- Joined
- Feb 27, 2017
- Location
- Ohio
Holsinger's account, entitled "How Die a One Feel Under Fire" can be found here.
Holsinger's account is very interesting and he talks about his experience not only at Antietam but also in other battles.
I haven't had much luck finding out much about Holsinger other that he went to Kansas in 1855. Presumably he had strong abolitionist feelings and went for that reason. By 1860, he was nack in Bedford, Pennsylvania, where he was a teacher. He was discharged in February 1864 and was commissioned as a captain in the 19th USCT in March. He married and returned to Kansas after the war, and became a prominent citizen in Shawnee.
Having been reading through his account, I have a couple of questions and thought I would post here on the chance that someone might be able to answer them --
The 8th Pennsylvania Reserves were engaged at the northern end of the cornfield. Two brigades of the Reserves stood in reserve as the First Corps made its initial attack. When Hood's division counterattacked around 7:00, Law's brigade overlapped the Pennsylvanians' left flank. Colonel Magilton's brigade was ordered to move toward the East Woods to stop Law's attack.
The 8th Pennsylvanians had already been deployed in a line of battle followed their orders by moving "by the left flank." While the movement was being completed, the 6th North Carolina opened fire in the exposed Pennsylvanians. Two regiments following the 8th fled, but the 8th held their ground near the corner of the East Woods. Holsinger writes: "Great God, the slaughter! Corporal White, my file leader, shot in the arm; Frank Dean, my rear file, wounded; my left file, James Gates, received four wounds…."
Holsinger refers to the "files" around him (all men who were hit). My first question -- What exactly is a file? I assume that Dean was the man behind Holsinger as they were moving, and Gates was the man to his left. Corporal White is identified as the file leader.... How many men would make up a file?
Secondly, Holsinger gives two separate accounts of what happened immediately after the North Carolinians fired their devastating volley.
"The regiment was demoralized," he recalled. "I was worse -- I was stampeded. I did not expect to stop this side of the Pennsylvania line." And yet he did not run, even though every fiber of his being told him to save himself. "The influence of a courageous man is most helpful in battle," he reflected years later. In his case, a "tall, thin young soldier, very boyish in manner, but cool as a cucumber" swung his cap in the air: "Rally, boys, rally! Die like men; don't run like dogs!" "Instantly all fear vanished," he wrote. He asked himself, "Why can I not stand and take what this boy can?" "I commenced loading and firing, and from his on I was as comfortable as I had been in more pleasant places." ( p. 301)
Elsewhere in the article he also describes the immediate aftermath of the volley. After recounting the slaughter that took place around him, he describes Cpl. George Horton, the color-bearer, rallying the regiment. "I responded with a few others," Holsinger wrote, "stopping with my friend [Gates] only to tell him to unsling his knapsack and try to protect himself behind it." (P. 299-300)
I know there really is no way to tell -- but it seems to me that it is likely that Cpl. Horton and the "tall, thin, young soldier" were the same man. It seems unlikely to me that in what was surely only a minute or two of time in which the enemy fired a devastating surprise volley, everyone around him (including his best friend Gates) were killed or wounded, he thought about running away, was stopped from doing so by the sight of a courageous man (his words), and returned fire that he would have specifically have noticed two different men rallying the troops.
I would welcome anyone's thoughts about this, and thank you for indulging me!
Holsinger's account is very interesting and he talks about his experience not only at Antietam but also in other battles.
I haven't had much luck finding out much about Holsinger other that he went to Kansas in 1855. Presumably he had strong abolitionist feelings and went for that reason. By 1860, he was nack in Bedford, Pennsylvania, where he was a teacher. He was discharged in February 1864 and was commissioned as a captain in the 19th USCT in March. He married and returned to Kansas after the war, and became a prominent citizen in Shawnee.
Having been reading through his account, I have a couple of questions and thought I would post here on the chance that someone might be able to answer them --
The 8th Pennsylvania Reserves were engaged at the northern end of the cornfield. Two brigades of the Reserves stood in reserve as the First Corps made its initial attack. When Hood's division counterattacked around 7:00, Law's brigade overlapped the Pennsylvanians' left flank. Colonel Magilton's brigade was ordered to move toward the East Woods to stop Law's attack.
The 8th Pennsylvanians had already been deployed in a line of battle followed their orders by moving "by the left flank." While the movement was being completed, the 6th North Carolina opened fire in the exposed Pennsylvanians. Two regiments following the 8th fled, but the 8th held their ground near the corner of the East Woods. Holsinger writes: "Great God, the slaughter! Corporal White, my file leader, shot in the arm; Frank Dean, my rear file, wounded; my left file, James Gates, received four wounds…."
Holsinger refers to the "files" around him (all men who were hit). My first question -- What exactly is a file? I assume that Dean was the man behind Holsinger as they were moving, and Gates was the man to his left. Corporal White is identified as the file leader.... How many men would make up a file?
Secondly, Holsinger gives two separate accounts of what happened immediately after the North Carolinians fired their devastating volley.
"The regiment was demoralized," he recalled. "I was worse -- I was stampeded. I did not expect to stop this side of the Pennsylvania line." And yet he did not run, even though every fiber of his being told him to save himself. "The influence of a courageous man is most helpful in battle," he reflected years later. In his case, a "tall, thin young soldier, very boyish in manner, but cool as a cucumber" swung his cap in the air: "Rally, boys, rally! Die like men; don't run like dogs!" "Instantly all fear vanished," he wrote. He asked himself, "Why can I not stand and take what this boy can?" "I commenced loading and firing, and from his on I was as comfortable as I had been in more pleasant places." ( p. 301)
Elsewhere in the article he also describes the immediate aftermath of the volley. After recounting the slaughter that took place around him, he describes Cpl. George Horton, the color-bearer, rallying the regiment. "I responded with a few others," Holsinger wrote, "stopping with my friend [Gates] only to tell him to unsling his knapsack and try to protect himself behind it." (P. 299-300)
I know there really is no way to tell -- but it seems to me that it is likely that Cpl. Horton and the "tall, thin, young soldier" were the same man. It seems unlikely to me that in what was surely only a minute or two of time in which the enemy fired a devastating surprise volley, everyone around him (including his best friend Gates) were killed or wounded, he thought about running away, was stopped from doing so by the sight of a courageous man (his words), and returned fire that he would have specifically have noticed two different men rallying the troops.
I would welcome anyone's thoughts about this, and thank you for indulging me!
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