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Traveling Clara Barton from Antietam
National Battlefield. |
This
has been a busy week for Traveling Clara Barton! I have gotten back yet another
stamp for my Traveling Clara Barton. This time it is from Antietam National
Battlefield.
This
one was pretty boring too. I just got my stamp back in an envelope. It makes me
appreciate the people over at Andersonville and Missing Soldiers Office a lot
more for taking that extra step to make our correspondence more meaningful, lol.
:) I kinda wonder where it has been though because it was folded up in half too…which
I didn’t do… weird.
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| Stamp from Antietam National Battlefield |
Anyway,
I am getting very close to finishing my Traveling Clara Barton. I just have to
wait for Fairfax Station to get back to me and then I can send everything out
to Clara Barton NHS for the last stamp and the badge.
About Antietam
National Battlefield
This
site honors the Battle of Antietam, a twelve-hour campaign which occurred on
September 17, 1862 in which 23,000 soldiers were left dead, wounded or missing.
The Battle of Antietam ended the first invasion of the Confederates into the
North; it also led to President Lincoln’s issuance of the preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation, which effectively launched the war into its new
purpose: ending slavery.
The Antietam Campaign: The Bloodiest One-Day Battle in US History
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Fog over Sunken Road (aka Bloody Lane) at Antietam.
Photo Courtesy nps.gov |
On
September 17, 1862, just as dawn’s first light peeked through the fog, cannons
and rifles began to fire in what would be a twelve-hour long savage campaign on
the rolling farm fields of western Maryland. This battle would change the
course of the Civil War and ensure the freedom of over four million Americans.
It would also devastate Sharpsburg, and is still considered to be the bloodiest
one-day battle in US History.
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General Robert E Lee
Photo Courtesy nps.gov |
Considered
to be the climax of the Maryland Campaign of 1862, the Battle of Antietam was
the first invasion of the North by General Lee and the Northern Virginia Armies,
as the war began to shift northward. After Lee’s victory at the Second Battle
of Manassas in August, he wrote to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President, about
his ideas for the next stage of the war. Lee wanted to keep the offensive and
secure independence through victory in the North; influence the mid-term
elections that were soon happening in the fall; obtain desperately-needed
supplies; move the war out of Virginia; and to liberate Maryland from the “tyranny”
of the North by appealing to the slave-owners’ sympathies.
Upon
arrival in Frederick, Lee aimed to capture the Union garrison which was
stationed at Harpers Ferry: a vital location on the Confederate lines of
supplies and communication to Virginia. The 12,000 Union soldiers stationed
there were a threat to the Confederate’s link with the south. Stonewall Jackson
and half of Lee’s army were sent to capture Harpers Ferry, while the rest of
the troops moved toward South Mountain and Hagerstown, Maryland.
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Major General George B McClellan
Photo Courtesy nps.gov |
President
Lincoln called Major General George B McClellan to protect the capital and
respond to the imminent invasion. He reorganized the Potomac Army and advanced
toward the awaiting Lee. The armies first fought on South Mountain, a campaign
where the Confederates tried to block the Union Soldiers at three different
mountain passes; however, the Confederates were unsuccessful and retreated.
After
this defeat at South Mountain, Lee considered returning to Virginia; however,
when he found out that Jackson had successfully captured Harpers Ferry on September
15, Lee decided to begin a campaign at Sharpsburg. The Confederate army led by
Lee positioned themselves on the high-ground west of Antietam creek, while
other commanders maintained positions on the left, center and right. Though
there was strength in this position, there was also a weakness: with the Potomac
River at their backs, there would be only one way to return to Virginia.
Meanwhile,
the Union soldiers, led by McClellan, positioned themselves on the east side of
Antietam. The idea was to drive Lee away from Maryland by attacking the left,
then the right, and then eventually advance in the center when the flanks receded.
