Hood's Charge at Antietam

Here are two discriptions of the charge.

http://experts.about.com/e/b/ba/battle_of_antietam.htm
At 7 a.m., Hood's division of 2,300 men advanced through the West Woods and pushed the Union troops back through the Cornfield again. The Texans attacked with particular ferocity because as they were called from their reserve position they were forced to interrupt the first hot breakfast they had had in days. They were aided by three brigades of D.H. Hill's division arriving from the Mumma Farm, southeast of the Cornfield, and by Jubal Early's brigade, pushing through the West Woods from the Nicodemus Farm, where they had been supporting Jeb Stuart's horse artillery. Hood's men bore the brunt of the fighting, however, and paid a heavy price—60% casualties—but they were able to prevent the defensive line from crumbling and held off the I Corps. When asked by a fellow officer where his division was, Hood replied, "Dead on the field."Bailey, p. 79.

www.historynet.com

Deep in the West Woods, Hood's little division was still busy preparing rations. Normally this wasn't an unusual act for Civil War soldiers, especially Rebels, but these men were literally starving. Pressed by forced marches and heavy fighting the past few days, the division had long since eaten up all their victuals and were now about as hungry as heavily armed men could get. But Hood had given his word to Jackson to bring up the command as soon as the request was made and now Jackson was calling. Hood gave the order and the two brigades began to re-form. Men threw down half-cooked pones and bacon or shoved the beginnings of greasy fatback biscuits into their mouths as they moved out.

Hood's 2,300 men swarmed into the field north of their position at Dunker Church. They halted momentarily and volleyed into Gibbon's line, reloaded and fired again. Hood's appearance on the field broke the Federals' back, and they began to withdraw. The bravest gathered up wounded messmates and fallen battle flags and returned fire as best they could. Evander Law's brigade swept northeastward with its right anchored on Smoketown Road by the 4th Alabama. On Law's left and rear, Colonel William T. Wofford's renowned Texas Brigade came on with two regiments, picking off fleeing Yankees while the 18th Georgia, 1st Texas and Hampton's Legion charged due north, firing into the enemy as they came.
On the east side of the cornfield the two Union brigades were in full retreat. The 12th Massachusetts, which had fought bravely, took a staggering 67 percent casualties in less than 30 minutes. I Corps gains had been swiftly wiped out, and all that stood between it and annihilation was Meade's 3rd Division.
Hurriedly, Meade got Robert Anderson's 3rd Brigade formed along a fence north of the cornfield, with its muskets resting on the bottom rail, just as Hood was ordering Colonel P.A. Works' 1st Texas over to the left to support Hampton's Legion. Works soon lost control of the 1st Texas as the men outraced the line and charged straight for Anderson's position. As the Texans cleared the battle smoke, Anderson ordered, "Fire!" and the brigade's musketry swept the Texans with deadly accuracy, while Union 12-pounders struck them on the flank, halting the charge and driving them to ground.
Meanwhile, north of the cornfield, Major Dawes was busy rallying the survivors of his beloved 6th Wisconsin. The regimental colors were brought up, the line eagerly formed, and the men sent forward on the double-quick. Dawes' charge cleared the Texans, who had advanced to within 45 feet of the Union guns, and he ordered several to stay and help the artillerists while the 6th moved on toward the pike. Meade got his remaining two brigades, Colonel Thomas Gallagher's 3rd and Colonel Albert Magilton's 2nd, in line and pushed them straight for the 1st Texas. A few hundred yards southwest, someone retrieved the four Federal regiments that 30 minutes earlier had sallied into the West Woods, and directed them toward the left flank. The 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana led the assault, supported by the 35th and 21st New York. Their combined musketry soon swept the left flank of the 18th Georgia, Hampton's Legion and the 4th Texas.
On the northwest corner of the cornfield, the 1st Texas lay dying. The regiment's casualties were fast approaching 50 percent as the Texans rose up and fired, point-blank, into the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves. The entire color guard was shot down, while all along their line Rebel artillery walked salvos of case shot. The Federal line buckled and swayed but somehow kept coming, closing over their dead and wounded, pressed by the screams of those closing up their files. Nearly out of ammunition, Work tried to get permission from Hood to withdraw, but couldn't reach him.
Work could see that his supports were under attack and withdrawing and that if he was going to get out at all it would have to be now. He gave the order just as the 9th, 11th and 12th Pennsylvania Reserves fired a volley into his decimated line. Of the 226 soldiers he'd led in the assault, 186 had fallen dead or wounded within 45 minutes. South of his position, the 18th Georgia, Hampton's Legion and the 4th Texas were also quitting the field. The command had given all that they had--of the 858 effectives in the Texas Brigade, 472 would be listed as casualties in what may well have been the grandest charge of the entire war.

Here are my thought.
1. Hood's brigade needed help to drive back the Yankees. Two brigades worth. So, they weren't fully responsible for the results of the attack.
2. They weren't very good defending themselves from the attacking rebels. They were good offensively, not defensively.
3. The Iron Brigade was worn out when Hood attacked. Had they not, Hood wouldn't have been so lucky.
4. Once Dawes rallied his men, they swept back the rebels.

In defense of Hood:

1. His men performed extremly well under the circumstances that they were pratically starving to death.
2. Their attack was really too succesful. The men lost control after a while and ended up costing them the fight. Same thing happened at Spotslyvania, only, this time it was the Yankees.

In defense of the Iron Brigade:
1. The Iron brigade really was worn out after all the fighting they had done. They still performed excellent despite this.
2. Once they caught thier breath, they charged and broke the rebel attack.

Read it for your self and make your own conclusions.

