Comments on: Following General French

By: Brian Downey

Brian Downey — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 12:59:41 +0000

I also have the following comments from Scott Hartwig by email, through Harry, and he has consented to their posting here.

Brian’s blog is interesting but if French took the route he speculates he did, then Carman’s battlefield tablets are dead wrong. Tablet 116 states “upon nearing the East Woods, changed direction to come in on Sedgwick’s left and protect that flank. Tablet 40 states that after crossing the Antietam French’s division marched about one mile before facing to the left.

This, of course, would be impossible if he turned south where Brian speculates he might have. If French marched as far as Carman states he did then he almost certainly could have seen Greene. Further evidence that French did march nearly to the East Woods and that he did see Greene’s men before turning south is found in Nathan Kimball’s report, which states that his brigade “formed into line of battle on the left of General Sedgwick’s division.” Since we know that Sedgwick was in the West Woods at the time Kimball formed his brigade, the only troops he could have formed on the left of were Greene’s.

I’ll check my files at home and see if I have anything that sheds further light on this.

By: Brian Downey

Brian Downey — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:15:54 +0000

Thanks again, Stephen – it was Fred’s original posit that sent me off the battlefield, so thanks to him.

I hadn’t thought about the damage an army division would do to a country road – an obvious trail to follow …

I’ve some analysis forwarded to me from another battle authority, and if I get permission from the author, I’ll post that. He agrees with you that the more traditional view of French’s route is probably the correct one.

I’ve enjoyed taking the contrary–if only a little–to explore the possibilities. I doubt I’ve contributed to any profound knowledge, but taking the track less traveled has further broadened my view of Antietam. I’m glad to hear your experience was also a good one.

By: Stephen Keating

Stephen Keating — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:44:03 +0000

Brian
I went to the battlefield last Saturday and went to the spot marked ‘a’ on your map. Although I see your point about taking the draw instead of the road up, I have two questions; 1) Given that only Sedgwick had gone this way before, would not the turned-up condition of the road point to his direction, given that it had rained the night before? and 2) Although there are no doubt more trees and taller ones to block your vision, than at the time of the battle, I’m not sure the rise in elevation would have been that daunting a sight. Slow for the green troops, yes, but not that bad. Either way, this helped make my visit all the more enjoyable, giving a new twist to what I usually visit. Thanks for your work.

By: Stephen Keating

Stephen Keating — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 15:23:37 +0000

Although I found Mr Armstrong’s description very interesting, the one point that he does not address, and I can’t help but wonder, is did anybody from French’s division bother to ask Greene’s division who they where? The mistaking Greene for Sedgwick is certainly plausable, and given the distance French was behind Sedgwick and where French might have expected Sedgwick to be. I will be using your map when I visit next time to walk the route myself.

By: Fred Ray

Fred Ray — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 22:01:11 +0000

I’ve seen that explanation before — that French mistook Greene’s men for Sedgwick’s, but it never made sense to me. I haven’t walked the ground, but as you say there are some visual issues there.

French claims to have formed next to Sedgwick, but if he was thinking Greene was Sedgwick, then he was still way left of where he should have been. Had he actually formed just left of Greene (who was stationary) he would have seen his mistake, or so it would seem. In fact the axis of his advance seems to have nothing to do with any other unit.

Ultimately this was Sumner’s responsibility to correct, but he was too busy.

By: Brian Downey

Brian Downey — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:50:38 +0000

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the question.

Fred did a nice job of raising the issues in his original post (if you haven’t already visited it here).

For me, why French’s Division hit the Sunken Road is up in the air, but I suspect the route he took from Pry’s Ford, if we knew it, would help answer the question.

The truth may be as simple as you and Mr Armstrong suggest, but I have reservations because I don’t think French would have seen Greene until he was fairly close – not, at least, until after he’d crossed the Roulette Farm and crested the rise just east of the Lane. I’ll have to walk that ground again to see for myself.

By that time French was already well south of where you’d expect if he intended following in close support or immediately to the left of Sedgwick.

Alternately, if he’d first popped out on the battlefield through the East Woods, rather than by the ‘dark blue’ path I conject, Sedgwick’s rear brigades and the viscious combat in the West Woods should have been obvious directly west, with Greene’s men a smaller ‘target’ off to the southwest.

There are many possibiliteis, and there really isn’t a huge controversy here, btw, just some speculation about something that doesn’t seem to make sense on the surface.

By: Stephen Keating

Stephen Keating — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:46:16 +0000

The impression I got from reading “Disaster in the West Woods” was that Sumner had intended the whole corp to go on line and sweep south towards Sharpsburg. French mistakens Green’s men as Sedgwick and makes the turn, not seeing Sedgwick getting clobbered in the West Wood. Is there something that renders this explination implausable?

By: Brian Downey

Brian Downey — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:34:14 +0000

Fred replied here today. Thanks Fred.