Narrator: America teeters on the brink of destruction.
Almost a year and a half has passed
since 11 southern states declared war
on the government of Abraham Lincoln.
Despite being outgunned and outmanned
by larger northern forces,
the confederate armies seem invincible.
Now, after a string of victories in Virginia,
rebel general Robert e. Lee has done the unthinkable.
For the first time in the civil war,
the rebels have invaded the north.
This is the first time the United States
is facing invasion.
That hasn't happened before.
Baltimore is threatened.
Pennsylvania is threatened.
Washington is more threatened now than ever.
If there ever was a moment
where Lincoln needed a win, this was it.
Narrator: Near the banks of the antietam creek,
yankee soldiers will launch a desperate attack
to end the invasion and save the union.
As the battle rages,
shock troops from the 1st Texas infantry
will clash with union's elite iron brigade.
And fire!
Their battleground will become one of the deadliest places
in all of the civil war.
There are very few places on civil war battlefields
that approach the cornfield in terms of carnage.
Narrator: Their fight will become part of the bloodiest day
in American military history...
There's too many. We'll never hold them.
And will forever change the nation.
Fire!
Once you've had a day like antietam,
there's no going back to the country as it was before.
Captions by vitac... www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by discovery communications
Narrator: The civil war has entered its 18th
blood-soaked month.
Following the crushing defeat of the union forces
at the second battle of bull run in late August,
many in the north believe the war could soon be lost.
Morale within the union army has plummeted.
Despite the best efforts of the north
to crush the rebellion,
the confederacy still clings
to 750,000 square miles of American territory.
Frye: People are getting tired of this war,
especially in the north.
There is a fatigue. There is a weariness.
And there's also this feeling
of desperation and frustration.
"Why can't we win?
We have the bigger armies.
We have the industry.
We have the population.
What's wrong?"
Narrator: Much of the credit for the confederate success
lies with one man... General Robert e. Lee.
Robert e. Lee certainly ranks among
america's military geniuses.
A great strategist, a great tactician.
Narrator: After assuming command three months earlier,
his forces seem unbeatable.
Lee is best remembered as bold.
Narrator: And he's about to embark
on his boldest course of action yet.
Lee believed that if the confederacy was to win,
it had to win quickly.
He could hear that clock ticking.
Every day, every week, every month that passed,
the louder and louder that clock got.
With the northern advantages in manpower,
material, resource, industry...
it motivated his decision to take a bold gamble.
Narrator: In early September, Lee takes that gamble.
Frye: Lee understands that you must
take opportunity and seize it.
The time has come. The moment is here.
Lee must launch.
Narrator: And launch he does.
More than 40,000 confederate troops
cross the potomac river and enter Maryland.
Despite being outnumbered by the larger northern forces,
Lee is confident that hard-fighting men
like his Texas brigade can't be beat.
Frye: Robert e. Lee's shock troops... hood's texans.
They were ferocious.
They were loud.
Nobody could do the rebel yell better than those texans.
And they knew that when they were called upon,
they were either going to be cleaning up
or clearing out or trying to save the army.
Narrator: William gaston is an officer
with the 1st Texas infantry.
He fights alongside his younger brother, Robert.
Raised on a farm in east Texas,
the gastons Rose quickly through the ranks.
William serves as a captain.
Robert, a lieutenant.
How is it you always seem to turn up
when the work's just about done?
Ain't my fault.
Y'all were the handy one in the family.
Please tell me you found something to eat.
If there's apples in that bag, I might have to shoot ya.
Colonel's looking into our rations.
God as my witness, soon as we get home
I'll never eat another apple again.
I won't even let someone say the word.
This might help lift your spirits some.
It's yankee, though.
Hmm.
Looks like fighting ain't the only thing
they can't do worth a damn.
Despite the long march north and the lack of rations,
they're confident that the dream of a free south
can soon be realized.
They often went without much to eat.
Somehow, they had the perseverance,
the endurance,
the determination to keep moving, keep marching.
They believed in Lee.
They believed in their cause.
I don't know what's more alarming,
the fact that you still got a pair of drawers
or that I can see them through your trousers.
