The Wounding of General Mansfield in the East Woods

Acting Adjutant John Mead Gould (10^th Maine), opened his booklet, Joseph F. K. Mansfield, Brigadier General of the U. S. Army, A Narrative of Events Connected With His Mortal Wounding at Antietam, Sharpsburg, Maryland, September 17, 1862, (Portland, ME,1895, 3), with:

“It was bad enough and sad enough that Gen. Mansfield should be mortally wounded once, but to be wounded six, seven or eight times in as many localities is too much of a story to let stand unchallenged.”

Adjutant Gould made it his life mission to prove that the General, XII Corps commander at Antietam, received his mortal wound in front of the 10^th Maine in the East Woods and that the 125^th Pennsylvania erred when they asserted that their men assisted him from his horse in the Woods west of and behind the 10^th Maine. Having re-examined the evidence, I have concluded that they both assisted the general from the field and that he, more than likely, did get mortally wounded in front of the 10^th Maine somewhere in front of the regiment’s left wing.

Reconstructing the incident requires sorting the know facts from the assumed facts. Gould never changed his story that he assisted Mansfield from the field, however, his detailed narration of the event continually evolved with each telling. I am starting with his earliest account of the incident. In The Civil War Journals of John Mead Gould, 1861-1866 (Baltimore, 1997, 194) he noted in his diary entry:

“I noticed Gen’l. Mansfield and couldn’t keep my eyes off him. He rode in front of us and beckoned us not to fire. He at length came clear to the left, within 20 yards of the rebels and his horse was hurt in the leg. He dismounted and helped him over the fence   He passed through our line and with his orderly went down along the ledge where I was. A gust of wind blew his [Mansfields’s] coat skirt aside and showed to me that he was wounded as well as his horse.” The dismounted general, apparently, still had his coat buttoned and/or was wearing his sword belt because the “gust, coming in from the south only lifted the skirt of his frock coat.

On December 2, 1862 Gould, explained, “Passing still in front of our line and nearer to the enemy, he attempted to ride over the rail fence which separated a lane [Smoketown Road] from the ploughed land where most of our regiment were posted. The horse would not jump it, and the General dismounting led him over. He passed to the rear of the Regimental line, when a gust of wind blew aside his coat, and I discovered that his whole front was covered with blood.” https://john-banks.blogspot.com/2014/10/antietam-general-joseph-mansfield-death.htm

In 1871, Gould published the History of the First-Tenth-Twenty-ninth Maine Regiment. (Portland). On p.240, he wrote:

“The rebel force in our front showed no colors. They appeared to be somewhat detached from and in advance of the main rebel line, and were about to the left of Gen. Duryee’s brigade might be supposed to have retreated. To Gen. Mansfield we appeared to be firing into Duryee’s troops, therefore he beckoned us to cease firing, and this was the very last thing we proposed to do, the few who saw him did not understand what his motions meant, and so no attention was paid to him. He now rode down the hill [Croasdale Knoll] from the 128^th Penn., and passing quickly through H, A, K, E, I, G and D, ordering them to cease firing, he halted in front of Company C at the earnest remonstrances of Capt. Jordan and Sergt. Burnham, who asked him to see the gray coats of the enemy, and pointed out particular men of them who were then aiming their rifles at us and at him! The general was convinced and remarked, “Yes, yes, you are right,” and was almost instantly hit. He turned and attempted to put his horse over the rails, but the animal had also been severely wounded and would not go over. Thereupon the General dismounted and a gust of wind blowing open his coat we saw that he was wounded in the body.”

Upset by the assertion posted November 2, 1892 in the National Tribune from a lieutenant in the 125^th Pennsylvania that two of his men helped the general from his horse, Gould fired back a lengthy reply which was published in the November 17 issue. He asserted:

“We [10^th Maine} had been firing only a few minutes before I noticed Gens. Mansfield and Crawford, with the 128^th Pa. on the knoll [Croasdale Knoll] to our right rear just described. Mansfield speedily caught sight of us, and came galloping down hill into our right company [Company H], an Orderly following. He ordered us to ‘cease firing,’ and rode from right to left through our scattered men, and compelled us to do so, saying, ‘You’re firing into our own men. Those are Hooker’s troops,’ etc. Eight and one-half only of our companies had gone over the fence. Captain William P. Jordan, ‘our bantam-cock,’ (very small but full of fight)had noticed that we were the extreme left of the corps, and had very wisely held back his division [two companies] and placed the men under the cover of the limestone ledge which is so prominent there. As Mansfield approached our left, swinging his hat at the boys and plainly greatly disturbed, Jordan ran forward and mounted a projecting spur of limestone and sang out to the General, ‘Look and see! They are aiming their rifles at you!’ etc. The General stopped, made a reply to the effect that ‘You are right,’ then turned his horse, which had been so well described by Lieut. Dunegan, and rode toward the gap in the fence near our colors. The horse would not jump over the trap-like pile of rails and litter; therefore the General dismounted to lead him. His coat blew open, and we who were near saw blood streaming down his vest. I had just left Col. Beal, who was having trouble with his horse, and I met General Mansfield in the gap in the fence.”

Finally, in 1895 from his Mansfield article, p. 15, Gould penned the following:

“We had fired only a few rounds, before some of us noticed Gens. Mansfield and Crawford, and other mounted officers, over on the Croasdale Knoll, which, with the intervening ground, was open woods, Mansfield at once came galloping down the hill and passed through the scattered men of the right companies, shouting, ‘Cease firing, you are firing into our own men!’ He rode very rapidly and fearlessly till he reached the place where our line bent to the rear (behind the fence). Captain Jordan now ran forward as far as the fence, along the top of the ridge behind which his division was sheltered, and insisted that the General ‘Look and see.’ He and Sergt. Burnham pointed out particular men of the enemy, who were not 50 yards away, that were then aiming at us and him. Doubtless, the General was wounded while talking with Jordan; at all events he was convinced, and remarked, ‘Yes, you are right.’ He then turned his horse and passed along to the lower land where the fence was down, and attempted to go through, but the horse, which also appeared to be wounded, refused to step into the trap-like mass of rails and rubbish, or to jump over. The General thereupon promptly dismounted and led the horse into Sam Poffenberger’s field.

I had noticed the General when he was with Crawford on the Croasdale Knoll, and had followed him with my eye in all his ride. Col. Beal was having a great deal of (p.16) with his horse, which was wounded and appeared to be trying to throw the Colonel and I was slow in starting from the Colonel to see what Mansfield’s gestures meant. I met him at the gap in the fence. As he dismounted his coat blew open, and I saw the blood was streaming down the right side of his vest.”

I know this is a longer blog than usual. I wanted you to examine the original evidence and to take the time to sort out the information for yourselves. In so doing, attempt to sort out what Gould did or did not see. And of those things he dis observe, which version or combination of accounts are the more accurate.

As always, your observations, questions, and comments are always welcome.  More on the mysterious locations of Mansfield on the field will appear in the next several blogs.