The Battle at Antietam, Sharpsburg, Maryland

Antietam; Key to the Battlefield

http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/historyculture/battlefieldkey.htm

War Department Tablets: There are photographs and text for every monument at Antietam.

Over 300 tablets provide more detailed information than the waysides and are scattered throughout the battlefield. They were created by the War Department in the 1890s to mark the location of different parts of each army during the battle.

Monuments

Primarily built by veterans of the battle and states to commemorate their sacrifices here, the monuments are typically located where the troops fought during the battle.

Artillery Locations

There were over 500 cannons at the battle (more than 50,000 rounds were fired during the one day fight). The cannons on the field today mark the locations of cannons during the battle. The barrels of these cannons are from the Civil War; the wheels and carriages have been rebuilt.

Observation Tower

Built by the War Department in 1896 as part of the early development efforts by the military to create an open-air classroom at the battlefield.

Historic Fencing

Using historic maps and photographs, park staff and volunteers have built two main types of fences - five rail vertical and snake, worm or zig-zag.

Did you know? Robert Gould Shaw served as a Captain in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry and was wounded in the Cornfield at Antietam before taking command of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry made famous in the movie Glory.

Flags at Antietam *

For the soldiers of the Civil War, their national, state and regimental flags were more than cloth and thread, more valuable than life itself, like a beacon reflecting from its folds the love of country, of comrades, and of home… Many of the flags were sewn by the wives and mothers in the home towns who sent their men off to war…

   In addition to the symbolic value, a unit’s flag also served important functional purposes on a battlefield. One of the most important functions was to help tell the two armies apart. This need was readily apparent at the first major battle of the war – First Manassas or First Bull Run. Most Confederate regiments that fought in the 1861 battle carried the Stars and Bars or First National Flag of the Confederacy. This flag was rectangular, had a square blue field with seven stars and three broad stripes of red and white. Hanging on a staff on a dusty, smoke-filled field soldiers could not tell the Confederate Flag from the Union Colors…

This confusion led Southerners to adopt a new flag for battle. The Confederate Battle Flag – a red square with the blue St. Andrews Cross and thirteen stars – was more distinguishable from the U.S. flag in the confusion of combat. It was this flag that was issued to the Army of Northern Virginia in the Spring of 1862 and was primarily carried by Confederates at Antietam.

In the Union Army, regulations called for a large six foot by six foot flag. As soldiers marched across the landscape, shoulder to shoulder, with iron and lead tearing through bodies, cannons and screams echoing in their ears, all concentration would be focused on loading and firing weapons and staying aligned with their comrades on the right and left. Having the flags positioned in the center front of the line of battle provided the inspiration, alignment, and direction of movement to press forward…

Stories

Freedom at Antietam - Emancipation Proclamation

“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would do also do that… I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.” -Abraham LIncoln, August 22, 1862.

    The proclamation reflected Lincoln's new way of thinking about the conflict. Until this time, it was seen as a rebellion, a fight to preserve the Union without touching slavery. Now Lincoln was threatening to crush the Confederacy by destroying slavery, the basis of its economy and society. Now the North was waging a moral crusade to free the slaves.

    While the Emancipation Proclamation reflected Lincoln's high-minded morality, the president was under great pressure to act. Congress was urging emancipation. Escaped slaves were fleeing to the Union army as it advanced in the South, complicating military operations. And the enlistment of black Americans as soldiers could give the Union's ailing war machine a much-needed boost.

Forever Free, but When?

    Lincoln's preliminary proclamation, issued on September 22, 1862, declared that on New Year's Day, 1863, slaves in areas then "in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." For areas not deemed to be in rebellion, slavery would be unchanged.

The final proclamation, issued January 1, 1863, identified those areas "in rebellion." They included virtually all of the Confederacy, except areas controlled by the Union army. The document notably excluded the so-called border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, where slavery existed side by side with Unionist sentiment. In areas where the U.S. government had authority, such as Maryland and much of Tennessee, slavery went untouched. In areas where slaves were declared free--most of the South--the federal government had no effective authority.

    Although his famous proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, black Americans saw Lincoln as a savior. Official legal freedom for the slaves came in December 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery.

Political Tightrope

    But Lincoln was beholden to the Union border states of Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, where some slaveowners were loyal Union men. Lincoln was afraid to seize their private property (their slaves) and lose those states to the Confederacy, so he exempted them from his Emancipation Proclamation.

    But Secretary of State William Seward persuaded Lincoln that emancipation then would look like the "last measure of an exhausted government . . . stretching forth its hands to . . . Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the government." (In the mid-19th century, black Americans were sometimes called Ethiopians.)