What are all those Yankees gonna say
when they see a texan officer with his drawers showing?
Brother, alls you've got to worry about
is what I look like right here.
And just why is that?
Because no damn yankee's
ever gonna see the backside of a texan.
The arrival of men like the texans spreads
a wave of fear across the union.
Lee's army moving into Maryland in the fall of '62 is...
Creates a crisis in Washington. There's panic.
A lot of people in the south are thinking victory might be near.
People in the north are thinking this very well may be over.
Narrator: A mere 70 miles away in the nation's capital,
Abraham Lincoln is facing some
of the most difficult days of his presidency.
Lincoln knows the union cannot afford
to lose on northern soil.
Since the war began 17 months earlier,
the stakes had not yet been as high
as they were in September of '62.
Early September, with confederates advancing,
with Lee poised in the banks of the potomac,
Lincoln needed the situation to change.
This was the first time
that the president of the United States,
and the United States, is facing invasion.
That hasn't happened before.
Washington is more threatened now than ever.
President Lincoln is also under pressure
from members of his own party to emancipate the slaves.
He's drafted the order to abolish slavery in the south.
But he desperately needs a victory
before he can release it to the nation.
Vermilya: If there was an emancipation proclamation
following these southern military successes
and union defeats,
it would look like a moment of desperation.
And that's the last thing that Lincoln wants.
So you can rightfully say that, in September of 1862,
the United States of America has come to a fork in the road.
And it's either gonna be one way or the other
because a confederate victory on Maryland soil
will go a long ways towards establishing
a separate confederate nation.
A union victory on Maryland soil
is gonna lead to the emancipation proclamation,
the most dramatic presidential action
on slavery in American history.
If there ever was a moment up to this point in the war
where Lincoln needed a win,
this was it.
Narrator: Fortunately, for the union army,
on September 13, 1862,
some yankee soldiers make an incredible discovery.
When union soldiers are coming into Frederick, Maryland,
on the heels of confederates leaving Frederick...
they come across a copy of Lee's special orders 191.
Essentially, this was his game plan.
And this intelligence falls into union hands.
Narrator: The union learns that Lee has split his army
during the march and is incredibly vulnerable to attack.
And in the mountains of western Maryland,
the Yankees pounce.
Lee's troops are mauled.
Stunned by the blow, Lee must fall back
and try to regroup his army before another union attack.
Some of the hardest-hitting troops in the fight
were members of the iron brigade.
Composed of regiments from Indiana and Wisconsin,
they're one of the union's elite combat units.
The soldiers of the iron brigade had earned a reputation
of being steadfast, solid, reliable and hard-fighting men.
And just like the men from Texas,
they too were hundreds and hundreds of miles
away from their home.
Narrator: And just like the men from Texas,
they, too, are about to play a pivotal role in one
of the most important battles in American history.
Marching in pursuit of Lee's army,
they've stopped near the town of sharpsburg, Maryland.
With them is private Johnny Johnson.
Johnny came to america from Europe
before the war broke out.
Now he's determined to help defend the country
that gave him a new start.
There was a tremendous number of immigrants
who volunteered to serve.
This whole idea of, you know,
a government of the people, by the people, for...
They believed in it,
and they were willing to fight for it.
Artillery batteries were notoriously under strength.
They'll appeal to infantry volunteers.
And Johnny Johnson was one of the men
who volunteered to serve with battery b.
The sergeant's job was to make sure,
even though they were scared,
everybody continued to do their job.
And then, if somebody got hit,
they might step in and fill their role.
That's why drilling was so important.
So that, even though you were scared out of your wits,
you still could execute.
Let's go through it again.
Gunner calls for case.
Canister. What's in it?
Dozens of steel balls timed to burst
in the air above the troops.
Turns the Cannon into a giant shotgun.
Narrator: Just as committed to saving the nation
is Joshua Jones,
another member of the iron brigade.
A 24-year-old serving with the 19th Indiana,
Jones volunteered following the outbreak of the war in 1861.
After 14 months in the army,
he thinks often of the young family he left behind.
