The Bloodiest Day- September 17, 1862

 September 17, 1862- The Battle of Sharpsburg- known as The single bloodiest day in the Civil War. The Sixth North Carolina State Troop fought there! I walked in their Footsteps 150 Year later...

The 6th North Carolina State Troops on the reenactment battlefield of Sharpsburg at sunrise on Sept. 8, 2012

A Brief History of the Sixth North Carolina State Troops at Sharpsburg (Anteitam)

The 6th North Carolina State Troops arrived in Sharpsburg on September 15, 1863 tired and hungry, after spending the previous day fighting to block the Federal army from passing through Boonesborough Gap, and then acting as a rear guard as the Confederates consolidated at Sharpsburg.  Law's brigade was posted on the Hagarstown Pike with their right posted at the Dunker Church and the line extended along the turnpike. The other regiments in Law's 1474 man brigade were the 4th Alabama, the 2nd Mississippi and the 11th Mississippi.¹ Regimental strengths for the Sixth NC at this battle are not easily found, but in discussing this with my colleague and fellow researcher, Randall Garrison, we guesstimate their strength to be around 400.

Author Rick Walton in front of the Dunker Church in 2007

They crossed the high wooden post and rail fences bordering the Hagarstown pike and entered a field adjacent to Miller's cornfield. This is where they fought....and died. By mid morning it was over. They were recalled to the woods around the Dunker church and waited in readiness under a heavy bombardment of cannon fire for a call to action that never came.

Various casualty records can be found, all with slightly different numbers but they are all in the same ballpark:

•  Iobst, in "The Bloody Sixth", referred to a casualty report in the October 8, 1862 "Hillsborough Reporter" of  8 Killed and 105 Wounded for a total of 113 Casualties. 
• Contrast this with John Micheal Priest's figures from the Official Records of 6 Killed and 94 wounded.  
• Col. Laws report² in the O.R.'s states 8 killed and 117 wounded. 

I found a casualty list for the 6th North Carolina in the Wednesday, Oct. 1, 1862 "North Carolina Standard" that I used as the basis for my research, which agrees with Iobst's figures of 8 Killed and 105 Wounded, but after going through the rosters I found that even these figures don't  match. My research has identified 12 killed.

Confederate dead in the field, the west side of the Hagerstown Road, after the Battle of Antietam 
Digital ID: (digital file from original, front) ds 05176 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ds.05176

Of the nearly 4,000 deaths resulting from that horrific battle, at least 12 men from the 6th North Carolina State troops ("The Bloody Sixth") made the ultimate Sacrifice that day 150 years ago.

As reenactors of the Sixth North Carolina State Troops, we visited the field they fought on to honor their memory 150 years later. 

They have not been forgotten:

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6th NCST Roster of  Killed from the battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland as reported in the 7-31-1861 North Carolina standard and verified against North Carolina Troops Roster (Jordon), Bloody Sixth Roster (Manarin), The O.R's and Compiled Service Records and transcribed by Historian Rick Walton, I am including the 12 members of the 6th Killed in action below. (use scroll at bottom to see entire table)

Co	Rank	Name in Newspaper	Name on roster	County enlisted	Age enlisted	Date enlisted	Occupation	Resided
C	Captain	Capt Lowrie	Lowrie, Houston B.	unknown	22	5/16/1861	unknown	unknown
C	Sergeant	Serg’t. M Markham	Markham, Matthew	Orange	25	5/1/1861	unknown	Orange
D	Corporal	Corp’l A L Poteet	Poteet, Alburto L.	Mecklenburg	41	5/28/1861	unknown	Burke
D	Private	G Stanford	Stanford, John J.	Alamance	33	6/27/1861	Farmer	Burke
D	Private	Henry Roseman	Roseman, Henry	Alamance	25	6/15/1861	unknown	unknown
D	Private	L L Hank	Houk, Lawson L.	Mecklenburg	19	5/281861	unknown	unknown
D	Private	<not listed>	Branch, Martin J.	Alamance	22	6/27/1861	unknown	Burke
E	Sergeant	Serg’t P A Erwin	Erwin, Isaac	Mecklenburg	30	5/28/1861	Farmer	Yancey
G	Private	Thos Cress	Cress, Thomas	Mecklenburg	25	5/29/1861	Farmer	Rowan
H	Corporal	Corp’l J B Walker	Walker, James B.	Caswell	21	6/6/1861	Farmer	Caswell
H	Private	J T Wren	Wren, John T.	Caswell	24	6/10/1861	unknown	unknown
K	Private	David Hatchell	Hatchell, David	Wake	?	9/1/1861	Unknown	Unknown

List of Killed and Wounded [and Missing] in the 6th N.C, Reg.,

Sept. 17th, 1862.

