Administration with a concentration on American History from shepherd university. Keith has also served in the United States air force and the Air National Guard for 40 years and recently retired as a colonel with the 167th airlift wing. He lives with his wife cindy in martinsberg, west virginia. Please join me in welcoming keith as he talked about the battle of antietam from the perspective of the soldiers that experienced it firsthand. [ applause ] thank you, kevin. It is great to be with you. I certainly had a very enjoyable drive down here. This is some beautiful country. So what im going to do this evening, the mayor talked about perspective and what im going to share with you are actually two perspectives on the battle of antietam. Since im the opening speaker for three days of antietam information, we thought, kevin and i talked before we came down, it might be good to have a general overview of the maryland campaign. Im going to do a broad brush stroke to have some perspective when i share with you the words of those that were there. None of us were and for me one of the great things about having the honor and the privilege of working at Antietam Battlefield for the last 26 years, besides being able to walk the grounds almost every day, one of the things that happens there a lot, people walk in the door and maybe some of you have done this, walked in and said, my great grand pappy was at antietam. And first thing we ask is what unit and we have a lot of resources and the next thing that i do is ask them do you have any letters, photographs or diaries. And in many cases they do. Let me go out to the car. So over 25 years ive collected a lot of those and it is an opportunity that i have to share that with you. So that is the other perspective were going to have. Is that individual soldier perspective. That is the bulk of the program. But i have to give a perspective by putting it within the campaign. I think these words of the men that were here makes the battle personal. The one thing im absolutely convinced of, im going to share with you a couple of the insights ive gained after 25 years and one of them is that antietam was very personal. Savage beyond all reckoning. The vast majority of the combat, especially on the infantry side was done at 100 yards and closer or even hand to hand for that matter. It was very personal battle. So were going to make it personal by hearing what they remembered. This is probably the most tragic, most violent, most memorable day in ltheir lives fr most of these men. So voices of antietam. That is what were going to hear this evening. Were going to start off with robert e. Lee and his decision to move north. That is always a challenge for an antietam program. Where do you begin . Well you have to begin with lee because it is his decision that led to this campaign. The president seems the most propeeshs time, not a word we use every time, favorable, for the Confederate Army to enter maryland. Lee did do an interview in 1868 and he basically said it we could not afford to be idle. I went into maryland, declared lee, to give battle. Jefferson davis boss said we are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seed of the war to that of an enemy who pursues us with an apparent and aimless hostility. They trusted each other. Lee wanted to make a move into maryland and he sent a message from lee to davis and before he got an answer back he was already moving north. Some of the reasons for the invasion, get the war out of virginia. The folks in this community knew how much war had happened in this area. Keep the momentum after the win at second manassas and chantilly. Gather supplies on the maryland soil. Maybe get some reinforcements there also. Throwing off the foreign yoke of this federal oppression, maryland in some respects wasso pressed by lincoln sfra administration. I find it comical when i watch the news, these are the most important midterm elections in the history of the country. 62 was pretty important too. 1862. Certainly driving to pennsylvania, lee said it, that is a major goal. If the Confederate Army was marching through the war. Hes also looki farther east an hes convinced he could defeat this army and on northern soil in two countries. Here is his army. He has two wings. They dont have a corp system yet. Long street and stewart is calvary. A lot of numbers are there. Dennis will talk about that. 39,000, 72 artillery battles. Theyre going to cross the potomac in early september. One of those crossing was major harris von bork and he described the crossing. It was indeed a magnificent sight as the long column stretched. And t and the waters with burnished with gold and blazed in radiance there were a few moments from the beginning to the close of the war of excitement for intense, of skillration and familiar and strangely thrilling music maryland my maryland. After crossing the potomac, lees first stop is frederick, maryland. The Confederate Army will gather there. Lee does not get support in maryland. One of his goals was support in maryland and maybe the next few quotes will