Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States
John Stuart Mill · en
THRILLED with the victory at Manassas, the second Bull Run, the leader
of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, ordered an immediate movement to
the North with all the chances of glorious triumph in his favor. It was
conceded even by the military tacticians of the Government that Lee
could march to Washington with probabilities of entrance. He was aware
that a direct attack was feasible, but he desired to cross the Potomac
into Maryland and enter the National Capital from the north, thus giving
him a free route to the great municipalities of the North. It is
probable that he even had visions of the capture of New York. While
developing this military stratagem he met the Federals in the open at
Antietam. It was the seventeenth of September in 1862. General McClellan
was in command and Lee's fondest dreams were blasted. The men of both
armies fought as they never fought before. Brady's cameras were soon on
the scene and secured many negatives of this bloody day. The one above
reveals the west side of Hagerstown Road after the battle. The bodies of
the dead are strewn thickly beside the fence, just as they fell. The
guns succeeded in getting an excellent range of this road, and
slaughtered the enemy like sheep. This view of some of the men just as
they fell, is only a glimpse of many groups of dead in that terrible
combat. Brady "caught" the Independent Pennsylvania Battery E, well
known as Knapp's Battery, shortly after the battle.
[Illustration: ARTILLERY AFTER THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM]