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Commanding Officer on the Sharpsburg Campaign:
Capt. Henry H. Carlton
Arms:
1 12-pdr. howitzer
2 10-pdr. Parrott
1 6-pdr. Gun
This Battery's Chain of Command:
Army - Army of Northern Virginia
Corps - Longstreet's Command
Division - McLaws' Division
Brigade - McLaws' Division Artillery
On the Sharpsburg Campaign
Part of (T.R.R.) Cobb's Legion, they were attached to, and served with, (Howell) Cobb's Brigade.
It is likely the battery left two guns at Leesburg, VA on the campaign, and crossed into Maryland with 4. Carlton's men man-handled the two rifled guns, under Lt. Columbus W. Motes, to Maryland Heights on 14 September and they bombarded Harpers Ferry from there.
On the same day, the 2 smoothbores of the battery were with Cobb at Crampton's Gap on South Mountain, where he noted in his Report:
For the most successful rally made on the retreat from the crest of the mountain I was indebted to a section of the Troup Artillery, under Lieutenant Jennings. They had been ordered forward, and had reached a point where, under the terrific fire of the enemy, their pieces were placed in position, and, by their prompt and rapid firing, checked for a time the advance of the enemy. One of the pieces was brought off safely; the other [the 12-pdr. howitzer] was lost by an accident to the axle.At Sharpsburg on 17 September the battery was very shorthanded and due to the loss at Crampton's Gap, the battery only had 3 guns in action near the Dunker Church that morning.
Statistics
Initial Strength: not known; Killed in Action (KIA): 1; Wounded (WIA): 8;
Map Showing this Unit
Detail Map #4: Greene's High-Water Mark in the West Woods (9am-noon)
Battlefield Tablet for this Unit
Tablet #357: McLaws' Division, Longstreet's Command - 16 Sep, 11 AM to 18 Sep, 9 PM
References & Notes
Captain Carlton brought 4 guns on the Maryland Campaign, according to a letter he wrote Ezra Carman on 2 December 1899.
Carman1 says the battery manpower was "1 officer and 30 men at Crampton's" where they had 4 casualties, leaving 1 officer and 26 men to fight at Sharpsburg. This ignores the men of the other gun section of the battery who were on Maryland Heights on the 14th, but were with the battery at Sharpsburg on the 17th.
Thanks to Jim Rosebrock2 for his help clarifying the number and type of guns in action with the battery in Maryland.
We have 6 individuals in the AotW database who were on the Maryland Campaign with this unit:
| Co. | Rank | Name | Casualty? | Details* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Pvt | Carlton, Benjamin Richard | KIA 09/17 |  |
| -- | Capt | Carlton, Henry Hull | | |
| -- | Lt | Jennings, Jr., Henry S. | | |
| -- | Lt | Motes, Columbus Washington | WIA 09/17 |  |
| -- | Lt | Newton, George Jordan | | |
| -- | Pvt | Waddell, John Oliver | WIA/POW 09/14 | |
* If there's a symbol in the Details column ... - We have a picture for this person - We have details beyond name and rank
Click on their last name to see more
1 Carman, Ezra Ayers, and Dr. Thomas G. Clemens, editor, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, 3 volumes, El Dorado Hills (CA): Savas Beatie, 2010-17, Vol. 2, p. 586, note 112 [AotW citation 30428]
2 Rosebrock, James A., Artillery of Antietam: the Union and Confederate Batteries at the Battle of Antietam, Sharpburg: The Press of the Antietam Institute, 2023, pp. 240-246 [AotW citation 30429]