explain why the citizens of maryland didnt run to join the army. I have never seen a mass of such filthy strong smelling men. Three in a room would make it unbearable. And when marching in column along the streets, the smell was most offensive. The fifth that pervades them is most remarkable. They have no uniforms. Very important here, they are well armed and equipped. They have no uniforms. But well armed and equipped. And had become soenured to the hardships they had little comforts for the civilization. They are the roughest looking set of creatures i ever saw. Dr. Steiner in the sanitary commission, a dirtier filthier most unsavory set of human beings never strolled through this town. They were as lean and hungry as a set of wolves. Well lees army moved into frederick that means there a crisis in washington, d. C. Our nation is at war. For the northerners theyve lost most of the action especially here in the east. Now other country has invaded. That is how you have to think about this. That is how they thought about it. For president lincoln, turns to george brentan mccell lan, 35 years old and here is his army and a lot of talk about the numbers. That is the current figure. Youll hear more about this from my good friend dan. Believe me the numbers are all over the place. Im very comfortable with 70,000. That is effective combat arms. There is the basic corp. That still going. Here is two quotes from lincoln and mccell lan. You could probably hear me, im use my park ranger voice, how is that. Yeah. If we defeat the army mr. Us, the rebellion is crushed for i do not believe they could organize another army. On september 11th, lincoln makes it Pretty Simple and clear, god bless you and all with you. Destroy the rebel army if possible. Go ahead, kevin, you jump in there. How is that . Okay. Very good. Thank you. Lee is in frederick. Oops. Lee is in frederick. He has an issue. Union soldiers at Harpers Ferry and martinsberg. So lee will divide his army to capture the forces. A lot of maneuvering here. Eventually moving into position to capture the ferry. Clears the Union Soldiers out of martinsberg. Heads to hagerstown, and all of this talks about in special order 191. I wont get into the details of that because id like to get into the battle itself. Im sure most of you knew it. And jackson is late. Very difficult to try to move into position. Hes a couple of days late. Mcclennan moved to the battle of south mountain. For me the two most important things i would tell you about the battle of south mountain, one is there were 6,000 casualties there. Most of the folks who visit the park have not heard of the battle. That is a very significant enough. Second thing for me what i think is critical about south mountain, the union arm yeah was taunting them as they retreated. This aint popes army any more. The union army gained great confidence after september 14th. The Confederate Army is already the most confident army ever. So now you have a union army with great confidence. You have two large confident armys that come to those fields intent on destroying each other. That is a very bad combination. The armys gather around sharpsburg on each side of antietam creek. The union on the east side and confederate on the west side and lee has a great road in the hagerstown turnpike. They have the protection of the creek as they gather their forces. George mcclennan looks at this from his headquarters in keetyingsville and his forward observation house will go there and look over the field and do a little recognizance and it involves around three bridges, upper, little and lower bridge and will use them to attack the confederate right and left and when things look favorable the confederate center. So that is the basic plan. Night before the battle, 15,000 United States soldiers move into position, cross over the upper bridge, this is an incredibly important move on mcclennans part my good friend dennis frye will speak to this about how important this was. Ill tell you that 15,000 move in. Two union corp and the first corp and the 12th corp move up on the north end of the field and settle in on the 16th. There was discussion about launching an attack on the 16th but the fog was so heavy, really no movement could have been made that day. Even though there was talk of it. Took some time to get into position. The night of the 16th, it was damp, it was rainy, it was miserable. Kind of another conclusion ive reached just from reading a lot and think being it, one of the reasons another reason that i think the battle on the 17th is so terrible and the casualties are high, it is a miserable night on the night of the 16th. Everybody there is soaking wet. Has no fires. Has no food. Has no coffee and theyre miserable. And the next morning they want to hurt somebody. And i dont know youve felt like that on a monday morning. That is one of the things that i think makes it so terrible. The night before almost everybody there wrote about that event the night before. Because they all know. The whims of the next day would take over the 12th corp and a night he