behind AotW

Captain John Bowyer “Beau” Brockenbrough‘s Baltimore Artillery battery was said to have “opened the battle on the Confederate side”, firing the first rounds on the morning of 17 September 1862 at Sharpsburg. Along with three rifled guns, his battery was equipped with a smoothbore iron 12-pounder howitzer (most were bronze), like the one seen here on the Antietam battlefield at his battery’s position near the West Woods (photo by the author).

The marker next to it says Brockenbrough’s iron howitzer was the only one of its kind on the field at Sharpsburg, but Captain Woolfolk’s Ashland (VA) Battery probably had one, as did Federal Captain Simmonds’ Kentucky Light battery, probably captured earlier from a Confederate unit.