A Deadly Struggle

A Deadly Struggle. . An estimated 100,000 US and Confederate soldiers clashed at Antietam on September 17, 1862. During the battle, Sergeant William H. Paul, Company E, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry, put his life on the line to recapture his unit's fallen flag. He later recalled, "A rebel had already seized the colors, but I grasped them and with one supreme effort wrenched the precious banner from his hold. Waving it high above my head, I carried it throughout the remainder of the battle." Paul's actions in the Miller Cornfield inspired the sculpture in this plaza., (captions) , Some of Antietam's most horrific fighting took place in the Miller Cornfield located a short distance north of here. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander "Sandie" Pendleton, who served as part of Major General "Stonewall" Jackson's staff, remembered, "such a storm of balls I never conceived it possible for men to live through. Shot and shell shrieking and crashing, canister and bullets whistling and hissing most fiend-like through the air until you could almost see them.", After bravely recapturing his unit's flag at Antietam, Sergeant William H. Paul carried it until he suffered a wound at Gettysburg that prevented him from continuing as flag-bearer. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions at Antietam on November 3, 1896., Private Julius F. Rabardy, Company K, 12th Massachusetts Infantry, also fought in Miller's Cornfield at Antietam. Decades later, he described the horrors of that bloody day. His words are now etched into this plaza's sculpture., "I was shot through the right thigh by our own men. I had till then steered clear from the shots of the attacking party by painfully dragging myself on the north or south of the south of the tree, but too weak to continue those tactics, I was around on the east side of the tree, exposed to the fire of Slavery and Freedom." , Private Julius F. Rabardy, Private, Company K, 12th Massachusetts Infantry