%20of%20mdflag-970x140.jpg)
Here you see the monument to Major General Joseph Mansfield in the background with the cannon in the foreground that marks the spot where he was mortally wouned.
Throughout the battlefields at Antietam you will find cannons such as these to mark the spots where all six generals who died or would later die were wounded at Antietam. In a battle that was waged all day, Mansfield was wounded early, as he was deploying his troops towards the cornfield, which was the first of the three stages of battle there.
The monument in the background is inscribed:
Major General
Joseph K. F. Mansfield
Commanding the 12th Corps Army of the Potomac mortally wounded near this spot
September 17, 1862 about 7:35 A.M. while deploying his corps in action.
How Mansfield died is one of the interesting stories of Antietam. As he was making his way to the front line he noticed that they were firing into a woods that Mansfield believed contained retreating union troops. Seeing this, he rode to the line and told them, “you are firing at your own men.”
After the men on the line convinced the general that they were in fact firing at the enemy and after agreeing, saying, “yes, yes, you are right,” he was then shot.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Guy // Mar 7, 2008 at 7:04 am
That’s a hell of a lot of knowledge. Happy weekend everyone.
2 shelly // Mar 7, 2008 at 8:45 am
4 out of 6 of the generals that have these markers totally died from something lame.
i think one of them pretty much stubbed his toe and then died of gangrene a month later.
3 Chris // Mar 7, 2008 at 9:19 am
Shelly, that’s unfounded… I’m going to need to see some documentation.
4 shelly // Mar 7, 2008 at 9:23 am
i like to mix fact with things i make up in my head. shhhhh.
5 shelly // Mar 7, 2008 at 9:28 am
wait! here:
“Brig. Gen. George B. Anderson
Born near Hillsboro, North Carolina, Anderson was 31 years old at Antietam. West Point graduate, class of 1852, his brigade of North Carolinians fought desperately in the Sunken Road. Wounded in the foot, BGen Anderson was transported to Shepherdstown, then Staunton, Virginia and eventually to Raleigh, North Carolina were he died October 16.”
so i interpret “wounded in the foot” as “stubbed toe”. i take a creative license with civil war history.
(this is from: http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/6generals.htm the antietam national battlefield park site)
6 Jeff // Mar 7, 2008 at 10:02 am
Well, I think the real issue here was the medical technology of the time. Out of the roughly 10,000 people who were killed in the cornfield that morning, with the accuracy of the weapons of the day and the fact that at times soldiers couldn’t even see who they were shooting at, I’m sure that there had to have been quite a comprehensive distribution of wounds. If anything, I think that these minor wounds that could take out a Major General, are signals of the fact that medical care available then was minimally effective as compared to today’s standards. How many lifes could have been saved had the armies had a stockpile of zithromax at the ready?
7 Jeff // Mar 7, 2008 at 10:03 am
also I meant to say “lives,” not lifes.
8 shelly // Mar 7, 2008 at 10:09 am
indeed.
but i still maintain that general anderson was lame. count it.
9 Killer // Mar 13, 2008 at 8:52 pm
As the unofficial medical expert on Maryland Daily Photo, I wholeheartedly agree with Jeff that had Civil War generals had amoxicillin, a z-pac, or some cipro, a big chunk of the “mortal” wounds would have been little pansy scratches. Gangrene is a nasty thing. Go modern medicine!
Leave a Comment