memoir · by a contemporary

The young volunteer

Joseph Edgar Crowell (1844–), 1906

Named on the page for Battle of Antietam.

machine-read Machine-read (OCR) from a scanned book at the Internet Archive: expect misread words and names. The scan itself is at the library.

draft Matched to the battle automatically; not yet reviewed.

Passages that name the battle; the whole book is at Internet Archive.

17 September 1862

Battle of Antietam

PERSONS AND PAPERS.
“The march across the aqueduct bridge, the tramp to Rockville, the enthusiastic reception by the girls at Frederick, the lost order of Lee’s picked up in our headquarters camp there, the Antietam campaign, the hospitals and the appearance of the battlefield imme- diately after the fight, are so truly described that they bring up all of these incidents vividly to my recollection.” — General George D. Ruggles, formerly General McClellan’s adjutant-general, and the adjutant-general of the United States Army for many years, now governor of the Soldier’s Home at Washington.

THE YOUNG VOLUNTEER
I had scarcely signed before I began to be sorry. For the first time I realized what I had done and began to be frightened. But the sight of so many of my friends and companions around me soon dissipated that feeling. There was “Rats” and “Curt” and “Liv,” besides Captain Irish, all from our office. “Rats” was David Harris. “Curt” was Curtis Bowne, whose tragic and singular death at the battle of Antietam will be noticed later on. “Liv” was E. Livingston Allen, now a Methodist min- ister. He is the only one of the lot who went into the ministry. All those mentioned were printers. Then there were James G. Scott (afterward captain) and Hank Van

THE YOUNG VOLUNTEER
Colonel Carman stood on one side of the field, gor- geously attired, with a ferocious look on his face. He had already served some time in an official position in another regiment, and was regarded as a veteran. Before the war Colonel Carman was an humble clerk in some New York store. So he was, I understand, after the departure of his military glory ; but he was afterward honored by being made commissioner in charge of the Antietam battlefield.

THE YOUNG VOLUNTEER
Now that Harper’s Ferry had been lost General Mc- Clellan changed his plans and directed his entire attention to the main army of General Lee, and then commenced the movements that a day or so later precipitated us into one of the great conflicts of the war — the battle of Antietam.

Public domain. Text from Internet Archive.