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Antietam Battlefield Historical Tablet No. 107

Battery E, 4th US Artillery

5 AM 17 September to 6 PM 17 September

U.S.A.
BATTERY E, 4th U.S. ARTILLERY
Capt. Joseph C. Clark, Jr., U.S.A., Commanding.

(September 17, 1862.)
   At daybreak Battery E, 4th U.S. Artillery, was in bivouac in rear of the high ground east of the Burnside Bridge. Soon after daybreak it took position on the ridge overlooking the Antietam and the field of battle north and west, and about 685 yards a little east of north from the bridge, and opened fire upon the Confederate Infantry north of Sharpsburg. When this fire ceased to be effective, the Battery moved to the western slope of the bluff immediately opposite the bridge and but 240 yards from it, and shelled the Confederate Infantry defending it. It followed the infantry of Sturgis' Division across the bridge and went into battery on the crown of the ridge due west of the bridge and about 580 yards northeast of this point. While going into position spherical case shot from a Confederate battery killed Lt. W. L. Baker, severely wounded Capt. Clark, and the command devolved on Sergeant C. F. Merkel, who fought the battery until the close of the action.

Location: east side of Branch Avenue (Map 4)

 

Units described and/or located by this Tablet:

        4th United States Artillery, Battery E

Source: Antietam Battlefield Board, Antietam Battlefield Board Papers, Washington DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1891-1898, Entry 707, Record Group 92 (Historical Tablet text by Generals E.A. Carman and H. Heth)

 

Notes

1   Antietam Board, Antietam Battlefield Commission Papers, Washington DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1891-1898, Entry 707, Record Group 92 (Historical Tablet text by Generals E.A. Carman and H. Heth)  [AotW citation 16885]

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