would never forget. So dark and mysterious and uncertain, the occasional pickets and outpost as troops come into position. There was a half dreamy sensation of it all. The certain impression that tomorrow was to be great with the future of the fate of our country. So much responsibility, so much future anxiety. Captain william parker, hes with an artillery battery right where the Visitors Center is today. We could but blush for the wickedness of man. No man who lay upon that field and realized the deep tragedy which was to be enacted on the morrow could be sat and thoughtful. We were glad they knew not of the trying air the rapid stars were bringing on. David thompson in the ninth new york, all through the evening the shifting and placing had gone on. And the moving masses being dimly described in the strange half lights of earth and sky. There was something weirdly impressive yet unreal in the gradual drawing together of those whispering armies under the covering of the night. Something of awe and dread for momentous deeds. And if any of you all sent a text like that lately. Their words are better than anything i could ever share. Joe hooker spent the night in the barn up here on the north end of the field. About 2 00 in the morning and it is raining and he finally gets a chance to try to get some sleep and he step news the barn and looks at his staff, we are through for tonight but tomorrow will decide the fate of the republic. And i agree. The next, obviously you cant see all of the detail. Theyre just for effect but the next morning the first corp 8,000 soldiers were launched early that morning and the opening of the battle is artillery. There were 520 cannons and 50,000 rounds, 3,000 rounds for an hour so i as speak for 45 minutes to an hour, there are 3,000 rounds being fired. Never did a day open more beautiful. We were astir at the first streaks of dawn. Too close to the enemy. A sim pim call by a sergeant and every man was alert and awake realizing there was ugly business ahead and plenty of it. William goodhue from wisconsin. Even as the role was being called the picture lines commenced quite briskly. And i saw man wiping the moisture from the muskets and the due was heavy and just now there was a considerable fog. The premonitions of bastle were growing stronger. The symptoms have been apparent more than 24 hours and we knew that the culmination of another great tragedy was at hand. Same youll tombs from new jersey. It is a trying situation for us. Though we had become in a measure accustomed to the sound of conflict and impatiently awaited the orders that should send us into action, we could not drive away the thoughts of the hidden dangers that menaced us. The certainty of death never before seemed to near. The approach of dawn was dreaded as though it was to witness our last day upon earth. Our thoughts wandered back home and the loved ones there. That is a common theme. You think about yourself and maybe the last night, maybe your last night on earth, you think of the loved ones back home. Maybe just zoom in a little bit more into the first action. Ee stickily and the stonewall big aid. The spectacle was one of spledor and magnificence and we be held one of the most brilliant troops and the federals were moving toward us as charge bayonet at common time and falling on the guns and bayonets and gay a glamour and show at once fearful and entrancing. Frank shell was an artist. Did some sketches at antietam. Hes watching the battle from mcclennans observation post at pry. The yankee line pushed its position and direction beautifully indicated by the National Colors waiving above the corn stalks and by the sparking flashes of gun barrels an the bayonets. Who that stood upon that hilltop could forget the soul wracking suspense and the burning anxiety and the heart thumps of the historymaking moments. The heart thumps of the historymaking moments. Roughus dawes, ill quote him more than once. Our line appeared the edge of the corn, a long line of men rose up from the ground sooimtly to fire upon each other they were knocked out of the ranks by the dozens. George kim bell in the 12th massachusetts would have the highest percentage of loss at the battle of antietam. They took 334 men into the battle, they lost 224. How terrible the shock how our men go down, screams and groans follow the volley, our officers cry give it to them, boys. There is a pandemonium of voices, a roar of musketry, a storm of bullets. Shells are bursting among us continually in the wild excitement of battle i forget me fear and think of killing. A man is struck kwarly in the face by a solid shot. Fragments of the head fill me with disgust. There is just a few of us left now. Sandy pendleton on jacksons staff. Such a storm of balls i never thought it possible to live through. Shots and shells sleeking and crashing and canister whistling and hissing most fiend like through the air until you could almost see them. Well with 3,000 rounds an hour and 3 to 4 million bullets fired in 12 hours it is almost as if you could see them. It was a chorus that made the