Did you know? Union General John Gibbon who served at Antietam and fought in the infamous Cornfield had three brothers who served in the Confederate army.

Antietam Timeline

Sept 17 (1862), Wednesday: Fighting begins at dawn and continues for 12 hours until 5:30 pm. At dark, Lee begins to withdraw toward the Potomac; by late morning he has completed the crossing.

Sept 22, Monday: President Abraham Lincoln announces the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

January 1, 1863: Final Emancipation Proclamation ...order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

    And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

*[c] National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form

http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/021000/021900/021921/pdf/msa_se5_21921.pdf

on the form: Listed 1966, National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form

7 DESCRIPTION

    On 9/17/1862, the Confederate occupied the heights around Sharpsburg, and to them the battle was known as the Battle of Sharpsburg. the Union forces coming westward from Boonsboro crossed the Antietam in the early morning of 9/17/1862 at the Upper of Hitt’s Bridge, at Pry’s Ford below the Philip Pry farm, and at the Middle Bridge… The afternoon of the same day, after fierce fighting, the Federals crossed the Lower or Burnside Bridge and at Snavely’s Ford. To the Union forces, the battle was known as Antietam after the creek that meandered through this hilly portion of the Maryland countryside. North of Sharpsburg, Confederate lines of defense spread out along the Hagerstown Pike where early morning fighting… centered around the Poffenberger farm; the Miller farm, especially in the Miller Cornfield; the West Woods, the East Woods, the North Woods, and the Dunker Church. Midday the battle moved southeastward to the areas of the Piper, Mumma, and Roulette farms, and centered in the area of the Sunken Road, known to history as Bloody Lane. In the afternoon the fighting moved south of the Boonsboro-Sharpsburg Road first to the area around the Lower or Burnside Bridge, then up the heights across the Antietam through the Sherrick and Otto farms, until in the evening, the battle ended with the Federals almost at the edge of Sharpsburg at the present Hawkins Zouavas Monument near the Harpers Ferry-Sharpsburg Road. Present boundaries of the battlefield park include the area east of Antietam Creek up to the Boonsboro-Sharpsburg Road and the Philip Pry farm where Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Union army, had his headquarters. The area of the battlefield also includes the Antietam National Cemetery at the eastern edge of Sharpsburg on the Boonsboro Road where 4,776 Federal soldiers are buried.

    The battlefield remains generally as it was in September of 1862, occupied by farms and farmlands which is still cultivated. The area was originally settled by German farmers who came down from Pennsylvania (Note: matches information I’ve found for my immigrant ancestor, Johann Jacob Piper) in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They built large brick, log, and fieldstone farmhouses and huge barns with fieldstone lower stories for stock and huge frame upper stories for storage of hay. Many original farm buildings from the period stand on the battlefield. To these are added the many state and regimental monuments erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The visitors get the feeling of unspoiled farmland, distant hilly vistas of Red Hill, Elk Ridge, and South Mountain, neat and well-kept historic farm buildings, and battlefield roads skirting many curious military monuments of decades ago. Several historic roads remain. The Hagerstown Pike and the Boonsboro-Sharpsburg Road are still extant through the modern Hagerstown highway has been diverted westward leaving part of the old Pike as a road in the park beginning near the

Dunker Church and rejoining the modern Hagerstown highway near Mansfield Avenue. 

The Burnside Bridge Road out of Sharpsburg still exists, but it too has been diverted to a new bridge across the Antietam, leaving the old Burnside Bridge untraveled by vehicular traffic. The Smoketown Road, beginning at the Dunker Church, is historic as is the road that turns right from it through the Mumma farm buildings. The road that winds around through

“Bloody Lane” is more or less original, the modern road diverting from the historic roadbed at the “Bloody Lane” itself. The Harpers Ferry Road out of Sharpsburg follows it original course…

The Piper Lane through the Piper farm is historic. The Piper Farmhouse was turned in to a Bed and Breakfast, first restored by Doug Reed after he signed a 56-year lease with the Antietam Battlefield National Park Service.

    The historic farmhouses with their surrounding farm buildings are spread out across the battlefield. Architecturally, the farmhouses vary from 18th century clapboard to nondescript two-story fieldstone to a degree of style in the style in the Greek Revival-period Sherrick House and Pry House…

    Antietam National Battlefield… The north sector of the battlefield was the scene of the first Federal attack on the morning of 9/17/1862 from Antietam Creek up to Miller’s Cornfield and the Dunker Church. It was also the scene of continued fighting on that morning around the Piper Farm and Bloody Lane…

http://www.civilwaralbum.com/antietam/piperhouse1.htm
A Virtual Tour from Civil War Album.com *Links at bottom of the Web Page; Bottom of Page: Return to Antietam, A Virtual Tour -Summary

begins with History of the Battle: In September, 1862, Robert E. Lee moved north into Maryland where he might supply his Army of Northern Virginia… fire upon Jackson’s troops in the Cornfield… fighting surges into the West Woods toward Dunker Church… reaches a climax around the old sunken road near the Roulette Farm “Bloody Lane”... the Union advance at Burnside Bridge…