He writes to his wife, Celia,
"the longer I stay away,
the more I think of you and the better I love you.
Often do I think of the happy days
when I could sit down with you and our little boy.
But I shall never return until the stars and stripes
is floating over all the states in the union,
and if it falls to my lot to fall in battle,
it will be in defense of my country."
Vermilya: Joshua Jones is writing home saying,
"I love you, my family back at home,
but this is very important for me.
And even though I may not come back,
I want you to know that I'm committed
to trying to save our country."
Narrator: Still stinging from the loss
in the mountains of Maryland,
Lee is now in retreat,
pulling many of his battered troops back towards the potomac.
The dream of winning the war is now in jeopardy.
September 14th was a dark day for Robert e. Lee.
Just 10 days earlier,
he had embarked upon this campaign.
And now it seemed, from out of nowhere,
the union army had arrived and was breathing down his neck.
He wants to get his army united.
His men marched through the night,
nothing but the moonlight to guide them
through western Maryland
and toward this meandering creek called the antietam.
Narrator: When Lee sees the antietam,
the bold commander sees an opportunity he can't pass up.
He realizes immediately that this terrain offers
some incredible defensive advantages.
Narrator: Lee immediately begins
to move his troops onto the high ridges
that run to the west of the antietam creek
and to the north of the town of sharpsburg.
Vermilya: Lee is going to use these ridges
as a fortress for his army.
In front of that fortress, he has a moat,
which is antietam creek.
So he has a moat. He has a fortress.
He will make a stand.
Narrator: Near the banks of this creek,
the hopes of two nations will live or die.
The bloodiest day in American history
is about to begin.
Narrator: For the first time in the civil war,
confederate general Robert e. Lee has invaded the north.
His forces now occupy the high ground
to the west of the antietam creek in Maryland.
They expect a union attack at any moment.
If the rebels triumph,
the dream of an independent south may be realized.
And the United States will be no more.
Given the stakes, both sides will stop at nothing to win.
As Lee plans to make his stand,
the call goes out to his scattered army
to unite near the banks at the antietam.
By sunset, most of Lee's troops
have reached the confederate camp.
Among them are William and Robert gaston
of the 1st Texas...
The shock troops of the rebel forces.
The texans have been on the move for almost 3 days,
with very little rest and hardly any food.
In spite of the delayed rations
and all of the hardships they've endured,
the texans' spirits remain high.
Frye: They could barely keep their eyes open.
Their stomachs were growling.
They had had almost no food in 24 hours or longer.
Narrator: After reaching the antietam,
older brother William had gone to check
on the status of their rations.
Don't just sit there. What'd he say?
You want the good news or the bad news?
Let me guess.
Lincoln was caught by Stuart's calvary,
fleeing the capital dressed as some ugly yankee woman.
The war is over.
Not quite that dramatic.
The general has promised us three days rations.
The bad news?
They seem to have... Left the supply wagon
on the other side of the river.
Should be here soon.
Narrator: A mile to the north,
members of the union's iron brigade
prepare for the attack they know is to come in the morning.
Hoptak: Nightfall on September 16th...
In some places fires are prohibited
'cause the lines were so close.
And whether they're in blue or gray,
these veterans knew a battle's imminent.
So imagine what may have been going through their heads.
[ Harmonica plays ]
Narrator: Nearby, unable to sleep,
union soldier Joshua Jones writes what could be
his last letter home.
Jones: "My dear Celia,
I was so happy to receive your letter.
When I seen your hair and little George's hair inside,
I could not help shedding tears.
I can see now that we lived as pleasant a life
as any two on earth.
Celia, there is men here with needy wives
and hungry families,
and they are spending their money for whiskey
and other such foolery.
Just this morning, I sold my watch
to Isaac Branson for 18 and a half.
That's six more than what I paid for it in Virginia
three months ago.
I am sending you the watch money.
Save all that you can.
I love you, Celia.
Faithfully yours, Joshua."
Narrator: Soldiers aren't the only ones
making preparations this night.
Pinsker: The confederate armies could not fight without slaves.
Thousands of black laborers... slaves...