earth tremble. The discharge of musketry sounded upon the ear like the rolling ever a thousand distant drums. Julious rob artie captured it in one sentence. Ive been trying to do it for 30 years. He did it in one sentence. Hes wounded early on. His fellow from his regiment drag him over in the east woods and get him behind the tree to get him protection. Here is what he remembered. Our troops advance, theyre firing was terrific. The corn stalks fall as if mowed an the air was full of explosions and the smell of brick stone and missiles strike our three, i was shot by the right thigh by his own men. A poor fellow with up lifted arm begs for water. I was exposed to the fire of slavery and freedom. His arm is shot off and the man speaks no mar. Another confident lays in front of me with a horrible wound. It is hell. I became unconscience for i remember nothing of the struggle for the possession of the corn field, the last struggle for the possession of the cornfield. He was caught between the fire of slavery and freedom. Confederate artillery was shrieking and throwing up dirt and dust in great clouds as high as the trees. It seemed as though, quote, all of the devilsin fernal had been incarn ated and assembled on this horrible field. All the devils incarn ate assembled on this horrible field. 12th corp reinforce and another 7,000 thrown into combat. Another thing that i basically have a sense of maybe after being there for 25 years. Nobody is in command of anything at the battle of antietam. You have cant see more than ten feet. Obviously you could tell in the numbers, they fire 3 million bullets and only hit 23,000 and they werent very good shots because of the smoke and confusion and the terror and all a commander could do is keep throwing guys at it and that is the problem. There is a lot of them in a very small area and they keep throwing them at them. Stonewall jackson, he wrote in his official report about sunrise the federal infantry advanced to the edge of the woods on the eastern side of the turnpike, batteries were open in front with shell and canister and our troop became exposed for an hour to a terrific storm of shell and canister and musketry and we advance to the conflict and man tain our position in the face of superior numbers with stubborn resolution. Sometimes driving the enemy before them and sometimes compelled to fall back before well sustained and destructive fire. Quote, the carnage on both sides was terrific. Soldier in the sixth wisconsin. A great tumbling together of all heaven and earth. The slaughter on both sides was enormous. Soldier in the 14th new york, there was on the part of our men an intense hist aerial excitement, an eagerness to go forward, a wreckless disregard of life and suffering and everything but victory. Men and officers of new york and wisconsin are fused in the frantic struggle to shoot fast. Everybody tears cartridges and loads or men falling in places and running back into the corn. Many recruits who are killed or wounded only left home ten days ago. One fourth, maybe onethird of his army has never fought in battle. Some of them are firing weapons for the first time in their lives on september 17th. Back to roughus dawes. Photographer a few rods, fell back to the edge of corn and lay down on the ground behind the low rail fence. Hes describing the fence at the south edge of the cornfield. Another line of men came to the corn and we joined together and jumped over the fence and pushed out into the open fields. Forward is the word. The men are loading and fires with demonic and shouting and laughing hysterically and rebels are fleeing for their life. Great numbers of men are shot while climbing over the fences on the turnpike. We push on halfy to the little church. Of course the famous Dunker Church on the landscape. At this moment is when well have the counter attack. I have to go back one, sorry. Counter attack of hoods command. Im sure most of you know the story. Theyre held in reserve in the woods behind the church. Theyre brought out. And they cross the haguestown turnpike 100 miles north. My regiment went into run into the battle. It seemed to me that every blasted yankee was firing at us with guns of a limitable range. My company last every officer and private except one in the battle either killed or wounded. Scott carson and hampton length, it seemed the whole world was in arms against us. The new bright flags were waving in every direction. George o tot, had the highest percentage of casualties in the Confederate Army. To the texans in the ranks the sound was deafening, the boom of artillery and dozens of nearby rifles and the steady popping of thousands more distant and the explosion of shells an the whine and hiss and file closures and Company Commanders bellowed orders until they were hoarse or shot. Dangerly wounded texans lay among the living and unhurt, walking wounded dribbled from the line like a funeral pahl, thick clouds of smoke at times obscured the sun. Put that vision in your mind as you walk the fields on sunday. Jay poke, we were in open field with no