln, does not pursue Lee's Army and misses out of his best chance to destroy the Confederate army.  The Battle of Antietam is officially over.  Over 23,000 soldiers were either killed, wounded, or were labeled missing.

In military terms, the battle itself was a draw, however, the Union declared itself the victory because Lee had retreated.  This "victory" allowed Lincoln the chance to issue his famous Emancipation Proclamation.  In reality though, the battle was a Confederate victory due to the fact that McClellan was unable to destroy the Confederate army.

Links

http://www.history.com/videos/the-battle-of-antietam#the-battle-of-antietam


http://www.historyanimated.com/AntietamAnimation.html

Chapter Seven Section One (650-661)

Battle of Richmond

The Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, was the most lopsided battle in all of the American Civil War.  On August 26th, Smith's forces continued their march north towards Kentucky.  On the 29th, seven miles south of Richmond, Smith's cavalry encountered resistance from Union forces and were driven back.  Smith, who did not know the strength of the Union forces in front of him, decided to attack the next day. 

General Edmund "Kirby" Smith

Major General William Nelson

The attack began the next morning, August 30,  at 2:30.  Major General, William Nelson, who was located in Lexington, Kentucky, received a knock on the door informing him that two of his brigades were under attack at Richmond, Kentucky.  Both brigades were "green recruits"  who had no battle experience.  Due to Nelson's absence, in charge was Brigadier General Malhon Manson.  Fighting persisted throughout the course of the morning into the early afternoon, when Nelson arrived at Richmond.  Upon arrival, Nelson found the Union army in the process of routing from the field.  Nelson was able to rally his forces, and get them into position for defense.  While in the process of rallying his troops, he walked up and down the Union lines yelling to his troops, "if they can't hit me they can't hit anything" (Foote, 652).  He was mistaken and was struck two times, and his troops, seeing their leader get shot, proceeded to rout from the field.  With that, the Battle of Richmond was over.  Confederate losses of the12000 involved, were reported at 78 killed, 372, wounded, and 1 missing.  Union losses,on the other hand, were much higher.  Of the 7000 who participated in the  battle, 206 were killed, 844 wounded, and 4303 were either captured or listed as missing.          

Brigadier General Malhon Manson

Link to battle map
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/richmond/maps/richmondmap.html

Battle of Munfordville

General Braxton Bragg

 The Battle of Munfordville wasn't much better for Union forces.  Late August, General Braxton Bragg left Chattanooga, Tennessee to march north towards Kentucky, with the hope of gaining control over the state of Kentucky.  Covering over 150 miles  in the over just a few weeks, he was right were he wanted to be, Glasgow, Kentucky.  Since Bragg marched north, Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell retreated back into Nashville, were they would wait and see what Bragg's army would do; whether they would go north into Kentucky or try and attack Nashville.  Seeing that Bragg was going into Kentucky, Buell led his forces to Bowling Green, Kentucky where there was a massive amount of Union supplies.  Because Buell's troops were back in Kentucky, this took pressure off the states of Tennessee and Alabama.  Both states were previously occupied by the Union, but with Buell gone, they were no longer occupied, and it occurred without the Confederates having to engage in a single battle.

Colonel John T. Wilder

Bragg liked his position because he was in the middle of of both Smith's troops and Buell's troops.  Being in the middle of the two forces allowed Bragg the opportunity to decide whether or not combine forces to attack Buell or choose to go further north and attack cities such as Louisville or Cincinnati.  Bragg, however, would do neither.  He instead choose to engaged an Union held fort on the near the city of Mundfordville.  A Confederate force under Brigadier General James R. Chalmers had attacked the fort without consent from Bragg and was unsuccessful in his attempt to take the fort.  On September 16, 1862 Bragg began besieging the fort and requests the surrender of the fort within a hour or a siege will commence.  Union commander, Colonel John T. Wilder, was not sure whether or not to accept Bragg's demands of unconditional surrender because he didn't know how large Bragg's forces were.

Major General Simon Buckner

Wilder knew that one of his friends from West Point, Simon Buckner, was in charge of a besieging  Confederate division.  He went to Buckner under a flag of truce and requested  his opinion as to what he should do.  Buckner knew he couldn't tell him what to do but he decided to show Wilder the Confederate layout for the siege.  Upon seeing the Confederate plan for destruction, Wilder decided  to surrender the fort.  Bragg took 4267 prisoners, 10 guns, and 5000 rifles from the fort and now had the the opportunity to look for other Union targets. 



