Antietam: Reading Private Tarbox's final letter

Private Daniel Tarbox

Fellow blogger John Rogers (Oliver Case blog) and I got up before the crack of dawn today to walk a soggy battlefield, proving that we're slightly obsessed about this Civil War thing. (Or perhaps that our SAT scores were extremely low.) We also discovered exactly what Antietam looks like at 6 a.m. on a rainy morning: very dark.

Besides walking part of the Final Attack trail with John, I intended to fulfill a promise to a descendant of 11th Connecticut private Daniel Tarbox by reading the soldier's final letter home to his father, Daniel Sr. Only 18 years old, Tarbox was mortally wounded near Burnside Bridge. The video was shot close to where Tarbox was shot. Other than calling the descendant an "ancestor" in the video, I think it turned out nicely.

Daniel's brother, Louis, arranged for the return of the body to Brooklyn, Conn., where Daniel was buried in early October 1862. His grave in South Cemetery is marked with a flag in the foreground of the panoramic image at bottom. The tall memorial 10 feet in back of Daniel's gravestone notes that he was wounded near Burnside Bridge. Carved into the memorial near the bottom are these words: "Father and brothers, all a long farewell!””

Daniel Tarbox was mortally wounded approximately where the 'X' is in this photo.

                                               Click on image for full-screen panorama.

Antietam: Gifts on Connecticut Day

A Federal eagle breast plate given to me as a gift today.

Re-enactors take positions outside the Pry Farm barn
during Connecticut Day at Antietam on Saturday.

A notebook from Connecticut Day at Antietam:

• I received an unexpected gift this morning at the Visitors' Center: a beautiful Federal eagle breast plate with a rich green patina found near Lappan, Md., along the route of Lee's retreat from Gettysburg. The longtime relic hunter who gave it to me held an audience of  re-enactors and other Civil War enthusiasts spellbound with tales of his digging exploits at Antietam and elsewhere in Washington County in Maryland. I'll post the who, what, when and where on this remarkable man in this space next week.
• The best gift today was the terrific response of folks from the state who came to support Connecticut Day at Antietam, the first such event here since veterans returned to the battlefield in 1894. Led by Central Connecticut State University professor Matt Warshauer, two busloads of people toured the battlefield, many for the first time. In addition, many others from the state came on their own, prompting one longtime battlefield volunteer to tell me he has never seen so many Connecticut license plates at Antietam.
• It was eerie sitting in the Pry Farm barn for the ceremony honoring Connecticut soldiers who fought here. Rain forced the event to be moved from the national cemetery. Like almost every barn in the area, the Pry Farm barn was used as a field hospital during and after the battle. I examined the old barn floor for blood stains. None found.



Horace Lay, a private in the 16th Connecticut from
Hartford, is buried in the national cemetery
 in Sharpsburg, Md.

•  John Schildt, a longtime Sharpsburg-area resident and prolific writer on the battle, delivered a wonderful address honoring the men of Connecticut who died at Antietam. It included mention of 16th Connecticut captain Newton Manross of Bristol, who was killed by cannon fire in farmer John Otto's 40-acre cornfield. A brilliant man who was professor at Amherst (Mass.) College just before he went to war, Manross was "one of a lost generation," Schildt noted. He is buried in Forestville Cemetery in Bristol.
• To honor Private Horace Lay of the 16th Connecticut, I left a penny on his gravestone in the national cemetery. Shot in the left leg on the Otto Farm, the Hartford soldier died on Oct. 5, 1862, nearly three weeks after the battle, at the German Reform Church, a short distance down Main Street from the national cemetery. 
• I got a kick out of introducing John Rogers, a Georgia native, to folks from Connecticut. In 1994, Rogers bought a bible at a community yard sale in Germantown, Md. He later discovered it belonged to Oliver Case, a private from Simsbury in the 8th Connecticut, who was killed at Antietam. If you are interested in Connecticut's service during the Civil War, do yourself a favor and read John's excellent blog on Case. 

Per the John Banks' Civil War blog tradition, I put a penny on the grave of Horace Lay
to honor the 16th Connecticut soldier from Hartford who was killed at Antietam.

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MORE ON ANTIETAM: Read my extensive thread on the battle.