    The bloodiest day in U.S. history was over and no ground had been gained yet the results were catastrophic. Left behind were over 3,600 dead and 17,000 wounded. Had McClellan renewed the attack the next morning he may have destroyed Lee’s army. Instead, he chose to wait for reinforcements and Lee slipped back across the Potomac. Another opportunity lost. Claiming a strategic victory for the Union, Lincoln soon issues his Emancipation Proclamation and later relieves McClellan permanently.

Other Web Links for The Antietam Battle National Park

http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/index.htm
Learn About the Park
http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/historyculture/battlefieldkey.htm
War Department Tablets: created by the War Department in the 1890s.There are photographs and text for every monument at Antietam.
http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/management/upload/ANTI_OV_FINAL.pdf
The purpose of Antietam National Battlefield is to preserve, protect, restore, and interpret for the benefit of the public the resources associated with the Battle of Antietam and its legacy… The Antietam National Battlefield was established in 1890 to commemorate the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Contact Information: atni_superintendent@nps.gov or 301-432-7648. Write: Superintendent, Antietam National Battlefield, P.O. Box 158, Sharpsburg, MD 2178

    Stay Connected with Antietam National Battlefield Visit our website: nps.gov/anti Book a guided tour or purchase books at our partner’s, WMIA’s, website: antietammuseumstore.com Learn more about the battle at Civil War Trust: civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam.html Be our friend on Facebook to see photos and what people are saying about Antietam: facebook.com/antietamnps Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on news and events: twitter.com/antietamnps1862 Read our blog: antietamjournal.blogspot.com See beautiful photographs of the battlefield and share your own on our Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/antietamnps Watch educational and inspiring video work we have produced on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/antietamnps

References: Antietam Battlefield National Park 
*[a] Antietam National Battlefield -wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antietam_National_Battlefield
*[b] Antietam Battlefield Site, acquisition of lands, buildings, structures, and other property
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section430nn&num=0&edition=prelim
*[c] National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form
http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/021000/021900/021921/pdf/msa_se5_21921.pdf
on the form: Listed 1966, National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form 
*[d] Piper Farm, House; Antietam National Battlefield
https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/md/md1000/md1099/data/md1099data.pdf

Written Historical and Descriptive Data
*[e] National Park Service - Antietam National Battlefield
http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/management/upload/business-plan.pdf

Books
Trail, Susan W. (2005). Remembering Antietam: Commemoration and preservation of a Civil War battlefield. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland. Available at Western Maryland Room, Washington County Free Library. 
Farmsteads dot Antietam battlefield…Newspaper Article
A book called “Antietam Farmsteads: A Guide to the Battlefield Landscape” is available at the park bookstore in the Visitor Center

http://articles.herald-mail.com/2012-09-14/news/33850601_1_antietam-national-battlefield-jane-custer-dunker-church
Note: a brief summary of the farms and how they were affected by the battle… a good side-by-side guide to use with the Map of the Battlefield. 
Personal Note: there are resources listed; I may want to read some of the books, e.g. History of Maryland (pg 28 of PDF) Note: cannot save photos only the entire PDF.
http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/022100/022145/pdf/msa_se5_22145.pdf Register of Historic Place (form)

Two more houses in Sharpsburg, Maryland on the Historic Register.

http://www.nps.gov/resources/place.htm?id=63   Antietam Battlefield - Roulette Farm
Location: Sharpsburg, MD
Significance: Nearly 10,000 Union soldiers moved across the Roulette farm toward the fighting at the Sunken Road.
Designation: National Park, National Register of Historic Places, HABS/HAER/HALS
   At the time of the Battle of Antietam, the farm was home to William and Margaret Roulette and their five children. The Roulettes did not own slaves, but did employ Nancy Camel, a former slave, as a domestic servant and a 15-year-old African American man named Robert Simon also resided on the property, working as a farm hand.
During the battle, thousands of Union soldiers from Gen. William H. French's division moved across the Roulette farm and even through the buildings on their way to the fighting along the Sunken Road. Damage to the Roulette house, property and crops was extensive. A shell even knocked over their beehive, causing temporary chaos among the inexperienced troops of the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry.
   In the aftermath of battle, the Roulette barn was used as a field hospital for many of the Union wounded during the Sunken Road fighting and 700 soldiers were buried in mass graves in his fields. One eyewitness, Chaplain Henry S. Stevens of the 14th Connecticut Infantry, wrote of the damage to the house: "Bullets pierced it on the day of battle, and one huge shell tore through the west side, a little above the floor, and going through the parlor in an upward course passed through the ceiling and a wall beyond and fell harmless amid a heap of rubbish it had created, where we saw it many times that day. During the battle the rooms were stripped of their furnishings and the floors were covered with the blood and dirt and litter of a field hospital..."

