Why the Bloody Lane was so bloody

infomanpa

1st Lieutenant
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Pennsylvania
Here is a photo that I took which illustrates how the ground can influence casualties. The Rebels that were defending the Sunken Road could not see their Union attackers until they appeared over the crest. In this case the high point of the ridge was only about 50 yards away. Therefore, the fire from the opposing sides would be that much more accurate and deadly.

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Question is, without the mistaken order would the federal's ever taken the sunken road?
 
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If I remember correctly, not only were the Union soldiers quite close, but the ground was high enough to shoot down into the sunken road. It didn't really offer much in the way of cover. Great picture!

Dan
That didn't happen until Richardson's division arrived, formed to the left of French as indicated above, and outflanked the road in the area of the observation tower. French had already had his division slaughtered by making another head-on assault that came a cropper in exactly the way that infomanpa says. The ground at the tower is higher, and once Confederates there had been driven back it was possible for Richardson's men to shoot down the length of the road, but until then Confederate losses had been relatively light, at least compared with those of French and the first advance of Richardson.

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The above photo was taken from the NPS walking trail and shows the view as French's right-hand regiments would have seen the road, slanting across the middle distance between the two rail fences, which had been knocked down and turned into breastworks. Below is looking down the length of the road from the parking area at the observation tower showing plainly how the ground drops off here.

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Nice pictures also I too always thought after walking the area that the swale or ravine at the ob. tower end of the lane where it turns south would have allowed direct fire down the lane and led to the collapse the Confederate line. There's not much mentioned about the swale on Roulette's farm. and it's importance in the Bloody Lane fighting.
 
The ground at the tower is higher, and once Confederates there had been driven back it was possible for Richardson's men to shoot down the length of the road, but until then Confederate losses had been relatively light, at least compared with those of French and the first advance of Richardson.
Below is looking down the length of the road from the parking area at the observation tower showing plainly how the ground drops off here.

Great pictures, James. It's worth noting that at the location of the observation tower, I noticed that the ridge practically disappears, so there is little elevation difference between the sunken road and the flanking Union troops.
 
The following took place after the North Carolinians were flanked and the mistaken order saw the Alabamians leave the sunken road.

The Yankees rushed forward into the sunken road, firing into the backs of the retreating Confederates. There were no Rebel troops near to hold the centre, except a few hundred rallied from various brigades. The Yankees crossed through the sunken road and occupied a cornfield and orchard in advance of it. They had now got within a few hundred yards of the hill that commanded Sharpsburg and the Confederate rear. The Rebels drew forward their artillery to halt the onslaught. About seventy rounds of canister were poured into the Federal line which was less than seventy yards away. As artillerymen went down, infantry men, even General Longstreet and his staff, served the guns. It was obvious to all that the centre must not be broken. The batteries were soon firing double charges of canister from the red hot barrels. Gunners avoided the time consuming task of swabbing the barrels after each discharge by “thumbing the vents”, a dangerous process by which a Gunner kept his thumb over the gun vent to prevent oxygen from entering the chamber and setting off the charge prematurely while the loaders tamped in powder and shot. When the gunner removed his thumb the cannon immediately fired. Firing these heavy double canister loads, made the gun recoil four or five feet and the gunner who was firing with his thumb had to ride the gun back. A commander of a Federal regiment facing this onslaught commented later that the artillery fire coming out of the orchard was the most effective he had ever experienced and that no one could survive its’ fire.[1]
General D. H. Hill was now satisfied that the Yankees were so demoralized that a single regiment of fresh men could drive the whole of them in their front, back across Antietam Creek. He brought up about two hundred men that said they were willing to advance to the attack if he would lead them. A charge was made led by General D.H. Hill himself. [2] However, the enemy being largely reinforced, returned to the slaughter, and in time, forced the Confederate line back towards the Piper barn, which position it held until the close of the day.[3] The sunken road remained unoccupied for the rest of the battle becoming a sort of no man’s land between the two armies. This “Bloody Lane” was filled with dead, for the few wounded which sought cover there were by now surely decimated by the storm of Confederate canister.[5] By about one o’clock in the afternoon, the fighting around the sunken road had ceased. After about four hours of continuous combat the Federal had loss about three thousand men, the Confederates two thousand, two hundred.[6]


[1] “Warrior In Gray – General Robert Rodes of Lee’s Army” by James K. Swisher, page71

[2] O. R. Series 1, Volume 19, Chapter XXXI, page 1037, 1038

[3] “The Alabama Beacon”, Greensboro, Alabama, -October 17, 1862

[4] Confederate Veterans Magazine, Volume 19, page 177

[5] “Warrior In Gray – General Robert Rodes of Lee’s Army” by James K. Swisher, page72

[6] “Warrior In Gray – General Robert Rodes of Lee’s Army” by James K. Swisher, page71

Although there were a very large number of Confederate dead left in the sunken road, there were Union soldiers there as well, victims of the Confederate canister barrage.
 
The ground at the center of the lane was also very uneven, allowing to Federals to fire down into and across the road from that position as well. The 6th Alabama and 2nd North Carolina positioned there suffered heavy losses.

Facing west, looking toward the center of the road.
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Gunners avoided the time consuming task of swabbing the barrels after each discharge by “thumbing the vents”, a dangerous process by which a Gunner kept his thumb over the gun vent to prevent oxygen from entering the chamber and setting off the charge prematurely while the loaders tamped in powder and shot. When the gunner removed his thumb the cannon immediately fired.
First time I've heard of that practice!
My thanks to everyone who has posted information in this great thread!
 
Kinda wonder if Gordon wasn't shot all those times after he was lying in the road.

According to him, he wasn't. The last bullet to his face finally knocked him down although he must have looked like he was dipped in blood by that point. But getting hit after falling was a common story after the battle.

Ryan
 
According to him, he wasn't. The last bullet to his face finally knocked him down although he must have looked like he was dipped in blood by that point. But getting hit after falling was a common story after the battle.

Ryan
Yeah. He was hit a few times.
 
Thanks for sharing. It’s hard for me to see this! Fighting in a low ground is like being in a heavy rain storm the water aways runs from the high ground to the low ground. Comparing this to the battle, it’s the same thing.
 
First time I've heard of that practice!
My thanks to everyone who has posted information in this great thread!
And hope that the man covering the vent has a glove on. I've heard of men burning their fingers to the bone by covering the vent with a bare thumb.

Ryan
Heard of the burning thru the the thumbstsall at Gettysburg. The Peach Orchard iirc.
Contrary to the farby artillery demonstrations at NPS sites - OSHA-required, I have no doubt - NONE of the members of a Civil War gun crew wore GLOVES! As mentioned by Yankeedave the item in question was a thumbstall, a leather guard that slipped over No. 3's thumb somewhat like a prophylactic and tied around the wrist by two attached cords. As might be expected, these smallish things were usually lost, especially in the heat of action, and dispensed with - a well-calloused thumb was found to do just as well in a pinch!
 
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Great pictures, James. It's worth noting that at the location of the observation tower, I noticed that the ridge practically disappears, so there is little elevation difference between the sunken road and the flanking Union troops.
What I thought odd is how the "Sunken" Road makes a sharp angle toward Sharpsburg and the Confederate position from where the observation tower now stands; the photo above was taken from the tower in 1964 and shows that stretch of the road which is obviously level with the fields on either side. The clump of trees on the horizon is Cemetery Hill and the National Cemetery.
 
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