[74] Mass. Sharpshooters), Lieut. Nicholas J. Barrett of Worcester (28th) and Color Sergeant Brown (19th), who, when mortally wounded, refused to give up the colors he bore. Colonel (afterwards general) Hincks was for the second time severely wounded, the first time having been at Glendale. The 12th Regiment—the Webster regiment—went into battle at Antietam with three hundred and thirty-five officers and men, and withdrew at last with but thirty-five, under command of a captain, the number of killed being seventy-four and of wounded one hundred and sixty-five. As they were moving from the field three successive color-bearers were shot down, when Lieut. Arthur Dehon finally took them himself rather than order any one else into danger. Surgeon Albert A. Kendall of the 12th was killed by a bullet while at the operating table, and Surgeon Edward H. R. Revere (20th Mass.) also fell.1 Lieuts. L. F. Cushing and William G. White (12th Mass.) were killed in this battle, and Sergt. Charles Edward Johnson of the same regiment fell as he was cheering on his men for their last attack. Maj. E. M. Burbank and Lieut. George W. Orne of the 12th were mortally wounded. The battle of Antietam is guardedly characterized by Ropes as being ‘a moderate success.’ The losses equalled those at Shiloh, and they fell largely on regiments almost wholly new. General McClellan admitted a loss of nearly twelve thousand five hundred, of whom more than two thousand were killed.2 Of the Confederate dead, two thousand seven hundred were counted and buried on the field; and two thousand of their wounded were left there. Without the loss of a gun or a color, McClellan reported the capture of thirteen guns, thirty-nine battle flags and six thousand prisoners. To many Massachusetts regiments this was their first serious experience of war.
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[74] Mass. Sharpshooters), Lieut. Nicholas J. Barrett of Worcester (28th) and Color Sergeant Brown (19th), who, when mortally wounded, refused to give up the colors he bore. Colonel (afterwards general) Hincks was for the second time severely wounded, the first time having been at Glendale. The 12th Regiment—the Webster regiment—went into battle at Antietam with three hundred and thirty-five officers and men, and withdrew at last with but thirty-five, under command of a captain, the number of killed being seventy-four and of wounded one hundred and sixty-five. As they were moving from the field three successive color-bearers were shot down, when Lieut. Arthur Dehon finally took them himself rather than order any one else into danger. Surgeon Albert A. Kendall of the 12th was killed by a bullet while at the operating table, and Surgeon Edward H. R. Revere (20th Mass.) also fell.1 Lieuts. L. F. Cushing and William G. White (12th Mass.) were killed in this battle, and Sergt. Charles Edward Johnson of the same regiment fell as he was cheering on his men for their last attack. Maj. E. M. Burbank and Lieut. George W. Orne of the 12th were mortally wounded. The battle of Antietam is guardedly characterized by Ropes as being ‘a moderate success.’ The losses equalled those at Shiloh, and they fell largely on regiments almost wholly new. General McClellan admitted a loss of nearly twelve thousand five hundred, of whom more than two thousand were killed.2 Of the Confederate dead, two thousand seven hundred were counted and buried on the field; and two thousand of their wounded were left there. Without the loss of a gun or a color, McClellan reported the capture of thirteen guns, thirty-nine battle flags and six thousand prisoners. To many Massachusetts regiments this was their first serious experience of war.
Boston, Wright & Potter, 1895-96.
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