Are serving the army in important support capacities.
Without them, the army doesn't move.
Narrator: To undermine this support,
the federal government has announced
it will free any slave
who can make it to the union line.
Two slaves forced to serve the rebel army
have decided the time to escape their bondage is at hand.
But the risks are great.
If they're caught, they'll be savagely beaten or killed.
But to these two men,
the chance to win their freedom makes it worth the danger.
First, they have to somehow get past the rebel sentries.
Sentry: Hey, you two, stop right there!
Spotted by a guard,
the two men race for the safety of the union line.
[ Gunshot ]
As day breaks,
one of the men has almost reached the union line.
There, he will be taken in by federal troops
and will be freed.
But his companion was not so lucky.
During the escape attempt,
he was gunned down by a rebel sentry.
Just hundreds of yards away,
the battle to determine the fate of both slavery and the nation
is set to begin.
If the union wins, Lincoln plans to release
the emancipation proclamation,
freeing almost four million African-Americans.
If it loses, the United States may very well cease to exist.
Almost 10,000 union troops now march toward the rebel line.
Hoptak: George mcclellan, a general that we often
times characterize as cautious,
he is gonna lead the attack at antietam,
and his plan is to rely upon his right hook.
What he wants to do is pummel Lee's left
with a series of hammer-blow assaults.
Narrator: After leaving the union line,
the yankee assault force is to head south
and then slam into the left flank
of general Lee's army.
Expecting heavy resistance from the rebels,
the men know they are in for the fight of their lives.
Leading this union assault is Joshua Jones
and the men of the iron brigade.
The battle that will claim the lives
of almost 4,000 Americans and wound 17,000 more
is about to begin.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Send these wretched souls back to hell, boys!
Fire!
Narrator: In hopes of ending the first confederate invasion
of the north,
union troops have attacked rebels
near the banks of the antietam creek.
Fire!
And as battery b of the 4th U.S. artillery
pounds the confederate line,
Johnny Johnson watches and waits.
Half a mile to the southwest,
after being pounded by rebel artillery,
Joshua Jones and the iron brigade
have attacked the far left of the rebel line.
Man: Aim!
Fire!
[ Shouting ]
After putting up some fierce resistance...
the rebels fall back.
Fire!
A quarter of a mile away,
union private Johnny Johnson
and a handful of other gun crews from battery b
have been ordered to a new position.
They've been deployed near the edge of a cornfield
that will soon go down in infamy.
Johnson and the men of battery b
are about to find themselves at the epicenter
of one of history's most ferocious battles.
Hoptak: The cornfield... That 24 acres of land...
Will come to symbolize the hellish intensity of antietam.
There were many cornfields at antietam,
but only one cornfield.
Narrator: Rebel troops have launched
a ferocious counterattack,
and battery b soon finds itself in the thick of the fight.
Hoptak: Oftentimes, battery b would be well behind the lines.
But here battery b was brought right to the front.
When these batteries are pushed forward,
and they're engaged in close combat with infantry,
they take heavy casualties.
Narrator: As another crew member falls,
Johnson is finally thrown into the fight.
To the right!
Right!
Too far. Back to the left.
And fire!
Johnson, get the gunpowder back to your post on the double.
Reload!
Narrator: To the west, as Joshua Jones
and the iron brigade drive forward,
the confederates counterattack.
And during that fighting is when Jones was hit.
[ Groaning ]
The mini-ball, when it strikes something,
has the tendency to spread out and flatten out.
And when that strikes a bone in a leg or an ankle,
it shatters it beyond repair.
The only way to save the soldier's life
would be to amputate the limb.
Narrator: In the confusion, Jones is left behind.
To the east, Johnny Johnson finds himself
in the thick of the battle to control the cornfield.
The cornfield was like a vortex that drew forces in.
There's a large number of troops moving in there.
The waves of battle are swaying back and forth.
And, initially, you have lines
of blue sweeping south through the corn,
then falling back.
And there'd be a confederate counterattack.
And they'd recede.
Back and forth it would go, several times.
The first hour of fighting in the cornfield alone
sees about one casualty per second.
