At approximately 5:30 in the morning on September 17, the battle began as Major General Joseph Hooker, commanding the
Union I Corps, attacked the Hagerstown Turnpike. His goal was to take the plateau
where Dunker Church sat. The 8,600 men of the Union I Corps faced Major General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s 7,700
troops. Despite having superior numbers, the Confederate defense easily nullified
the Union’s advantage. Brigadier General
Abner Doubleday acted as Hooker’s right flank while Brigadier General James Ricketts served on the left, passing into
East Woods. Once the first yankee soldiers reached Miller Cornfield, the Confederates
led by Jeb Stuart launched heavy fire from their horse artillery while Colonel Stephen D. Lee fired his four batteries. The Union returned fire from their 13 batteries,
4 of which were 20-pounder Parrott rifles.
Hooker was about to assault the Cornfield when he halted his troops. Spying
glints of enemy weapons in the fields, he brought up four batteries and cut down men and cornstalks alike. While the slaughter in the cornfield was taking place, the 1st Brigade of Pennsylvania, led
by Brigadier General Truman Seymour began advancing through the East Woods. He
was forced to withdraw by a brigade of Alabama, Georgia,
and North Carolina troops led by Colonel James Walker. Rickett’s division tried to march into the cornfield but was torn apart by artillery,
and Brigadier General Abram Duryée and his troops were slaughtered by the Georgia
brigade under Colonel Marcellus Douglass.
When the troops were rallied and marched into the Cornfield again, they faced the same destruction as the earlier fighters. The superior Union numbers began to turn the tide of the fighting only to be beaten
back by a fierce attack from the Louisiana “Tiger”
Brigade under Harry Hays. They were rebuffed by a vicious attack from 3-inch
ordnance rifles that slaughtered 323 of their 500 men at point-blank range. The
Miller Cornfield remained a stalemate for the remainder of the battle, although the Union attack to the west achieved more
success.
The 4th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General John Gibson, swept Jackson’s
men aside but were halted by a 1,150 man charge made up of Starke’s brigade. The
Confederates did not withdraw until heavy fire and the loss of their commander forced them back. The Federal troops resumed their attack, nearly collapsing Jackson’s
line.
Fortunately for the rebels, reinforcements led by Brigadier General John B. Hood numbering 2,300 arrived at 7:00 and
helped push the Union back to the Cornfield. Although 60% of the soldiers became
casualties, they managed to save the defensive Confederate line and hold off the Union. Two hours and 2,500 casualties later, the Union found
themselves back to the proverbial “square one.” In order to reclaim
the lost territory, Hooker summoned support from Major General Joseph K. Mansfield’s XII Corps. Unfortunately for Hooker, Mansfield as inexperienced as a commander and grouped his men closely together. They made no progress against the line and Mansfield
was killed by a sniper bullet later on in the day. However, the 2nd
Division led by Brigadier General George Sears Greene broke through the portion of the line when the rebels fled believing
they were about to be flanked. Hood regrouped his men back in the West Woods
while Greene reached Dunker Church
and forced Stephen Lee to retreat with his artillery. Greene was forced to withdraw
due to the heavy fire from the forces now massed in West Woods.
Major General John Sedgwick tried to support Mansfield by taking his own division of
5,400 men and fording the Antietam to enter the East Woods.
They became separated from Brigadier General William H. French’s division, and in the confusion, Major General
Edwin V. Sumner launched the battle in a formation where all of his men were side by side.
He was assaulted by Confederate artillery and the combined three-pronged attack by the fresh troops under Confederate
Brigadier General John G. Walker and Major General Lafayette McLaws. In less
than half an hour, Sedgwick was forced to retreat, leaving behind 2,200 casualties.
By 10:00 the battle in Miller Cornfield and the Woods was coming to a close.
The final skirmish, between two Corps XII regiments and Walker’s
men, occurred between the Cornfield and the West Woods. Walker
was finally forced back and the Union seized ground in the West Woods. The Morning Phase ended with nearly 13,000 casualties, including two Union commanders.