Source: “The Weekly Standard”, Raleigh, N. C. October 1, 1862

FIELD AND STAFF.— 

Major Webb commanding Reg't., severely wounded in arm ; 

Capt. Tate acting Lieut Col., in the neck ; 

Serg’t Major C. Mebane, slightly in the face

Company A.—

Corp’l J W Williams slightly wounded 

private R. Croker slightly wounded ; 

R. L Elliott, James Griffin, Geo Lentz, Serg't J R Swafford missing.

Company B.—

Lieut Umstead, slightly wounded ; 

Alex Laws, severely in face; 

Clem Crabtree severely in face 

Robt Ashley, in foot; 

Guilford Laws, slightly, Sept. 14th [note: engaged at Turners Gap, South Mountain]

Company C.—

Capt Lowrie, killed ; 

Lieut Wm. G. Guess, severeIy wounded in the arm ; [Note: Promoted to Captain, September 17]

Serg’t. M Markham, killed ; 

M V Blalock severely wounded ; 

John L Killgore, mortally

D. C.  Warren, severely; 

W D Blalock, severely ;

Silas Hutchins, severely ; 

Jas Hutchins, Slightly ; 

James May slightly ; 

John Proctor slightly ; 

Jas M Shepard slightly 

Jas S Lee, slightly; 

Thos Haley, slightly ; 

John Turner slightly ; 

Thaddeus Redmond, slightly ; 

John W Poe, slightly ; 

Serg’t Turner slightly; 

Levi Markham slightly 

Company D.—

Killed Corp’l A L Poteet ; 

privates G Stanford, Henry Roseman and L L Hank. 

Wounded : Lt. Carson, Serg’t. A W Honck, Corp’l Cook, 

Privates W J.Carson, J D Berry, Chas Branch, Jason McNeely and H Speigle [Speagle]

Company E.- 

Wounded: Lieut Burns, Serg’ts Howell, P A Erwin, and M B Pendley

Corp’l McKinney, privates R Boon, J H Kipp, John Huntinger, A F Johnson, John McNeil, L Ollis, J H Rathbone, D R Silvers, E C Wiseman, William Watts and William Matthews.

Company F.—

Lieut H C Dixon, commanding company, in the head; 

Lieut B Y Mebane slightly in neck; 

Serg’t A Tate, severely in breast; 

Serg’t J M Durham in leg 

privates, J. T. Bradshaw slightly in arm ; 

Robt Evans, in head; T R Faucette, slightly in arm ;Joseph G Freeland, slightly in leg; Wm. Kirkpatrick, slightly in leg and hip; W C Lashley severely in leg; S M Lashley slightly in breast; Daniel Sharp, severally in breast ; Moses Stanford, severely in neck and shoulder; Wm Jones, slightly in ear; John Dodge ,slightly in leg.

Company G.—

Lt. Roseborough commanding Company, in head ; 

Lieut Rothrock disabled by concussion; 

private Thos Cress, killed; 

Serg't W Cooper, private C J Lipe, J B McNeely, J 0 Barnhardt, J A Barnhardt, H C Johnson, J P Thomason, J W Russell, H Rischie, E Upright, W S Shulibaringer, D A Sloop, J S Overcash, Adam Trexler, and J M Walker, wounded.

Company H.— 

Lieut Oliver, severely in leg; 

Corp’l J B Walker, severely 

privates, Thos It Garrison, W B Miles and H Malone, severely, P Simpson, slightly; J T Wren, severely.

Company I.—

Lt Allen slightly wounded; 

Serg’t Gunter, severely; 

Corp'l Clemens severely; 

privates Burgess, S. W. Chappel, Holder, Roberts, and Corporal T M Jenkins, slightly.

Company K.— 

Private David Hatchell, killed; 

Solomon Moore, wounded severely; 

Sam’l Hatchell slightly; 

Anderson Roberts, John Daily, sightly, and Robert Walker, severely.

Killed, 8; wounded, 105—total 113.

Notes:

1. Priest, John Michael, Antietam: The Soldiers Battle, White Maine Publishing Company, Shippensburg, PA, Pg 323.

2 O. R., Series 1, Volume XIX/1, Pg. 811