   Despite filing claims with the federal government for damages to his property totaling more than $3,500, William Roulette received no compensation for his home and outbuildings, though he did received a payment of $371 for a hospital claim.

http://washingtoncountyhistoricaltrust.org/112-roulette-farm-late-18th-century-sharpsburg-md/

Washington County History

112 - Roulette Farm, late 18th century, Sharpsburg, MD

William Roulette married Miller’s daughter Margaret; he then purchased the farm from his father-in-law (John MIller) in 1853.

 The farm remained in the Roulette family until 1956 when Howard and Virginia Miller purchased it…

   Epilogue: A structural evaluation of all the buildings on the farm has been completed and a proposal submitted to the National Park Service for the rehabilitation and restoration of the farm to the 1862 period. The cost of this project is estimated to be $3.6 million. Once completed, it would be interpreted as a living farm showing rural life in 1862 in western Maryland.

 This article appeared in the Herald-Mail Sunday, February 28, 1999 as the 112th in the series.
Other Links

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/5/witness-to-americas-bloodiest-day/?page=all

Farmer cheers Federals at Antietam

http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5400/sc5496/017400/017495/html/017495bio.html

William Roulette. Biography.

http://jacob-rohrbach-inn.com/the-inn/history/   Jacob Rohrbach Inn, Sharpsburg, Maryland

 In August of 1862, Samuel and Elizabeth Showe bought the property from John D. Grove’s estate. Within several weeks the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E. Lee occupied Sharpsburg. General Lee decided to wait here and let George McClellan’s pursuing Union Army catch up. The resulting Battle of Antietam (called the Battle of Sharpsburg in the South), is still the bloodiest day in American history. During the Battle the town came under artillery fire and our summer kitchen was hit by 3″ solid shot. Many houses in Sharpsburg were damaged and a few still show their scars. Following the battle our house was used as a field hospital to treat the wounded.

   1863 saw armies on the march again through Sharpsburg in Lee’s second expedition into the North, and then again in the retreat from Gettysburg.

   In 1864 Henry and Martha Rohrbach (Martha Ann Piper 1817-1904, daughter of Daniel and Martha Piper) bought our house from Samuel and Elizabeth Showe. In 1862 the Rohrbach’s farm along the Antietam Creek had been surrounded by the battle for Burnside’s bridge. They had lost their daughter and granddaughter as a result of the fighting. Now they were getting old and wanted to give up farming so they moved into town where they also had a store. But the war had not ended. On July 4th in the early morning some Confederate scouts slipped into Sharpsburg. They were men of Mosby’s Rangers and part of a cavalry screen for Jubal Early’s advancing army. There was a knock on the door and Mosby’s men were soon in the house demanding the keys to the stable where Jacob Rohrbach’s horse was quartered. Jacob was Henry’s twin brother who was living with them at the time. As Mosby’s men climbed the staircase and entered Jacob’s room, Jacob suddenly woke and one of the men shot him dead. The next day Jubal Early’s army forded the Potomac at Shepherdstown and marched past in what was to be the final Confederate raid on the Union capital.

   The house remained with the descendants of the Rohrbach’s until 1945. During this time they occasionally rented it out, as in the 1930’s when John Kyd Beckenbaugh lived here. In 1945 the house was sold to Theodore Hebb. As many Sharpsburg residents had since the opening of the C&O Canal in the 1830’s, Ted Hebb’s father, Augustus Hebb, had been the captain of a canal boat. Hauling coal and grain to the cities downstream, canal boating was a family affair. Everyone worked and lived on the boat during the long season. The C&O Canal National Park has done a feature on the canal boat families on their website. The park service has a picture of young Theodore Hebb on the boat with his family in the early 1900’s which they once displayed on their website.

   In 1986 the house was purchased from Theodore Hebb by the Yeager family. After five years of restoration the Yeager’s officially opened the doors in June of 1991 as the Jacob Rohrbach Inn with two guest rooms. In the summer of 1998, the Inn was sold to Paul and Joanne Brietenbach. Over the next sixteen years the Brietenbach’s made many improvements: two more guest rooms were added, the porches were covered, landscaped gardens added, and the original summer kitchen was converted into a separate cottage.