Antietam: 11th Connecticut photo/video journal

11th Connecticut monument at Antietam. Thirty-six soldiers in the regiment were killed
in the battle, including Colonel Henry Kingsbury.

Close-up of reverse of the 11th Connecticut monument.

Daniel Tarbox was mortally wounded at Antietam.

His first name is listed incorrectly on the 11th Connecticut monument at Antietam, surely not the first time a soldier's name has been screwed up by the government. So to properly honor Daniel Tarbox at Connecticut Day on Saturday, I plan to read aloud his final letter home, a short note to his father that mentioned an imminent battle. (UPDATE: I read the letter Sunday.)

"If we go in," the private in the 11th Connecticut  wrote on Sept. 6, 1862, "we can't think of coming out. If I do fall, you take what money I have sent home and appropriate it to yourself as a present."

Eleven days later, Tarbox was mortally wounded near Burnside Bridge at Antietam. Only 18 years old, he died the next day.

Early this morning, I walked the ground young Daniel and his fellow soldiers fought on and visited the off-the-beaten path 11th Connecticut monument, approximately 150 yards southeast of Burnside Bridge. Daniel's name is listed as David near the bottom left corner, but there's no hope of correcting that, according to a Tarbox descendant.

Captain John Griswold and Corporal John Holwell, whose stories are told on my blog, also died near Burnside Bridge. A natural-born leader and a Yale graduate, Griswold was wounded in the middle of Antietam Creek as he led a group of 11th Connecticut skirmishers. After staggering to the opposite bank, he was rescued by four privates and a surgeon and carried to a small barn nearby.

"My first station was in a little barn by Antietam Creek," Surgeon Nathan Mayer wrote in a post-war account, "but the Rebel sharpshooters from behind the trees, across the creek, soon drove me out. There, however, I dressed Captain Griswold, shot through the belt and body fording the stream." (1)

Griswold died the next day.  "Tell my mother," the 25-year-old soldier from Lyme, Conn., said, "I died at the head of my company."

Holwell, in Company H of the 11th Connecticut, frequently wrote his wife back in Norwich, often mentioning his children. His young son, Eddy, apparently was his father's favorite.

Surgeon Nathan Mayer treated wounded
 soldiers at the Henry Rohrbach Farm.

"Your dagerreotype and the children's look very natural and I was very glad to receive them. ..." he wrote Rebecca Holwell. "I hope little Eddy will keep on going to school and be smart. The men down here all like his picture and praise it up highly."

A Mexican War veteran, John Holwell was 42 years old when he was killed at Antietam. His gravesite is unknown.

Not far from the bridge is the Henry Rohrbach Farm, where many of the 11th Connecticut wounded -- including the beloved Colonel Henry Kingsbury -- were treated. Shot through the stomach and liver as he stepped from behind a tree, Kingsbury died the next day.

"Every room was soon filled (with wounded)," Mayer wrote of the Rohrbach farmhouse. "The barnyard and garden were crowded with wounded. And (I) should not have known where to place more." (2)

After his gruesome work was done that day, Mayer took advantage of the bounty of riches on the Rohrbach farm. "There were some 300 chickens and some calves about the place which the rebels had been too hurried to capture," he wrote. "And flour, and meal and bread." (3)

Connecticut Day visitors to Antietam will stop at the national cemetery, attend a short service at the church where soldiers from the state were treated and tour the battlefield. But I think the highlight of the day will be when descendants read aloud letters of their ancestors near the Visitors' Center. I'll share the best stories and photos later today.

(1) Reminescences of the Civil War, Nathan Mayer, M.D., Connecticut Historical Society Civil War Manuscripts Project.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Ibid.

Daniel Tarbox was mortally wounded approximately where the 'X' is in this photo I shot this morning.

Henry Rohrbach's barn was used as a field hospital during the Battle of Antietam.
Note the initials H.R. on the side of the brick barn wall.

Henry Rohrbach's farmhouse also was used as a field hospital.

Antietam: Beauty on the battlefield

An unusual view of Burnside Bridge over Antietam Creek, perhaps the most iconic Civil War site.