protection. It seems impossible for a rat to live in such a place. The dead and dying were in every direction. It doesnt i didnt take time to load my gun for there were plenty of loaded guns lying on ground by my side and dead and wounded men and not all confederates. The blue and the gray were all mixed up. John bell hood, the contest raged until our last round of ammunition was expended. The first texas lost in a cornfield twothirds of its number. Men were mowed down in heaps to the right and left. Never before i was so continuously troubled that my horse would further injure some wounded fellow lying helplessond ground. Soldier in the fourth texas. It was the hottest place i ever saw on earth. Or want to see here after. There were shots, shells, mini balls sweeping the face of the earth, legs and arms and parts of human bodies flying in the air like straw in a whirlwind. The dogs of war were loose and havoc was their cry. Joe hook, command in the first corp wounded and carried off the field. Every stalk of the corn in the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife and the slain land rose precisely where they stood in the ranks a few moments before. It was never to witness such a dismal bloody battlefield. Samuel coats. When we first enter the field the stallks stood but not a stok to show a crop of grain had been gathered. This crop of grain was gathered not by the hand and sweat of brow and peace, but it was destroyed by the red hand of carnage and blood in war. The corn was harvested by the red hand of carnage. The results of these first attacks hookers first corp and the confederate counter attack in lottens division took the brunt of this. 11 of 15 regiment commanders are killed. In douglas brigade south of the cornfield he lost 50 of his 560 men. Hayes lost 15 and some of the recent scholarship done by some of the guides and volunteers, there were almost 200 command changes on the battlefield of antietam in 12 hours. You think about that in your organization. 200 command changes in 12 hours and you wonder why Nothing Happened the next day. Hookers corp last 2,600 men and onethird of the corp. Hoods division 60 . The corp comes on to the field, mansfield is mortally wounded. Williams takes over. Mansfield said or excuse me williams, the roar of the infantry was beyond anything conceivable to the uninitiated. If all of the stone and brick houses houses on broadway should tumble at once and this artillery right and left were wondering as a base to thein fernal music so if all of the buildings on the broadway fell at once the noise could not have been greater. The boston journal, it was no longer alone the boom of the battery but the rattle of musketry at first patting like drops upon a roof and then a roar and a rush like a mighty ocean billowing upon the shore chafing the pebbles wave upon wave with deep explosions like the crashing of thunder bolts. And a soldier in the 128th p. A. , i was fighting in a cornfield near the extreme left of the line of battle when i was wounded, a ball passing through my thigh but did not injure the bone. The bullets flew to fast. I came off the field myself making through the shower of bullets and shell. Here is another soldier. It was the only it was only the thought of home that brought me from that place. Only the thought of home. There is a lull in the fighting after the first and 12th. Edwin sumner will arrive. Ive leave that to Vince Armstrong tomorrow but there is a point to make about that George Mcclennan and we hear about his cautious and timidity, he doubles down and sent in another 15,000. Hes making simultaneous attacks on opposite ends of the field. One of the units that or a unit that suffers the highest number of casualties in the part of sumners attack, sedgewick into the westwood, ill move the map forward and you could catch a little bit of that. The 15th massachusetts, frank bull ya bullard, they flew as fast as we could get them out of our runs. I thought to myself we got you now and i heard fall back. And i turned around and said what does that mean. But again the cry, fall back. Now someone yelled fall back. Were flanked the rebels are in our rear, i looked back and i was true in a moment all was confusion, every man for himself. We ran like a flock of sheep. The remembers mowed us down. The sedgewick division moves into the westwood, theyll lose half of the command in 20 minutes. Edwin sumner rides into the group, back boys, move back, youre in a bad fix. 20th massachusetts, in less time that it takes to tell it the ground was strewn with the body of the dead and wounded. Jonathan stow in the 15th mass, you ask me about the battle of antietam of which i will try to relate. The battle occurred on the 17th of september, in my opinion be put down in history as the most des pat battle of the war. Thousands yield their lives that this government must live and how i escape so many bullets that showered upon us god only knows. It came whizzing by my face falling thick and fast around me. You cannot realize the horrors of a battlefield to see the dead and wounded some with