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Antietam Battlefield Historical Tablet No. 99

Willcox's Division, Ninth Army Corps

2 PM 17 September to 9 AM 18 September

U.S.A.
WILLCOX'S DIVISION, NINTH ARMY CORPS
Brigadier General O.B. Willcox, Commanding.

(September 17, 1862.)
   Willcox's Division was the last to cross the Antietam. Passing over the stone bridge at 2 P.M., it moved up the road to this point and deployed. Christ's Brigade was filed across the hollow on the right (east) and formed on the low ground between the creek and the bluff; Welsh's Brigade on the heights west of the road. Christ scaled the bluff on the right, Welsh swept over the hills on the left, Crook's Brigade of the Kanawha Division moved by the road in support, and under a heavy fire of artillery the line reached Sherrick's lane on the right and the high ground beyond Otto's house on the left. A section of the 8th Battery, Massachusetts Artillery, went into position in Otto's orchard. A severe engagement took place, resulting in the expulsion of the Confederate Artillery and Infantry from Cemetery Hill and the adjacent heights overlooking Sharpsburg, and the Division skirmishers entered the streets of the town. During the contest Crook's Brigade moved up and formed on the left of Welsh. The left of the Corps line being turned by the attack of A.P. Hill, Willcox's Division, with its support, was withdrawn to this point where it remained until the 18th, when it was relieved by Morell's Division, Fifth Army Corps.

Location: east end of the Burnside Bridge road (Map 4)

 

Units described and/or located by this Tablet:

1st Division, 9th Corps
    1st Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Corps
        28th Massachusetts Infantry
        17th Michigan Infantry
        79th New York Infantry
        50th Pennsylvania Infantry
    1st Division, 9th Corps Artillery
        Massachusetts Light Artillery, 8th Battery
        2nd United States Artillery, Battery E
    2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Corps
        8th Michigan Infantry
        46th New York Infantry
        100th Pennsylvania Infantry
        45th Pennsylvania Infantry
    2nd Brigade, Kanawha Division, 9th Corps
        Schambeck's Company, Chicago Dragoons
        Kentucky Light Artillery, Simmonds' Battery
        11th Ohio Infantry
        28th Ohio Infantry
        36th Ohio 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 16765]

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