M. Chris Bryan - Cedar Mountain to Antietam

CEDAR MOUNTAIN TO ANTIETAM

A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, JulySeptember, 1862

M. Chris Bryan

2022 by M. Chris Bryan

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bryan, M. Chris, 1978- author.

Title: Cedar Mountain to Antietam: a Civil War campaign history of the Union XII Corps, July-September 1862 / by M. Chris Bryan.

Description: El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie LLC, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July-September 1862 is the first detailed analysis of the Union Twelfth Corps, examining the corps' initial campaigns, including the battle of Cedar Mountain, the Second Manassas Campaign, and the battle of Antietam, with thorough accounts of the corps' opponents as well as army and theater-wide strategic context. This study fills a historiographical gap of a little-studied yet consequential corps Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021037167 | ISBN 9781611215779 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781611215786 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: United States. Army of the Potomac. Corps, 12th--History. | United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Regimental histories. | United States--HistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Campaigns. | Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862. | Cedar Mountain, Battle of, Va., 1862.

Classification: LCC E493.1 12th .B79 2021 | DDC 973.7/41dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021037167

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Table of Contents

List of Maps

Central Virginia, July 1731, 1862

Orange Court House, August 2, 1862

Movements, August 68, 1862

Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862, to Noon

Cedar Mountain, Initial Advances, 4:005:40 p.m.

Cedar Mountain, 5:456:15 p.m.

Cedar Mountain, 6:156:30 p.m.

Cedar Mountain, 6:306:45 p.m.

Cedar Mountain, 6:457:00 p.m.

Cedar Mountain, 7:007:30 p.m.

Brandy Station, August 20, 1862

The Rappahannock, August 22, 1862, 3:008:00 p.m.

The Rappahannock, August 23, 1862

Jacksons Flank March, August 2528, 1862

Manassas Campaign, August 31September 2, 1862

Maryland Campaign, September 39, 1862

Maryland Campaign, September 1013, 1862

Maryland Campaign, September 14, 1862

Antietam, 10:00 p.m. September 167:00 a.m. September 17, 1862

Antietam, Union Right, 7:157:40 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, 7:408:10 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, 8:108:30 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, 8:309:00 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, 9:009:15 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, 9:159:30 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, 9:309:55 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, 10:0010:20 a.m.

Antietam, Union Right, Noon12:15 p.m.

Archival Sources

AMPAntietam National Military Park Archives, Keedysville, MD

APDAntietam Papers, Rauner Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

BABoston Athenaeum, Boston, MA

BHMBuffalo History Museum, Buffalo, NY

CHACincinnati History Library and Archives, Cincinnati, OH

CLSCConfederate Memorial Literary Society Collection, Virginia Historical Society, American Civil War Museum, Richmond, VA

DURubenstein Library, Duke University Library, Durham, NC

ECHSErie County Historical Society, Erie PA

FNMPFredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Archives, Fredericksburg, VA

GCGettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA

GNMPGettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg PA

GAGeorgia Archives, Morrow, GA

HLThe Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

HSPHistorical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

HLHUHoughton Library, Harvard University, Boston MA

IHSIndiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, IN

ISLRare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN

LCLibrary of Congress, Washington, DC

LVLibrary of Virginia, Richmond, VA

MHSMassachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA

NANational Archives, Washington, DC

NA-ASAntietam Studies, RG 92:707, National Archives, Washington, DC

NLNewberry Library, Chicago, IL

NYPLEzra Ayers Carman Papers, New York Public Library, New York, NY

OHCOhio History Connection, Columbus, OH

OCHSOrange County Historical Society, Orange, VA

PSAPennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA

RIHSRhode Island Historical Society, Providence, RI

RUSpecial Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

SCL-USCSouth Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

SHCSouthern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

SLCHASt. Lawrence County Historical Association Archives, Canton, NY

TSLATennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, TN

UMWilliam L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

USAU.S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA

UVASmall Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

WCHSWarren County Historical Society, Warren, PA

WHSWisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI

Introduction

... [N]o official reports or histories give us credit at Antietam any more than they do any where else. I used to get mad but now I smile somewhat, thinking that it wont make much difference some hundred years from now. Some few historical names will live; the rest of us will come under the general head, and the army moved and Gen. Banks with 1,000,000 men a la Xerxes, arrant of Persia, marched up the hill, etc. Lewis Stegman, 102nd New York

In April 1863, Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams wrote to the erstwhile Army of the Potomac commander, Maj. Gen. George Brinton McClellan, to solicit credit for the performance of the XII Corps at Antietam. Williams had commanded the corps during most of the battle. In the letter, he explained the roles of his various brigades. He reserved the greatest plaudits for Brig. Gen. George Henry Gordons brigade of Williamss own division and for two brigades of Brig. Gen. George Sears Greenes division, commanded by Lt. Col. Hector Tyndale and Col. Henry J. Stainrook.

Two of Williamss arguments are worth noting. First, as the corps entered the battle, it was badly depleted. It went into battle, according to Williams:

Without coffee or food, and after an almost sleepless night. It was a small corps strangers for the most part in your army. The 1st Division had but little over a month previously at Cedar Mountain, lost all the Field Officers and all the adjutants of one of its two brigades, and its ranks so reduced that several of the old regiments numbered but little over one hundred men, and were commanded by captains. There were in this division five new regiments but two weeks from home officers and men without drill or military instruction. The second division (Greene) less than two thousand strong, had lost three General officers wounded and prisoners at Cedar Mountain, and one or more of its brigades were commanded by majors. The whole corps had been for six weeks in continuous daily marches except four days. When General Banks left the command, his whole staff followed him, and my own was so reduced that I had but one aide (acting as adjutant general) and one quartermaster during our march through Maryland and afterwards while in command of the corps.

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