arms and legs off cut up in every conceivable way. It was awful. The 15th regiment is a corpal guard before the battle. Stonewall jackson once again by the time the expected reinforcements arrived and the charge upon the enemy checking his advance and driving them back with great slaughter beyond the woods an gaining possession of our original position. No advance was made by then enly on the left. In the 20 minutes sedgewick went into battle with 5,400 and they lost 2200 wounded captured or missing and most of them pulling out. The other two divisions will turn towards the sunken road. Turn in toward the sunken road. Get a little closer here. French and richardson moving toward the sunken road. Here is Frederick Hitchcock from pennsylvania. We were approaching and it sounded in the distance like a rapid pouring of shot on a tin pan or the tearing of a heavy canvas. That is a nice sound in your mind. Think of canvass tearing. How does one feel in this situation . I felt the situation most keenly and felt uncomfortable. I said to myself, this is the duty i undertook to perform my country and i will do it and leave the results with god. My greater fear was not that i would be killed but a victim suffering on the field. Another soldier, an occasional shell whizzed by reminding us we were rapidly approaching the debatable ground. Boy doesnt that sum it up. The debatable ground. It was a hell of a debate. E. E. Osborne, 14th, north carolina, mounted officers in full uniform and sashes glistening in the sun they came with all of the precision of a parade day, that was spectacular pageantry. My rifle flames like a blinding blaze of lightning. The effect was appalling. The entire front line went down in the consuming blast. Thomas livermore from new hampshire. The thundering of artillery and the roaring of bursting shells and the roaring and humming of deadly fragments and bullets and our own cheers and it all seemed to fill the whole horizon and drive peace away forever. Charles johnson said it was a savage continual thunder that could not compare to any sound ive ever heard. Sergeant fuller from new york, we were shooting them like sheep in a pen. James shin from north carolina, the many balls shot and shell rains upon every direction except for the rear. When ordered to retreat, i could scarily extricate from the dead and wounded around me and the post battle at the sunken road, the lane was packed with dead. At one. 13 dead bodies lay in a heap and in other places they lay two, three, five deep and nothing presented such a scene of carnage. Im going to move to the other simultaneous attack, the attack on the road and the bridge were simultaneous. Here is one soldiers account from ohio. The fearful moment had arrived. Skirmishes were advanced to clear the bridges in ridges of sharpshooters and at sexual assaulting columns charged the bridge. The bluffs were lighted up with one long sheet of flame. Volley after volley were driven into the faces of the advancing column. The head of the column pushed on bravely but it was seemed to waiver and melt away before such a murderous blast. In vain the champions of freedom struggles against the driving storm of iron and led that tore remorsefully through our ranks. Soldier from the second maryland. The brave fellows reeled and fell back as if smitten by a blast of hell. At this bridge with the bursting shells were appalling, destruction hovered in the air. Death environment. The approaches were strewn with dead man. It spelled antietam but all who attempted to cross it found eternity. Private George Brunson wrote home to his wife that evening. I dont know the name of that creek but i have named it the creek of death. Such a slaughter i hope never to witness again. Burn side takes a breath near 12 30, 1 00 and then prepares for the final of the day. Im going the wrong way. Im sorry. What we call the final attack. Eventually burnside will create a battle line of 8,000 men a mile wide driving on to sharpsburg. And here are two of the most honest appraisals of kbhat combat to share with you. Here is david l. Thompson. We heard all through the war that the army was eager to be led against the enemy. But when you come to hunt for this particular itch it is always the next regiment that has it. The truth is when bullets are cracking skulls like eggshells, the consuming passion of an average man is to get out of the way. Between the physical fear of Going Forward and the moral fear of turning back there is a prediction of which a hidden hole in the ground hidden hole ground is a welcome outlet. I get it. The private, i have heard and seen pictures of battles. They would be in a line. All standing in a level field. A number of ladies taking care of the wounded. It isnt so. I had a bullet strike me on top of my head as i was going to fire. A piece of shell struck my foot. Another hit my thumb. I concluded they meant me. A soldier in the 79th highlanders making the advance. As soon as the enemy discovered our line, the guns opened with shell and it was a terrible ordeal. The fire was pouring death upon our