War papers of Frank B. Fay

17 September 1862

Battle of Antietam

THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN 35

General Pope, on assuming command a short time be- fore, announced that his headquarters were in the sad- dle, and that he had never shown his back to the enemy. It proved an inglorious campaign. The army was then drawn back to the defences of Washington, and Pope resigned his command. It was then united with the Army of the Potomac, which went almost immediately into the Antietam campaign.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER IV. The Antietam Campaign.

TUE ANTIETAM CAMPAIGN 39

During the night Lee tried to reform his forces and renew the engagement the next day, but it was found im- possible, and on the night of the eighteenth of September his army crossed the Potomac, defeated. The battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest of the war, and it is probable that more men were killed and wounded on that seventeenth of September than on any other day in the whole war. The Confederates lost 13 guns, 39 colors, 15,000 stand of arms, 8,000 killed and wounded, and 6,000 prisoners. The Federals lost 12,000 killed and wounded, but not a gun or a color. The dead and wounded of both armies were left on the field to be cared for by the government and the Sanitary Com- mission.

THE ANTIETAM CAMPAIGN 41

posed to send a wagon-load of supplies to the battlefield. I did so; and the next morning, the team not being ready, started on foot for Middleton, and during that day, Sep- tember seventeen, 1862, heard the guns of the battle of Antietam not far away. At Middleton I saw Colonel Wild of the 35th Massachusetts, whom I had saluted three or four days before, with his arm shot away at the shoulder, and began to work at once among the wounded at that place. As the burial parties were already be- ginning their work, I went with them, placing marks of identification on the bodies of the dead soldiers, with their names when ascertained, so that head-boards could be placed at their graves. These head-boards were pieces of cracker-boxes or other planed boards, marked with a pencil, a much more durable mark than when made by a pen. During the evening the Sanitary Commission wagon came up, and I went on with it, walking and riding by turns toward the battlefield. We were on the road all night, and by gray dawn we reached the field. The bridge had given way, and we were stalled till morning. I lay down in a corn-field, and had my first experience of sleeping on the ground, but it was good, refreshing sleep. We found a sad state of things on our arrival. The whole town of Keedysville was one great hospital: houses, stores, churches, mills, and barns were all filled with the wounded, and hundreds, even thousands, were not shel- tered at all. I filled my haversack and started out to no- tify surgeons to come to our wagon for supplies, and tele- graphed Chelsea to send men and women and additional stores. As a result of the despatch, nine of our best people joined me, bringing abundant supplies, and they did most effective work on that field. I made my head- quarters at Mr. Iveedy's house in this town which was named for him, and found him generous and hospitable.*