Nearly 150 years ago, people killed each other at Burnside Bridge at Antietam. Many Connecticut soldiers lost their lives at this hotly contested spot, including Captain John Griswold of Lyme, Corporal John Holwell of Norwich and Private Daniel Tarbox of Brookyln. I was the only soul here this morning at 7. No place on the battlefield is photographed more, and as you can see, there's ample subject matter. (OK, more war stuff coming later.)

Burnside Bridge and the bluff overlooking Antietam Creek serve as a backdrop for Mother Nature.



Antietam: 15th Massachusetts soldier returns

Shortly after I arrived at Antietam this afternoon, I traipsed through tall, wet grass to the 15th Massachusetts monument on a rise overlooking State Highway 65. Because of its out-of-the-way location, few battlefield visitors check out the "Wounded Lion" monument, a pity because it's easily one of the most beautiful on the field.  Today's visit was special because I brought with me from Connecticut a ninth-plate ambrotype of Justus Wellington, a private in the 15th Massachusetts, who was among the 70-plus soldiers in the regiment who were killed within 20 minutes during fighting in the West Woods at Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862.

 A 24-year-old shoemaker from West Brookfield, Mass., Wellington probably was buried with other soldiers from his regiment across the highway (which didn't exist in 1862), near the Mary Locher Cabin. His remains were not returned to West Brookfield, so it's a good bet he was disinterred after the battle and eventually buried under a gravestone marked "Unknown" in Antietam National Cemetery. Wellington's name is listed among those killed in the regiment on the bottom left corner on a plaque on the back of the 15th Massachusetts monument. To honor the young man who died here nearly 150 years ago, I placed Wellington's ambrotype near his name on the monument and shot the video above and photo below. I did this once before several years ago, but it will never get old.

Next time you are in Sharpsburg,Md., be sure to check out this hidden gem just off State Highway 65, near the Antietam National Battlefield Visitors' Center.

Ambrotype of Justus Wellington from my collection next to his name on the 15th Massachusetts
monument at Antietam. Private Wellington was killed in the West Woods here on Sept. 17, 1862.

Close-up of front of the 15th Massachusetts monument at Antietam.

Nature put on a spectacular display today in the West Woods at Antietam.

Antietam: Connecticut Day on Saturday

Top photo: 11th Connecticut veterans gather in front of the Roulette farmhouse during
 their 1894 visit to Antietam. Below: Roulette farmhouse today. (Top photo: Courtesy Tad Sattler)

On Saturday morning in Sharpsburg, Md., two busloads of folks from Connecticut will begin their tour of Antietam at the railroad station where veterans began their visit to the battlefield in October 1894. The first Connecticut Day at Antietam since those veterans visited the field promises to be a special -- and moving --  event. During their trip to Antietam 118 years ago,  the old soldiers dedicated monuments to the 8th, 11th, 14th and 16th Connecticut regiments and toured the field where many of their friends were killed 32 years earlier. Among many other activities, this new generation of  visitors will honor soldiers from Connecticut who fought at Antietam at a ceremony at the national cemetery in Sharpsburg, just up Main Street from the church where wounded soldiers from the state were treated after the battle. Beginning Thursday, I will be in Sharpsburg too, blogging on what should be a terrific 3 1/2 days in one of my favorite places.

"Old Simon" stands watch at Antietam National Cemetery.

Antietam: Countdown to Connecticut Day

Your humble blogger and Antietam National Battlefield Park volunteer Jim Buchanan
of  Walking the West Woods blog at the 16th Connecticut monument in October.

On April 21, Antietam National Battlefield is the place to be if you're interested in Connecticut's service during the Civil War. To honor the men of the 8th, 11th, 14th and 16th Connecticut regiments who fought in the farm fields and woodlots outside Sharpsburg, Md., "Connecticut Day at Antietam"  will be held that Saturday. It will be the first "Connecticut Day" at Antietam since veterans returned to the battlefield in 1894. Among the activities will be appearances by Connecticut reenactors, readings by descendants of letters of soldiers who fought at Antietam, a wreath-laying ceremony at Antietam National Cemetery and much more. For more information, call 860-489-1618 or e-mail Blair and Mary Lou Pavlik at bpavlik@mac.com.