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Major General Ambrose Burnside
Photo Courtesy nps.gov |
The
battle began at dawn on September 17. During the first seven hours, the Union
led three major attacks against the Confederate left. McClellan’s plan soon
disintegrated into a mess of uncoordinated Union attacks. This savage combat
was fought on the areas known as the Cornfield, East and West Woods, and the Sunken
Road; Lee’s men struggled against each of the Union’s advances. Entering hour
eight of the battle, the Confederate army was pushed back, but not defeated. At
this point, over 15,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded.
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Burnside Bridge, Antietam National Battlefield
Photo Courtesy nps.gov |
As
the Union attacked the area of Sunken Road, General Burnside and his men attacked
the Confederate’s right flank. His goal was to capture the bridge in the area.
It took three hours for him to take the bridge. It was now 1 p.m., and Burnside
and his troops regrouped and strategized for two hours before they decided to
move forward. This delay cost them the advantage, as at that point,
reinforcements led by Confederate General AP Hill had arrived from Harpers
Ferry and forced the Union soldiers back.
The
Confederate army’s flanks never collapsed far enough for McClellan to advance
his center attack as he had planned, which left many Union soldiers alive since
they never entered the battle. Both McClellan and Lee held their ground as the
sun set; neither side admitting defeat.
The
next day, September 18, both armies roamed the battleground gathering their
wounded and burying the dead. Of the 100,000 men that engaged the battle, there
were over 23,000 casualties. That night, Lee’s army withdrew back to Virginia, effectively
ending Lee’s first invasion into the North. This provided President Lincoln the
critical and long-awaited opportunity to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
An act which launched the war into its new purpose: Ending Slavery.
The
Clara Barton Connection
Clara
Barton was at the ready to aid the wounded soldiers during the Battle of
Antietam on September 17, 1862. It took longer to arrive at the battlefield
than she anticipated because her wagon was delayed behind the army’s massive
supply line. Undaunted, she prodded her teamsters to drive the mules all night
to get closer to the front lines.
She arrived at the “Cornfield” battle area
around noon. The medical surgeons stationed there were desperately dressing the
soldiers’ wounds with corn husks, as the army’s medical supplies were slow in
arriving compared to the quick-moving troops at Antietam. At her arrival, she
delivered a wagon full of bandages and medical supplies she had personally
collected over the course of a year.
She
immediately settled into work. Her first surgery was performed at Antietam; she
removed bullet from a soldier’s face, using—get this—her pocketknife. There was a woman there who dressed as a man to
become a soldier in the army, and Barton also attended to her wounds. She
prepared food for the injured soldiers and brought them water.
Her
work at Antietam marked the first time she worked during a battle—and it was
almost her last. As the battle raged on around her, she brought an injured
solider a cup of water for him to drink. Kneeling down to give him the drink,
she felt her sleeve shudder slightly. She later described the incident in these
words: “A bullet sped its full and easy way between us, tearing a hole in my
sleeve and found its way into his body.” (She never mended the bullet hole in
her sleeve.) The soldier that was struck died in her arms, and the tough and valiant
Clara Barton left him and moved on to the next soldier to continue working. It
continued on-and-on like this until dark. The surgeons were hindered by the
darkness; however Barton had brought lanterns with her in the wagon of
supplies, so the doctors were able to continue their efforts through the night.
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A Memorial to Clara Barton
stands at Antietam
Photo Courtesy nps.gov |
After
the Confederates retreated, the wagons of extra medical supplies were moved into
Sharpsburg. Barton collapsed from sleep-deprivation and an onset of typhoid
fever. She returned to Washington exhausted and delirious; however when she
regained her strength, Clara Barton again returned to the Civil War battlefields,
undaunted by her harrowing experiences at Antietam, to aid those who needed
help the most. Famously, she said: “I may be compelled to face danger, but
never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed
and nurse them.”
Explore On, Junior Rangers! :)
Source: nps.gov
Photo Credit: Clara Barton, 1865.
Courtesy of redcross.org