Link to battle map


http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/munfordville/munfordville.html

Chapter Six, Section Four (pages 585-651)

The Battle of Second Manassas

This chapter primarily is about the Battle of Second Manassas which took place on August 28-30, 1862;  between Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee and Union forces under the command of General John Pope.

General John Pope

General Robert E. Lee

From what I have concluded from this chapter in Foote's novel is that this particular battle was caused by several different events, setting the stage for the battle to occur.  First and foremost, General Pope is promoted and is given command of the Army of Virginia.  He then requests that General George McClellan's Army of the Potomac which was located on the James River be consolidated into his army, because he believed that these two armies were open to be attacked by the Confederates with a possibility of them being destroyed.  Lee, however, would not be able to do this because he simply did not have enough forces to attack one of the armies without putting the Confederate capital of Richmond at risk of being attacked by the other Union army. 

General George McClellan

Pope's Army of Virginia had previously moved towards the town of Gordonsville.  According to Foote, if Pope took the this town, he would effectively cut the Confederate supply lines between Richmond and the Shenandoah valley, which was a very important supply line for the Confederates, especially right before the years harvest.  In order to put pressure on Pope's army,  Lee gave the order to General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson to lead several divisions to Lousia Courthouse, 15 miles away from Gordonsville, to engaged Pope if the opportunity arose. 

General "Stonewall" Jackson

In late July, Lee learns of the Union plan to merge the two Union armies, which allowed him to concentrate on attacking one of the Union armies.  He decided to focus on Pope's Army of Virginia and immediately began moving troops towards the Shenandoah Valley and informed Jackson of his plans.  Jackson was already ahead of Lee, as he had been told to engage Pope if the possibility arose, was already moving on Pope's position.

Jackson engages Union forces in what is known as the Battle of Cedar Mountain where the Confederates are victorious losing 1276 soldiers,while Union losses were marked at 2,385.

August 17th, the two Confederate officers Lee and Jackson meet and set out a battle plan to destroy Pope's army, which was currently located at Rappahannock Station near the town of Culpeper and the Rappahannock River.  Before the plan can be put into place though, Pope's army had retreated back across the Rappahannock River and was blocking any point of possible Confederate advancement.  Confederate calvary leader J.E.B. Staurt makes it behind enemy lines and skirmishes with the enemy but returns back to Lee and provides him valuable information on Union positions.

On 24th of August, Lee has Jackson march around the Union flank by marching around the Bull Run Mountains, which would allow Jackson to split the Union army in two.  Lee would then meet up with Jack in order to attack Pope's army.  Jackson finds Pope's supply depot to be unguarded and takes various supplies before he burns the rest before Union troops locate and attack his army.  Two of Jackson's divisions in all of the confusion head north in the wrong direction, toward the town of Centerville.  Their mistake causes Pope to order his army to pursue Jackson, because he believed that Jackson was retreating.  Jackson chooses a wise defensive position in front on an unfinished railroad with trees to his back and does all he can to draw the Union forces into battle, and it works.  Jackson and several Union divisions engage in battle, ending in a stalemate at the end of the day, however, Pope learns of Jackson's location and marches his entire army towards Jackson because he believes he has Jackson cornered.

On the 29th General Lee and his army arrive on the battlefield and Union officers spot a large Confederate force on the Confederate right flank, but Pope refuses to believe what he is told and continues to focus solely in on Jackson's position believing he is still trying to retreat.  The next day, Pope orders a full scale assault on Jackson's right flank, which is repulsed by Jackson's force.  After Pope's failed assault, Lee orders the attack on the Union left flank.  The attack on the Union left flank is extremely effective and Union forces retreat from the field under the cover of darkness but remained intact, meaning Lee was unsuccessful in his plans of destroying the Army of Northern Virginia.  Thus concluded the Battle of Second Manassas.

Lincoln, after hearing the news of another Union loss, replaces McClellen back in charge of the entire Union army and removes Pope from leadership of the Army of Virginia and assigns him to duty in Minnesota, where he remains for the duration of the war.
 

The following link is a battle animation of the Battle of Manassas and shows the movements of both armies.
http://civilwaranimated.com/ManassasTwoAnimation.html


This following link is a video of a historian explaining the conclusion of the Battle of Second Manassas and its significance. 

http://www.civilwar.org/video/second-manassas-conclusion.html

Civil War volume I by Shelby Foote

I am currently in the midst of reading Shelby Foote's novel The Civil War:  A Narrative Fort Sumter to Perryville.  Due to the fact my education in technology class requires me to use technology to inhance learning, I have decided to make a blog dedicated to solely this book, and will create posts on some chapters.  As I am in the later half of the book, my posts will describe events that occur later on in the book.