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Corporal John H “Highly” Coulston, Company A, 51st Pennsylvania Infantry was wounded at Fox’s Gap on South Mountain in September 1862. He was Captain by January 1865 and mustered out in July.

Tragically, he was severely injured in a train crash – known afterwards as the Exeter Station wreck – on 12 May 1899 while returning with many other veterans from the dedication of a statue of statue of General Hartranft in Harrisburg. He died the next day.

Superimposed on the front page of the Reading Times of 13 May 1899 above is a picture of him c. 1864 from a published photograph contributed to his Findagrave memorial by Charles McDonald.

The crushed train car below testifies to the force of the collision. Below that is a post-war photograph of Isaac E Filman – also of Company A and wounded at Fox’s Gap, and also killed in the crash (lower two photos from the Pottstown Mercury of 1 July 2012).

An early version of a famous story from the battle:

Brigade commander Colonel Edward Ferrero of the 51st NY Infantry had previously taken away his men’s whiskey ration to reduce drunkenness. On 17 September 1862 near the Lower Bridge at Antietam he called to his own and the 51st Pennsylvania regiments …

“It is General Burnside’s special request that the two 51sts take that bridge. Will you do it?”

The request was unlooked for, and the men had not had time to think of it, when Corporal Lewis Patterson, of Co. I [51st PA], although a temperate man, exclaimed, “Will you give us our whiskey, Colonel, if we take it?”

Col. Ferrero turned suddenly around to the corporal and replied, “Yes, by G–, you shall all have as much as you want, if you take the bridge. I don’t mean the whole brigade, but you two regiments shall have just as much as you want, if it is in the commissary or I have to send to New York to get it, and pay for it out of my own private purse; that is, if I live to see you through it. Will you take it?”

A unanimous “Yes,” went up that told of the determination of the men to take the bridge, not in anticipation of the whiskey, but to let Gen. Burnside know that his confidence in the twin regiments was not misplaced nor should be abused. After a few words in private by the regimental and brigade commanders, the 51st P. V. led the advance …

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Lewis Patterson (1835-1883) survived the charge unharmed, was later promoted to First Sergeant, and was commissioned First Lieutenant in 1865.

The narrative above is from Thomas Parker‘s “History of the 51st Regiment of P.V. and V.V.” (1869). Parker was First Sergeant, Co. I at Antietam and was wounded in that action.

The painting of the 51st Pennsylvania at the bridge is by Don Troiani.

New on AotW: a handy pocket guide to the field artillery pieces of each of the Confederate and Union batteries at Antietam and on the Maryland Campaign of 1862. In spreadsheet form, it shows counts by gun type for all 135 batteries present, and it’s available as a PDF and also as a link on the main AotW Weapons page .

I welcome your feedback.

OK, so it’s not really a “pocket” guide and the print is really small on a letter-sized sheet. But it is concise and reasonably complete. Perhaps best read zoomed-in on your computer screen.

Some patterns are easy to see in this form. Have fun with the analysis – Confederate vs Federal.

As always, there’s more info about each gun type and every battery online at Antietam on the Web.