But as the rebels launch one more attack...
union troops begin to flee.
Johnny Johnson and the remaining members of battery b
must try to hold the position.
A rebel breakthrough here could breed panic
in the union ranks
and could potentially cause the line to collapse.
Fire.
Misfire. Ram it again.
Do it now!
The fuse went, sarge. It could cook off at any time.
If I put my arm in there, I'll lose it.
You'll lose more than that if you don't.
Do it now or we all die!!
Narrator: Near the antietam creek,
a ferocious fight to determine
the fate of two nations rages on.
Realizing a rebel victory could possibly lead
to southern independence
and the death of the United States,
both sides will stop at nothing to win.
A rebel counterattack has scattered union forces.
Now Johnny Johnson and a handful of union soldiers
must try and hold the line.
That battery is the focal point.
If the federals can hold the battery,
they can break the back of the confederate assault.
And if the confederates can capture it,
they might turn the tide of the battle.
Man: There's too many. We'll never hold them.
Ram it again. Do it now or we all die!
Ready! Fire!
Narrator: As the confederates are cut down
by the Cannon blasts,
fresh union troops arrive and pour into the cornfield.
Hey, sweep, nicely done.
Hoptak: There were moments in the fighting
where it could go either way.
And at one moment, it seemed the confederate army
would sweep the blue lines out of the corn,
only for the union army to counterattack.
Narrator: The union attack drives the rebels back
toward their own line in full retreat.
Frye: It's been a bad morning for Robert e. Lee.
Robert e. Lee usually doesn't have
bad days on the battlefield.
And his forces are being pushed backwards.
This is unbelievable.
What's going on?
Narrator: As union troops stream south of the cornfield,
the left flank of the rebel position
teeters on the brink of collapse.
With their line hanging by a thread,
the south turns to some of its toughest troops to save it...
The men of the 1st Texas.
Don't even think about asking me to share.
I've been dreaming about this bacon for days.
Despite the shells...
Just keep cooking.
The texans are desperate to eat
their first hot meal in 3 days.
Don't worry. You'll hear them coming.
- Oh, no, no, no. - Texas, on your feet!
Got to be kidding me!
Frye: Their breakfast has been disrupted.
And, all of a sudden, you got to take your food
and just throw it aside, pick up your rifle,
put on your cartridge box and go.
Narrator: As the men of the 1st Texas
prepare to push back the yankee attack,
to the west of the cornfield,
wounded union private Joshua Jones struggles
to get back to his own line.
[ Groans ]
[ Breathing heavily ]
If he ever wants to see his family again,
Jones will need to crawl to the safety of the union line.
With his ankle shattered by a rebel musket ball,
the journey seems all but impossible.
To the south, the 1st Texas infantry
has orders to push back the union assault
and retake the cornfield.
Hoptak: The men from Texas were angry.
So when they went into the fight,
they went in screaming. They went in yelling.
Vermilya: And they were also soldiers
who realized that at that point in the battle,
their presence was desperately needed,
as the initial confederate lines were falling apart.
Steady, men! Steady!
Aim for the belt and don't stop for the wounded!
Narrator: The arrival of the texans
stabilizes the rebel line.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
It's like shooting partridge.
The texans cut through the corn like a scythe,
relentlessly driving union troops
back to their line.
Hartwig: Those units directly come towards battery b.
Get the canisters.
These were aggressive soldiers.
They are veteran soldiers.
They don't wanna get killed. They wanna kill you.
And that's when the real ordeal began for the battery.
Narrator: As the texans push through the corn,
Johnson and the others brace for another rebel attack.
Fire.
They're coming.
As the rebels sweep through the corn,
it seems like the tide of the battle is turning.
For the first time that morning,
the yankee army looked vulnerable.
Narrator: The Yankees seem powerless
to stop the texans' advance.
If battery b can't stop the attack,
the union line may crack.
Load the Cannon.
- What? - Load the Cannon.
There's no time! Load the Cannon!
Do it!
Go!
Vermilya: Although it's not pretty,
although it's not romantic,
it does happen during civil-war combat.
