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
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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
=D= is where, in November, 1894, I found a marker, that had been placed
there the October previous, by some one unknown to me. These are the four
principal places which have been pointed out to visitors. Still another
spot was shown to our party when the 1-10-29th Maine Regiment Association
made its first visit to the field, Oct. 4, 1889; it is south of =A=, but I
did not note exactly where.
=E=. There has also been published in the National Tribune, which has an
immense circulation among the soldiers, the statement[2] of Col. John H.
Keatley, now Commandant of the Soldier's Home, Marshall-town, Iowa, who
locates the place near the Dunker Church.
Col. Keatley's letters show that he has been on the field several times
since the war, which makes it harder to believe what would seem very plain
otherwise, that his memory of locations has failed him. He appears to have
got the recollection of the two woods mixed. Keatley was Sergeant of Co.
A, the extreme left of the 125th Penn.
Mr. Alexander Davis, who resided and worked on the field before and after
the battle, points out a place several rods northeast of the present
residence of Millard F. Nicodemus (built since the war and not shown on
the map). Some Indiana troops were the supposed original authority for
this place, which is not far from =B=. It is only fair to Mr. Davis to add
that he claims no personal knowledge.
There are several other places that have been described to me in private
letters, but these need no mention here.
WHY SO MANY ERRORS?
Why has there been so much difficulty in identifying the right locality?
There has been no difficulty, none whatever, among those who knew the
facts. The errors have all come from the ignorant, the imaginative, and
those who have poor memories.
It will be easy, especially for one standing on the ground while reading
these pages, to see that very few except the 10th Maine would witness the
event, as we were so nearly isolated and almost hidden. We made very
little account at the time, of what is now considered an important event
in the history of the battle. It then appeared to us as only one of the
many tragedies in the great slaughter. Nothing was done at the time to
mark the spot, and hardly a note of the event was recorded.
REGIMENTAL EXCURSION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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