The 50th P.V. at Antietam

Ethan S.

First Sergeant
Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Location
Carter County Kentucky
When the soldiers of the 50th Pennsylvania Volunteers saw the dawn of September 17th, 1862, they heard the sounds of cannon and musket fire to the Northwest. Having spent the rainy night on guard duty, understandably, many of the men were tired. The men were camped on the Rohrbach farm, East of Antietam creek. They had an impressive view of the battlefield, as they observed the wounded being carried to the rear, and stragglers walking aimlessly away.

As part of the IX Corps, under General Ambrose Burnside, they were to take part in Burnsides attack on the heights outside of Sharpsburg. However, the plan took forever to work out, as too much time was wasted attacking the Rohrbach bridge, due to very poor coordination and planning.

The mile long federal line, having crossed the creek, formed up behind the cover of trees, was immediately under fire from rebel batteries on the opposing hills. Described as, "artillery hell", it was an amazing, and deadly sight to behold.


“Now a large force made its appearance, marching to the front, having debouched from the woods on the banks of the Antietam, which had partially concealed them. At the same time heavy bodies were observed moving to attack our troops on the right, composed of Drayton's and a portion of Kemper's brigades. I moved my command some distance to the front in the standing corn (as many of my guns were short range), in order that they could produce more effect, and opened fire.”
-
Brigadier General R.B. Garnett


The battlefield was one of rolling hills, and detrimental to the federals. Rebel batteries poured everything they had to the approaching Yankees, and skirmishers crept ahead, and sniped away at the attackers. The 50th P.V., part of Colonel Benjamin Christs brigade of the 79th N.Y. Vol., 28th Mass. Vol. and 17th Mich. Vol., took a beating from the artillery posted at the Sherrick farm.

“Prostrated upon the ground at the crest of the hill, we endured a severe fire from the enemy's artillery.” - Adj. Lewis Crater 50th PA

“While halting under cover from the enemy directly in front, he opened a battery on my left which commanded my whole line from left to right, and for thirty minutes we were under a most severe fire of round shot, shell, grape, and canister, and suffered severely. It was impossible to move forward for the reason before stated - no place in the neighborhood that afforded any cover - and the alternative presented itself either to retire from a good and only position from which to advance on the enemy in front, or to wait patiently until some demonstration on the left would compel him to change the direction of his fire. Again, I could not get under cover without retiring at least 250 yards, in full view of the enemy, and if there would have been the least confusion the men might have retreated in disorder, and exposed and largely increased the list of casualties. I chose the former, and was gratified by having my expectations realized. A demonstration on the left compelled the enemy to change the direction of his fire, and my supports coming, we moved to the front, where we engaged the enemy on his left, and in about one hour succeeded in driving both his artillery and infantry from the position.” - Colonel Benjamin Christ (Commander 1st Brigade, 50th PA)


Just as it seemed to be apparent that a Federal victory was near, C.S. General A.P. Hill arrived with two fresh Confederate brigades, and bloody hand to hand combat broke out in a few spots along the line. The Federals had no choice, but to retreat.

"On the 17th Edward Harner get killed by a canon ball & a bullet went in my cap and cut the skin a little on my head & one ball hid my Rifel O god the dead and wounded lays by hunderds &1000s on the next day ...O that the almighty god in heaven would make a ant of this war...The line of battle was twist as broud that our valy at home ...You might think how I did feel when I saw so many boys fall out our Regt. All I have to say take good care of our children. O my dear children what you do dont curse nor sware so if I cant see yous any more in this wourld so that we can meat in heaven were no war and no fighting can be no more." - Sgt. Samuel Schwalm Co. A 50th PA

Here are some of the casualties of the 50th at Antietam.


