Sharpsburg in Washington County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
The Most Terrible Clash of Arms
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 11, 2011
1. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker
Inscription.
The Most Terrible Clash of Arms. . , As Union soldiers stepped out of the Cornfield (in front of you) at dawn, September 17, 1862, Confederate troops, aligned in the fields just behind you, unleashed a horrific volley. The single bloodiest day in American History had begun in earnest., For the next four hours the Cornfield was the center of a storm of lead, iron, and flame as Federal soldiers from the First and Twelfth Corps clashed with Lee’s men. The Cornfield changed hands again and again as both sides attacked and counterattacked. One soldier remembered, “The air seems full of leaden missiles. Rifles are shot to pieces in the hands of soldiers, canteens and haversacks are riddled with bullets, the dead and wounded go down in scores.” , More than 25,000 soldiers fought in and around the Cornfield. By 9:30 a.m. thousands of them lay dead and dying. Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood wrote, “It was here that I witnessed the most terrible clash of arms, by far, that has occurred during the war.” Union Gen. Joseph Hooker remembered that “every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they stood in their ranks a few moments before. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield.”
As Union soldiers stepped out of the Cornfield (in front of you) at dawn, September 17, 1862, Confederate troops, aligned in the fields just behind you, unleashed a horrific volley. The single bloodiest day in American History had begun in earnest.
For the next four hours the Cornfield was the center of a storm of lead, iron, and flame as Federal soldiers from the First and Twelfth Corps clashed with Lee’s men. The Cornfield changed hands again and again as both sides attacked and counterattacked. One soldier remembered, “The air seems full of leaden missiles. Rifles are shot to pieces in the hands of soldiers, canteens and haversacks are riddled with bullets, the dead and wounded go down in scores.”
More than 25,000 soldiers fought in and around the Cornfield. By 9:30 a.m. thousands of them lay dead and dying. Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood wrote, “It was here that I witnessed the most terrible clash of arms, by far, that has occurred during the war.” Union Gen. Joseph Hooker remembered that “every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they stood in their ranks a few moments before. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battlefield.”
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Erected by National Park Service.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil. A significant historical date for this entry is September 17, 1862.
Location. 39° 28.857′ N, 77° 44.857′ W. Marker is in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in Washington County. Marker is at the intersection of Cornfield Avenue and Dunker Church Road, on the right when traveling west on Cornfield Avenue. Marker is in Antietam National Battlefield at auto tour stop 4. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sharpsburg MD 21782, United States of America. Touch for directions.
sectionhead>More about this marker. The right side of the marker features the painting “Through the Cornfield” by Keith Rocco showing The Iron Brigade breaking out of the Cornfield at dawn. Portraits of Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood and Union Gen. John Gibbon appear at the bottom left of the marker. The Hood portrait has a caption of “Gen. John Bell Hood led his division of 2,000 men from behind the Dunker Church and into the Cornfield in a vicious counterattack. Over 1,000 of his soldiers were killed or wounded in about thirty minutes of combat. Gen. Hood lost the use of his arm at Gettysburg, and a leg at Chickamauga, but survived the war and died in 1879.” The caption under Gibbon reads, “Gen. John Gibbon commanded the Union Iron Brigade, which helped lead the First Corps assault into the Cornfield. Gen. Gibbon was a West Point graduate and a Mexican War veteran. During the fighting in the Cornfield, which he described as the, “hottest of hornets nests,” Gibbon even helped load and fire a cannon that “produced great destruction in the enemy’s ranks.”
Also see . . . Antietam National Battlefield. National Park Service website entry (Submitted on October 13, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Photographed By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015
3. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker
Photographed By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015
4. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker
Photographed By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015
5. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker
Photographed By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015
6. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker - General John Bell Hood
Photographed By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015
7. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker - General John Gibbon
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 11, 2011
8. Markers on Cornfield Avenue
Two markers are found at this location. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms marker is seen here on the left.
Photographed By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015
9. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker (Left)
Photographed By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015
10. The Most Terrible Clash of Arms Marker (Left)
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 11, 2011
11. The Bloody Cornfield
This view of the Cornfield looks north from the marker. Union troops approached from this direction on the morning of September 17, 1862 and were met by Confederates under "Stonewall" Jackson.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 13, 2022. It was originally submitted on April 15, 2011, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 843 times since then and 17 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on April 15, 2011, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on October 19, 2015, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. 8. submitted on April 15, 2011, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. 9, 10. submitted on October 19, 2015, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. 11. submitted on April 15, 2011, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.