ranks cutting them down at every discharge. Barry ben sson as they rush on e field. We hurried on the field of battle. There arose a line. We poured volley with volley. He is part of the counterattack. At the end of the day, the 9th corps suffers 2,400 men killed and wounded. Two divisions there, another 1,000 killed. Another thing that happened at antietam, they come to the park, take a couple hours, get to the bridge and they are done. Whats sad is the vast majori w bridge. Theres five times as many casualties after the bridge. Thats where the action is. Most people have no idea. To summarize some, from sunrise to sunset, the waves of battle ebbed and flowed. Men wrestled with each other in brigades and divisions. Regime regiments, brigades and divisions faded away leaving long lines of dead to mark where stood the living. Fields of corns were trampled into shreds. Grape and canister mingles, their hissing scream in this hellish carnival. George gordon described the battle as a hellish carnival. Not a carnival i want to visit. As the sun sank, the last sounds of battle died away. The cannon could grow cool. There were thousands sleeping the sleep that knows no waking. Many times as many suffering the agony that are attend on wounds. The corn and trees fresh in the morning were reddened by the blood and the earth was fur rofd by lead and iron. Night brought sleep and forgetfulness and refreshment to many. The murmur of the night wind breathing over the fields of wheat and clover was mingled with the groans of countless sufferers of both armies. Who can imagine the horrors of such a night . Lieutenant blakeslee, this was the saddest we experienced. All was quiet and as silent as the grave. John walker, general, to those who had not been witness to a great battle like this were more than 100,000 men, they are engaged in the work of slaughtering each other. Its impossible by the power of words to convey an adequate idea of the terrible sublime. The glimpse of galloping horsemen and infantry lost in the smoke. Adding weirdness to the terror. All together, make up a combination of sights and sounds, hol indescribable. Over there by the church, private hicks from pennsylvania, under the dark shade of a tower ing birch lay a drummer boy. As i approached him, i stooped down. I did so, i perceived a bloody mark on his forehead. A wound that caused his death. By his side lay his drum never to be tapped again. The piefles of dead surpassed anything on any battlefield. The cold harbor slaughter pen were all compared mentally with me by what i saw at antietam. My feeling was the antietam surpassed all in evidence of slaughter. Jacob bower, an awful sight, the groans of the wounded, the confusion, its something no one can have any idea of. I found war is a terrible thing to think of. But when you are engaged in it, its worse yet. William child had to deal with the results of this. He is a surgeon from new hampshire. The days after a battle are 1,000 times worse than the days of a battle. The physical pain is not the greatest pain suffered. You can have no idea until you have seen it the ideas of the affairs after a battle. The dead appear sickening but they suffer no pain. The poor, wounded, mutilated soldiers that have life and sensation make a horrid picture. The burial crews moved in. The confederates had gone down as grass falls. Heaps like wood mingled in. Words are inadequate. A captain from new york, there were men in every state of mutilation. Arms, legs, heads, greater number than we have seen. How many shattered hopes we buried, none of us can ever know. War is a dreadful thing. A battlefield is an ugly blot on civilization. Mr. Lincoln gives it meaning. He wrote when the rebel army was at frederick, i determined answ seasoas soon as it was driven out, i am going to fulfill the promise. The president five days after antietam changes our nation. The war is no longer just about reunification. Its about freedom for 4. 5 million americans. He said on january 1, i never in many life felt more certain than i was doing the right, my whole heart is in it. The beginning of the end of the rebellion and the beginning of a new life for the nation. A lot of visitors to the park. Ive been blessed 7 Million People have visited the park since ive been working there. Some days i feel like ive talked to most of them. Im incredibly blessed to live in such a special place. One visitor i will share with you to close out, 1963, president kennedy visited the battlefield. I gave a tour to ted kennedy, the senator, i had a sense of history when i was doing my ranger thing as i do. Been here before . He said, yes, i was here with my brother. He was talking about this visit. They came over from camp david in a helicopter. He captured it all, the president did, in his writings. Antietam symbolizes Something Better than military strategy. It marks a turning point of worldwide consequence from this point on. Our civil war had a new division which was important to the course of human liberty. