The 15th Massachusetts at Antietam

In Honor of those who fought

West Brookfield Soldiers from the 15th who lost their lives at the Battle of Antietam

Profiles of the soldiers from West Brookfield in the 15th who were KIA and MWIA at Antietam:  William L. Adams, Justus C. Wellington, William E. Vanever, and Albert W. Livermore. Livermore was wounded at Antietam, Maryland, and died of his wounds January11, 1863 at West Brookfield.

Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry Monument at Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD

The Battle of Antietam

General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North culminated with the Battle of Antietam in Maryland, or Sharpsburg as the South called it. The Battle took place on Wednesday, September 17, 1862, just 18 days after the Confederate victory at Second Manassas, in Virginia.  Not only was this the first major Civil War engagement on Northern soil, it was also the bloodiest single-day battle in American history.

On September 17, 1862, over 25,000 men became casualties in the battle of Antietam. Confederate and Federal infantry and artillery faced each other at close quarters in the fields and woods around the town of Sharpsburg and particularly along the banks of Antietam Creek. The action at the Cornfield, Dunker Church, Burnside's Bridge, and the Bloody Lane have been covered in vivid detail.

15th Massachusetts at Antietam - Gorman's Brigade, Sedgwick's Division, 2nd Corps

The losses of the 15th at the battle of Antietam, that great harvest of death, were larger than any other regiment engaged. Fox, in his volume of Regimental Losses in the Civil War, gives the number of killed and mortally wounded as 98 for the regiment alone and 108 for the regiment and the Andrew Sharpshooters who were attached to the 15th. Only three infantry regiments lost more in killed and mortally wounded during the "whole" war.

The morning of the 17th opened cloudy and cool. The men of the 15th together with the other soldiers of the 2nd Corps forded Antietam Creek and with anxious hearts, catching glimpses through the woods and smoke of the fierce battle taking place, waited for final orders to march. After marching a quarter of a mile up a gentle slope the division formed into battle lines by brigades. General Gorman's Brigade was in advance, Dana's second, and Howard's third. The 15th was the third regiment in the Brigade line, including the Andrew Sharpshooters. They had 24 officers and 582 men ready for action when the order to march was given.

The three brigades were all facing west in extended lines with no protection for the exposed flanks. As Gorman's Brigade emerged from the West Woods it received a destructive volley from the enemy. Six hundred yards away to the right and front, were the rebel batteries pouring in a terrific fire of grape and canister. During the next 15 or 20 minutes the 15th, with its companion regiments, stood firmly in line holding their position though men were falling thick and fast. The 40 or more rounds of ammunition that were poured into the rebel lines at this time caused much damage and destruction. One of the Confederate batteries was twice silenced by the 15th Regiment and the Andrew Sharpshooters.

As re-enforcements begin to pour in to aid the exhausted enemy, they form on the battlefield to the left flank and rear of General Sedgwick's Division. General Sedgwick realizes that his division can not successfully meet this danger and orders,  "God! We must get out of this." He orders General Howard more by signs than words, for words can no longer be heard, to bring his 3rd line into position to meet the approaching force. But it is too late. There is a depression to the left of the 15th. Here the rebels are in a ravine and with a most murderous fire rake the line. From the rear too, the thick incoming bullets seek their victims. From the right and front, infantry and artillery pour in their leaden rain with redoubled fierceness.

The bearer of the state colors is wounded. The color sergeant seizes them and bears both the flags in the forefront of the battle. Soon he is wounded. Other hands pick up and bear the colors no less defiantly aloft. In less than 20 minutes more than half of the regiment has been killed or wounded, yet the men obey with reluctance the command to withdraw. When the brigade has retired 100 yards, it faces about and by a volley checks the advancing foe. During the latter part of the day the 15th was stationed in support of a battery on a hill near he Puffenberger house on the Hagerstown Pike.

The bodies of a considerable number of the members of the 15th are still resting in the now beautiful cemetery at Antietam.

Antietam National Cemetery, Sharpsburg, MD

The remains of 4,776 Union soldiers, including 1,836 unknowns are buried in this hilltop cemetery.  The text on this monument reads "Not for themselves, but for their country".

September 17, 1862.

Casualties for the Brookfields

photographs by Kathy and Nancy Parker