Click 👉Today in History (general history), Sept. 17.
On This Day in Confederate History, Sept. 17.
1862: The Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history, begins early when Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan began launching massive attacks at dawn on Gen. Robert E. Lee's greatly outnumbered Army of Northern Virginia. But Lee shows his military genius in the brilliant way he maneuvers his troops, among the best in history, in repulsing attack after attack. The attacks make place names famous, such as the East Woods, West Woods, the Cornfield, the Hagerstown Pike fence, the Cornfield, the Bloody Lane, the Dunkard Church, Burnside's Bridge, Mumma's Farm, and others. Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, and Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill contributed crucial decisions in the day's fighting, which ended after 12 hours in a stalemate. Confederate casualties, out of about 38,000 engaged, were 1,567 killed, 7,752 wounded, and 1,018 captured or missing, for a total of 10,316. The Federal casualties, out of 87,164 engaged, were 12,410 killed, 9,549 wounded, and 753 captured or missing, for a total of 12,410. The totals for both sides are 22,726.
Confederate General Birthdays, Sept. 17.
Maj. Gen. Howell Cobb was born on this day in 1815 in Jefferson County, Georgia. He was a major political figure in Georgia and nationally before the war. Cobb served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, including one as Speaker of the House. He also served as the Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of President James Buchanan. Cobb was also a Founding Father of the Confederacy and served as President of the Provisional Confederate Congress. During the war, he served as colonel of the 16th Georgia Infantry and was promoted to brigadier general on Feb. 13, 1862. He was then promoted to major general on Sept. 9, 1863. His battles and campaigns included the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, the Battle of South Mountain, and the Battle of Sharpsburg. With the Georgia Reserve Corps, he took part in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign and the Battle of Columbus, Ga. on April 16, 1865. His own plantation was burned at the direct order of Sherman. Following the war, Cobb opposed the North's Reconstruction policy, and on October 9, 1868, while on vacation in New York City was buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia.
Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn was born on this day in 1820 at Port Gibson, Mississippi. He graduated from West Point in 1838, ranking 52nd in a class of 68 cadets. During the Mexican-American War, he fought in seven battles and received brevet promotions, including the rank of captain. Van Dorn resigned from the U.S. Army on Jan. 31, 1861, and rose rapidly in the Confederate Army. He was a major general in the Mississippi Militia, then a colonel, brigadier general, and major general in the Confederate Army. His battles included Pea Ridge, Second Corinth, the Holly Springs Raid, Thompson's Station, and the First Battle of Franklin. He was murdered by a disgruntled doctor on May 7, 1863, at Spring Hill, Tenn. Van Dorn was buried on Sept. 17, 1820.