APvtBleiler, William H.WIA 09/14
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APvtHerner, EdwardKIA 09/17
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ASgtSchwalm, SamuelWIA 09/17
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BPvtSellers, SamuelKIA 09/17
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CPvtBerger, AugustusKIA 09/17
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CPvtBrenner, JonathanMWIA 09/17
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CSgtBrown, Charles E
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CPvtFohl, RichardMWIA 09/17
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CMusHelms, JeremiahMWIA 09/17
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CPvtMcGlenn, DanielKIA 09/17
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ECaptDiehl, William H
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EPvtFlammer, WilliamWIA 09/17
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EPvtGarrett, LeviWIA 09/17
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FSgtFlorang, SchernitzerWIA 09/17
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FCorpKeatz, FrederickWIA 09/17
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FPvtKillchrist, ThomasWIA 09/17
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FPvtSchlenitzanner, F.KIA 09/17
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GPvtBennett, JamesKIA 09/17
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GCorpHurst, WilliamKIA 09/17
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IPvtTallada, WilliamWIA 09/17
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KCaptIngham, James B.KIA 09/17
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KPvtKennedy, PartialMWIA 09/14
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F&SMajOverton, Jr., EdwardWIA 09/17
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UnkPvtMcGien, DavidDied 00/00
UnkPvtSellers, JamesDied 00/00
[TH]Co.[/TH]
[TH]Rank[/TH]
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[TH]Casualty?[/TH]
[TH]Details*[/TH]​

Total casualties were 8 killed, 46 wounded, and 3 missing.

My 3x great uncle Daniel Trautman partook in the attack that September afternoon, and it is to him, I dedicate this short summary.
 
Thanks for sharing this. I do not know much about the 50th Pennsylvania, so I appreciate you filling in some of my gaps.

I have come to believe that the role of the artillery on both sides at Antietam is very much underrated in standard accounts of the battle. While the "Artillery Hell" comment is commonly used to describe Antietam, there is less explanation about how batteries -- especially those used in by both sides defensively-- had a major impact on the way the fighting took place, and on the heavy casualties that resulted.
 
Thanks for sharing this. I do not know much about the 50th Pennsylvania, so I appreciate you filling in some of my gaps.

I have come to believe that the role of the artillery on both sides at Antietam is very much underrated in standard accounts of the battle. While the "Artillery Hell" comment is commonly used to describe Antietam, there is less explanation about how batteries -- especially those used in by both sides defensively-- had a major impact on the way the fighting took place, and on the heavy casualties that resulted.
I wish there was a way to see how each individual soldier was killed/wounded, i.e by artillery, or by gunshot or bayonet, etc. Sadly info has been lost, and it would be a mammoth undertaking to find out.
 
DSC05648.JPG


The battlefield was one of rolling hills, and detrimental to the federals. Rebel batteries poured everything they had to the approaching Yankees, and skirmishers crept ahead, and sniped away at the attackers. The 50th P.V., part of Colonel Benjamin Christs brigade of the 79th N.Y. Vol., 28th Mass. Vol. and 17th Mich. Vol., took a beating from the artillery posted at the Sherrick farm.

“Prostrated upon the ground at the crest of the hill, we endured a severe fire from the enemy's artillery.” - Adj. Lewis Crater 50th PA

DSC05649.JPG
 
I wish there was a way to see how each individual soldier was killed/wounded, i.e by artillery, or by gunshot or bayonet, etc. Sadly info has been lost, and it would be a mammoth undertaking to find out.

Actually, there are ways ...

I haven’t done a deep study of the 50th Penna. (yet), but there are a number of sources that can help with medical and other details about wounded soldiers. You can see more about some of their Antietam wounded here, for example: http://www.civilwarmed.org/explore/primary-sources/databases/frederickpatient/ - just search on 50 PA.

In addition to consolidated service records, there’s also the US Army Medical and Surgical History for thousands of case studies. For Antietam in particular, John Nelson compiled a database of most of the Federal wounded some years back, and put it on a CD. It’s not perfect, but it has wound and hospital info for many of them.

Good hunting!
 
Samuel Schwalm is my grandson's other grgrgrgrgrandfather in Co. A. My son and daughter in law don't seem to think it at all remarkable they have common ancestors in the 50th but I've always gotten a kick out of it.

They were Schuylkill men, a lot of them ' boatmen ', canal men. There's a lot on them here- it's a terrific web site for anyone with roots in Schuylkill county.


Thanks for putting this together!
 
...They were Schuylkill men, a lot of them ' boatmen ', canal men. There's a lot on them here- it's a terrific web site for anyone with roots in Schuylkill county....

That is fascinating...there seems to be a a lot of 'boatmen' period, in the Pennsylvania forces....a lot from upstate...
 
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