Joseph K. F. Mansfield, Brigadier General of the U.S. Army: A Narrative of Events Connected with His Mortal Wounding at Antietam, Sharpsburg, Maryland, September 17, 1862 — John Shaqi
Joseph K. F. Mansfield, Brigadier General of the U.S. Army: A Narrative of Events Connected with His Mortal Wounding at Antietam, Sharpsburg, Maryland, September 17, 1862Gould, John Mead
History
Joseph K. F. Mansfield, Brigadier General of the U.S. Army: A Narrative of Events Connected with His Mortal Wounding at Antietam, Sharpsburg, Maryland, September 17, 1862
Gould, John Mead
Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862; Mansfield, Joseph K. F. (Joseph King Fenno), 1803-1862
At the time Mansfield was wounded, Major Robbins' command in East Woods
was the extreme right of the troops of the Confederate left wing
(Jackson's) _actually engaged_. Their line ran, with many turns and
several intervals, from the woods through the great cornfield to the
northern part of West Woods. Not many men in either army were firing their
muskets at the moment Mansfield was shot, but the two or three thousand on
each side, who were engaged, were very fiercely contending for their
positions.
[Illustration: Battlefield of Antietam]
Footnotes:
[1] Sept. 17, 1891.
[2] The brigade [Crawford's] had reached a point close to the Hagerstown
pike, with the left almost touching the Dunker Church. The brigade was
within 50 yards of the turnpike, ready to cross over and into the woods
lining the road on the opposite side. These woods were filled with
Stonewall Jackson's troops; and their sharpshooters in the foliage were
picking off officers. * * Notwithstanding the hazard, Gen. Mansfield,
instead of sending a staff officer to direct the movement of the troops
toward the point intended by him, rode forward himself and gave personal
directions, wholly in a matter of detail (the alignment of a single
regiment that was making an effort to dress on its colors), and when
engaged in that unimportant duty of detail for a corps commander, was shot
from the woods and almost instantly killed.
[National Tribune, Washington, D. C., Nov. 16, 1893.
[3] These three organizations were virtually one. The 1st Regiment, after
serving three months in 1861, re-organized as the 10th, to serve till May,
1863, when it was again recruited and re-organized as the 29th, to serve
three years more. The 10th Battalion was that portion of the 10th Regiment
which was not discharged in 1863. Excepting eight weeks in the fall of
1861, the regiment or battalion was in "the field" during the entire war,
and for more than a year afterward.
[4] The map does not show this new or "Keedysville road." It now runs
directly past Michael Miller's gate to Sam Poffenberger's, thence up Sam's
old lane to the woods, there turning west enters the Smoketown road, where
the right of the 10th Maine fought--near =M= on the map. The lane from M.
Miller's to Morrison's has been closed, and also that part of Sam's lane
which was in East Woods.
[5] Samuel Poffenberger's. Erroneously marked Dunbar's Mills on the old
maps.
[6] Crawford's brigade, 46th Penn., Col. Knipe; 10th Maine, Col. Beal;
28th N. Y., fragment, Capt. Mapes; 124th Penn., Col. Hawley; 125th Penn.,
Col. Higgins; 128th Penn., Col. Samuel Croasdale (killed.)
[7] That is, to bring the men "into line"--the position they should be in
for fighting; since while in mass, only Companies I and G could fire their
muskets, while a fairly well aimed bullet from the enemy would be almost
sure to hit one or more of us.
[Illustration]
[8] The 10th Maine went into battle with 21 officers, and 276 men with
muskets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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