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. [ applause ] time for a couple questions. No problem. Go ahead. Did you find accounts of union and confederate at the same spot . I wish i did. This would make it better. In general i heard this a lot. I have a lot more union material than confederate. Every historian would agree with this. Its harder on confederate side to find counts. Theres reasons for that. Hopefully, you all, as i do, appreciate their words. They were there. I was not. They saw it. They felt it. They remembered it. Be careful with cherry picking to make a quote. Im guilty of that. Their words are more powerful. Go ahead. Do you think that one of the reasons why general mcclellan is held so negatively by so many historians is because a lot of the history is based on his letters to his wife . Some, particularly of my battlefield guided antietam said, he was just off gassing like a lot of men do when they come home from work and just expressing his inner thoughts to his wife. He wasnt necessarily he was speaking tongue in cheek kind of half. They are taken out of context. You are quoting a lot of soldiers. I thought it would be interesting to see what your perspective would be. I agree with that 100 . Would any of us want our letters to our wives to be made public and to think that that fully expresses all of it . I think mcclellan gets a bum wrap. You will hear that. A lot is because the post war, lincoln he is against lincoln in the election of 1864. Thats almost as bad as longstreet speaking out against general lee. Pushed off to the side for the rest of his life. What people ask me all the time, who wins this battle. You can talk about that a million different ways. Ive had those conversations at the highest level of government and military. I did a tour four 17 four star generals. We had that conversation. Who achieves their operational objectives . Robert e. Lee does not. I know he beats him to the punch. His speed is actually winning the maryland campaign. Why that has been turned so badly, i think its because of his opposition to lincoln. No one is going to pick mcclellan over lincoln. Lets face it. Most circles. Just my sense of it. Go ahead. This is the deadliest day in American History, is it true . We think so. If you want to be precise, you could say if you didnt hear that, is it still the deadliest day. It is the worst oneday battle in American History. You can make arguments, maybe the second day of gettysburg. The worst oneday battle in america. One of the most difficult times for this nation was september of 2001. I got probably 50 phone calls from across the country asking about the casualty numbers on whether or not 9 11 was going to be the bloodiest day, which it is not. People wanted to know. Thats not a distinction the other thing that i remind people and hopefully you heard it tonight, it doesnt matter if its 3,000, 30,000, 300,000, if it is your son or your father. We cant get so caught up in numbers and who is the greatest and the worst. You are hearing that from me. If it is you or your family, the numbers dont matter. Its one is the number that matters if it is you or your son. Im done preaching. Sorry about that. Go ahead, sir. [ no audio ] he asked about dday casualties. Antietam is four times, six times pearl harbor. I have done that math. Its not necessarily apples and apples. You are talking american casualties at dday and american casualties at pearl harbor. We combine those as american casualties for the civil war. 6,000 americ 6,000 american cas. Its 3,000 at pearl harbor. You have been awesome. Thank you, kevin, for inviting me down. [ applause ] you are watching a special edition of American History tv airing weekdays. Tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, a look at africanamericans and world war i. We visit the smithsonian of africanAmerican History and culture to speak with a guest curator. Watch American History tv now and over the weekend on cspan3. Modern transport poses new danger. The struggle against epidemics is global. The danger of death is worldwide. Sunday on American History tv, at 4 00 p. M. Eastern on reel america, the 1948 film, the eternal fight. From a disease infected zone, the traveller became unwittingly a carrier of deadly germs. Wherever he went, the germs stayed. And spread. Sunday, at 6 00 p. M. John hancock created the Continental Congress as a committee of whole to gather amongst ourselves an individual caucuses and decide how we should proceed. Do we really want independence . From a virtual tour with bill barker. I served 40 years in public service. 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Find it where you listen to podcasts. Up next on the civil war, university of virginia professor Elizabeth Varon talks about Elizabeth Van lew who operated a union spy ring out of the confederate capital of richmond, virginia. This was part of a summer conference hosted by the Gettysburg College civil war institu institute. Im pete carmichael, a member of the History Department here. Im the director of the civil war institute. Its my pleasure this afternoon to introduce Elizabeth Varon, the associate