I appreciate that you're taking such an open approach on it, IBG. Anyway, that is a very one-sided account lol. It's practically all told from the point of the yankees, especially the details. However, there are facts in there, like the Texans overran the Iron Brigade, and were forced to retire after suffering 60% casualties. Lol, that's alittle one-sided too, but now we got both sides . Face it, the Texans never failed during the war. What did the Iron Brigade ever do after Gettysburg?

May I remind you that they pushed away a rebel force at the railroad cut singlehandedly and stabalized the Union line at Gettysburg.

I just asked what they ever did after Gettysburg, not during. And that's pretty pathetic anyway compared to what the Texans did at Gain's Mill.

Oh, you mean break a union line that was very weary froma day long fight? The only time they actually fought fresh troops was at Spotlyvania. They were almost always sent in when the enemy was worn out.

Excuse me? lol

At Gains Mill, Hood's Texas Brigade charged through a swamp and overran a heavily intrenched enemy position on a hill with hundreds of cannons firing on them the whole time. These men are truely beyond comparison to anything.

I do not see why IBG is so quick to put down the accomplishments of this incredible unit.

My only thing againts them was the fact that they were always put in when the enemy was worn out. Spotslyvania is the exception to this. The men were good fighters, but, they always seemed to be the last resort of Lee. Antietam, the enemy had fought about a hour before Hood's boys were put in. Gaines Mill. Put in near night when the defenders had been worn out repulsing every other attack.
The Iron Brigade was always in when the enemy was still in good condition and in thier first engagement had to tangle with the half the rebel army with no hope of support. Hood's men could always count on rallying the army so that they could come in behind them or make ready the troops to support them when they fell back.

Ok, the only reason you can say that the Texas Brigade always went in last, is because when they went in, they ended it.


And if you're ready to explain away Gains Mill, then you are so heavily biased on this subject that I cannot truely have a conversation with you. The only other large-scale battle of the war that I can think of where a heavily entrenched force was overrun, was at Missionary Ridge. And that was a fluke. The southern soldiers had no faith whatsoever in Bragg, moral was low, as was the food supply, and they were easily panicked when pickets started retreating through their lines. It was a disgusting display of southern warfare, but I would like to believe that the fault lay in B. Bragg, who was only in command because of his long-time friendship with J. Davis.

Gains Mill is where the Texas Brigade's legend started, when they went from a dependable unit to an elite one.

It is funny, I must admit, to think of elite troops wearing rags. Alas, the South.

Yep. A pity. If the south had industralized more before hand, they would have been more able to clothe the troops.

I admit, getting through swamps is hard. Meade and his men at Fredricksburg went through a swap which was unprotected and nearly won the battle. Only if his superiors would have reeinforced him.

Right, now imagine Meade's division going through a protected swamp with hundreds of pieces of artillery crossing fire on them. Next, imagine Meade's Division being only a brigade. And finally, imagine Meade succeeding, and overrunning the intrenched confederates. And there you have the Texans' charge at Gains Mill.

Now, imagine, the defenders worn out from repealing assualt after furious assualt. Imagine, a new attack coming up from a swamp. Imagine, the men firing, but not with as much fury as before, since, they have been fighting all day long. Imagine, the Texans are now upon them, and the Union boys fall back, to tired to hold on. Imagine that now fresh troops come up to protect the withdrawl. Then, you have a clear image of the defenders situation at Gaines Mill.

Tell me now, how many units do you know that fight all day long and still have enough umph to fight back new assualts, when night is coming? McClellan would not commit fresh troops to help the troops at Gaines Mill. Pretty much, they had had really no support until when they fell back.

You might be right, except that I would think that hundreds of pieces of artillary supporting the defenders should be able to make the most of the natural defensive features of the position and drive back the enemy. And it's not like the entire union line had been subjected to hand-to-hand fighting all day; not at all, most of the attacks had been repelled by the massed artillery alone, which was creating a cross-fire on the swamp and the open fields below.

Well, by the time Hood's brigade came up, Porter had repeatedly sent pleas for reeinforcments. His line was collapsing (not litterally, but getting very close to the breaking point) and, he needed fresh troops to replace the ones in the line. McClellan asks around for troops avalible and although he finds he could send a whole Corps in, decides to send only 2 Brigades in.

I know alittle about Gaines Mill. I don't care if the yankees were tired, what Hood did was cool. Stuart was right when he said that most of the attacks were pushed back by the cannons. (and how many were there, 265 if I remember right). The yankee infantry shouldn't have even been that tired.

Oh believe me, the rebels couldn't be pushed back by just artillary. ANd yes, they were worn out from fighting all day long.

Just for the record, the Texas Brigade also fought fresh troops at Gettysburg, Second Manassass, Fredericksburg, and Chickamauga, off the top of my head. And yes, I know that IBG doesn't think that most of those count because they were so quickly overrun, or weren't in the perfect position to fend off an attack. But, tell me, IBG, when was the Texas Brigade ever defeated when on equal terms with the enemy? Or even defeated at all? (the only time I can think of that they were repulsed was the first day of Chickamauga, but the enemy was heavily intrenched, and Bragg was deploying his brigades and divisions piecemeal, and besides, they got revenge the next day) And about Antietam, so far as going against an enemy on equal terms, they succeeded in the initial clash, but were finally forced to retire by a superior enemy who had just been heavily reinforced.

Antietam. They were stopped cold by a single battery that had been overshooting most of the time until the artillary captain discovered what was going on. Then, an outnumbered brigade came up and fended them off until reinforcments came up.

They were stopped by much more than that, including enfilading fire on the flank and rear. And anyway, they accomplished their goal.