Sergeant hertzog is in extreme pain.
He's in some of the worst circumstances
you could possibly imagine.
And in the midst of that, with all that pain,
he simply pulls out his revolver and ends it.
They're coming!
Double canister!
The canister was simply a tin can packed with iron balls
that might be an inch to an inch and a half in diameter.
Double canister usually cleared your front
because it was so deadly.
If you're firing double canister
it's because you and your battery
are in grave danger.
- Hurry! - I gotta lower it!
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Ready!
Fire!
Narrator: As Johnson pounds the rebels with canister,
they stream northwest toward the corner of the field.
Narrator: One of the most important battles
of the civil war has reached a critical moment.
Confederate shock troops from Texas
sent to shatter the union line
have just been hit by a massive yankee counterattack.
In hopes of rallying the texans,
Robert gaston sets out to find the regimental flag.
I'm all right. Go.
In the chaos of battle,
with the smoke stinging your eyes and the sound,
the noise, the confusion, if you saw your flag,
you knew where you were supposed to go.
You can't see that flag? You're lost.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Narrator: The texans have been cut down
by yankee reinforcements sent to help hold the line.
They were laying down behind the fence
that bordered the northern edge of the corn,
and the texans actually couldn't see them.
They blasted the texans with a volley,
then followed it up with more volleys.
It cut the regiment to ribbons,
shot down both their flags.
Once they get towards the northern end of the corn field,
they are met with a ferocious counterassault,
not only from musketry fire, but Cannon fire.
Narrator: The results...
Are catastrophic.
At first, Texas gets slaughtered...
Slaughtered.
More than 80% of their men will drop on that Maryland soil.
It was an awful disaster.
They're running.
Narrator: With the help of Johnny Johnson,
battery b has helped save the union line,
but they've paid dearly.
Hoptak: Battery b sustained 40% casualties.
The casualties attest to the savagery,
the ferocity of their role in the fight.
Well, battery b's performance, obviously,
the performance of the battery was extraordinary.
Narrator: When the brutal struggle for the cornfield finally ends,
the fighting shifts to the center and right
of the rebel line.
As the sun sets,
the rebels still hold the ground west of the antietam creek.
But Lee's troops are in no shape to fight on.
On the 18th of September,
he takes his shattered army back to Virginia.
Hoptak: The confederate army's gonna limp back into Virginia.
Began the campaign with such high hopes
for a victory on union soil,
and Robert e. Lee's objectives are not realized.
I consider antietam the greatest victory
of the war for the United States.
Pennsylvania is safe. Washington is safe.
Baltimore is safe.
The eastern newspapers are proclaiming victory
for the United States.
Narrator: But it's come at a terrible price,
Almost 4,000 killed and 17,000 wounded.
Among them, Joshua Jones of the union's iron brigade.
Found by rebels after he was shot,
he's placed in a barn with other wounded troops.
He receives no care for 48 hours.
Once you've had a day like antietam,
there's no going back to the country as it was before.
Once you've had a day with over 23,000 casualties,
the nation is fundamentally changed.
Narrator: In the wake of the battle,
Lincoln publishes one of the most
extraordinary documents in American history.
Frye: It emboldened Lincoln to do something
the president had been wanting to do since July,
which was to issue the preliminary
emancipation proclamation.
And so five days...
Only five days after antietam,
on September the 22nd,
the president issues the proclamation.
This is no longer going to be a war fought
to restore the union as it once was.
That union died at antietam.
This was now a war that was going to be fought
to preserve a new and better union,
one without slavery.
Narrator: Johnny Johnson wins the metal of honor
for the courage he displayed in the fight for the cornfield.
He survives the war.
Found by union troops following the rebel retreat,
Joshua Jones finally receives medical attention.
After doctors amputate his leg,
the wound becomes infected.
He dies almost two weeks after the battle.
Captain William gaston continues
to serve with the confederate army.
At war's end, he returns home to Anderson county, Texas.
His brother, Robert, dies in the cornfield.
His body is found on top of the regimental colors.
He is one of the 3,600 men
claimed by the battle of antietam.