The Battle of Antietam 1862 - Part Three

Turn Seven - Union.

A good turn of the cards allows the whole Corps to advance. 1st Division cross a hedge and begin to cross a small field. In the centre, 2nd Division advance to maintain a line with the divisions on either side. Finally 3rd Division climb the fence of the wheat field and begin to move up the gentle slope.

Turn Eight - Confederate.

With no requirement to move, the rebels behind the fence on the South side of the wheat field are ordered to stay low and remain out of sight of the advancing Union troops. On the Confederate left flank a massed battery opens up.

Two hits on advancing infantry and a miss for counter-battery fire.

1st and 2nd Brigade bear the brunt of the artillery fire.

Turn Nine - Union.

Hooker is able to advance two of his divisions, The 3rd now halfway across the wheat field and the 2nd keeping pace to their right.

3rd Division can hear artillery fire away to their right, but all is quiet in the wheat field.

A painting of the advance into wheat field by a Union officer who was an eye witness.

Union 1st Division artillery return fire and score two hits.

One rebel battery suffers casualties as does Winder's infantry brigade.

Turn Ten - Confederate.

'We were told to keep our heads down and not try to peer over the fence, at first I could hear nothing but artillery fire away to the left. Then from the front the sounds of Yankee officers could be heard, shouting and controlling their men, much like our own do. The voices got steadily louder. Behind this fence, we were looking at each other and wondering if our officers were going to let those blue bellies step right on top of us.
At once a shout went up and we were ordered to stand and take aim. The field, empty a short while ago, was full of Yankees, line upon line of them! Our cannon fired canister, just as we unleashed a volley from our muskets. I cannot describe the deafening noise it all made. I was hurriedly reloading my musket, but could see nothing through the dense cloud of powder smoke, surely no man could have survived that onslaught of lead.'

Private F. Frey, Early's Brigade, Ewell's Division.

The wheat field becomes the scene of carnage, rebel artillery firing canister and brigades of infantry unleash devastating fire on to Union 2nd and 3rd Divisions.

Almost every cannon and musket ball found a target.

'A line of butternut and gray clad men arose to our front, where there had been nothing but a split log fence a second before. That line erupted in wall of flame and smoke, and we paid the price in full. Men fell by the dozens, great holes appeared in our ranks as balls and canister tore through flesh and bone. It was as if a nest of angry hornets where buzzing about me, it took a moment to realise it was musket balls and not insects. My hat was gone, but otherwise I was untouched, but around me lay the dead and the dying, the screaming and the silent.
I attended to my duties and attempted to rally what men I could still find, it was the only thing that kept me sane.'

Lieutenant K. Brown, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division. Hooker's Corps.

2nd and 3rd Brigades suffer horrendous casualties, virtually destroying the fighting capability of 3rd Division.

One of the artillery batteries also took two hits from counter-battery fire and was destroyed.

1st Brigade of 2nd Division too, was decimated by the rebel onslaught.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Jackson's massed battery opened up again on 1st Division.

1st and 2nd Brigades being left to pay the butcher's bill.

General Hooker looked on in horror and disbelief as his Corps had its guts ripped out in one devastating blow. He quickly dispatched couriers calling for reinforcements from Mansfield's Twelfth Corps and Sumner's Second Corps.

He was lucky, they would arrive on the field in two turns.