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Antietam Battlefield Historical Tablet No. 81

Ricketts' Division, First Army Corps

6 AM 17 September to 9 AM 17 September

U.S.A.
RICKETTS' DIVISION, FIRST ARMY CORPS
Brig. Gen. Jas. B. Ricketts, Commanding.

(September 17, 1862.)
   Ricketts' Division moved from its bivouac in the Poffenberger Woods early in the morning of the 17th. Duyea's Brigade moving south through the North Woods and over the open ground between the Hagerstown Pike and the East Woods, passed through Miller's Cornfield to its southern edge and engaged the Confederate line 220 to 230 yards in its front. After an obstinate contest of 30 to 40 minutes the Brigade was compelled to retire. The center of the Brigade line is marked by its tablet west of this. Hartsuff's Brigade (supported by Christian's) went into action on a line running northwest and southeast through this point, and after a sanguinary contest, the Brigade was compelled to retire with a loss of half of its number. Christian moved in the left rear of Hartsuff's, his right supporting and relieving Hartsuff at this point, his left forming on the west edge of the East Woods, south of the Smoketown Road. The Division was relieved by the advance of the Twelfth Corps, and joined the rest of the First Corps on the right near the Hagerstown Pike, north of J. Poffenberger's.

Location: north side of Cornfield Avenue (Map 1)

 

Units described and/or located by this Tablet:

2nd Division, 1st Corps
    1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Corps
        104th New York Infantry
        105th New York Infantry
        97th New York Infantry
        107th Pennsylvania Infantry
    2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Corps
        26th New York Infantry
        94th New York Infantry
        88th Pennsylvania Infantry
        90th Pennsylvania Infantry
    2nd Division, 1st Corps Artillery
        1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery F
        Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Independent Battery C
    3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Corps
        12th Massachusetts Infantry
        13th Massachusetts Infantry
        83rd New York Infantry (9th Militia)
        11th Pennsylvania Infantry

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 16697]

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