"We May Never Meet Again"

A few days before the Battle of Antietam, Union General Joseph K.F. Mansfield told a friend, "We may never meet again." During the battle and its aftermath, six generals died from wounds received in the fighting. Confederate Brigadier General William E. Starke led the counterattack that helped stop the first Union attack down the Hagerstown Pike, was hit by three bullets, and died within the hour. Confederate Brigadier General George B. Anderson commanded a brigade posted in the Sunken Road, or Bloody Lane; his ankle wound did not seem serious, but he died on October 16 at age 31. Union Brigadier General Isaac P. Rodman, during the last Union attack between Lower Bridge and Sharpsburg, saw the Confederate counterattack coming and galloped ahead to warn his leading regiments, but was killed by a bullet in the chest. Mansfield, age 59 and only two days into his first combat command, was wounded as he prepared to lead his corps out of the East Woods into the Cornfield and died a short time later after being carried to the rear. Union Major General Israel B. Richardson, a division commander in the Second Corps attacking the Sunken Road, was wounded by a shell burst while trying to organize an attack that might well have won the battle, and he died on November 3. Confederate Brigadier General Lawrence O'Brien Branch was with the Confederates that Rodman tried to stop and was shot and killed as his men pursued Union troops toward Lower Bridge.

Keedysville, Maryland · United States