Cavalry
Cavalry played a limited role at Antietam. McClellan’s horsemen were under the command of Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, a good bureaucrat but a poor field commander. Despite his prewar studies of European cavalry, McClellan also had little grasp of how to properly use his mounted arm. In an 1895 article in The Cavalry Journal, esteemed cavalry leader General Wesley Merritt wrote, ‘The cavalry under him [McClellan] was decimated instead of being concentrated, and each corps, division, and even brigade commander, was supplied with a force of this expensive arm, which necessarily reduced the available force of cavalry proper.’ Indeed, this parceling out of the cavalry diminished its field strength by about 17 percent.

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But, even if it had been properly utilized, the Union cavalry would have faced significant challenges. Many units were simply unfit for service. The 1st Massachusetts Cavalry received no rations from September 2 to 20, leaving the troopers to fend for themselves on green corn, apples and the occasional generosity of local farmers. The regiment started the campaign 700 strong, and within a few weeks after Antietam numbered fewer than 300 men, many with uniforms in rags and without boots or stockings. In addition, the regiment did not have any tents. According to the regimental historian, the 3rd Pennsylvania began the march to Antietam as a’skeleton regiment.’ Most of the men had been sent to camp dismounted, and the remaining troopers were in a state ‘almost of destitution as regards clothing.’

Despite deficiencies, by and large McClellan’s horse soldiers were better armed than their Southern opponents. Most of the Union cavalry regiments carried sabers, pistols and carbines, primarily the Model 1859 Sharps Breechloading Carbine. The 3rd Pennsylvania carried many of the new models of cavalry carbines. McClellan chose to use the bulk of Pleasonton’s cavalry to probe the Rebel center while dismounted on the skirmish line. On the north end of the field, units such as the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry also served as provost guard, rounding up straggling infantry and forcing them back into the fight. Most of the Union cavalry was deployed dismounted, used in a sort of ‘phony war’ throughout the day, probing the Confederate center on the Boonsboro Pike.

In late July 1862, J.E.B. Stuart was promoted to major general and given command of a Confederate cavalry division consisting of three brigades. The Maryland campaign was the first time Stuart had commanded such a large mounted force in the field. Lee’s cavalry was indifferently armed — most troopers carried the standard U.S. Cavalry saber and pistol. A few companies had breechloading carbines, more often than not captured from the Yankees. However, a large portion of Stuart’s troopers carried the short Enfield rifle.

As was typical, particularly for this period of the war, the Confederate cavalry was used more aggressively at the tactical level. Stuart’s cavaliers sparred with advance elements of the Union I Corps the evening before the battle and successfully guarded Lee’s flanks on September 17. That afternoon they were engaged in a failed reconnaissance in force against the Union right.

Logistics
Supplying and feeding an army has been a daunting task throughout history. And so it was in the Civil War. As would be expected, the Union had a huge edge in this category.

The men of the Army of the Potomac would arrive on the fields of Antietam well fed and well equipped. Soldiers received three pounds of rations per day. To carry food and forage, the army brought along more than 3,000 wagons — each of which carried about a ton. This transportation system included more than 30,000 horses and mules. Even with that support, much food was requisitioned from the local farmers, whether they were cooperative or not. One week after the battle, the Hagerstown Herald and Torchlight editorialized on the foraging by both sides:’The amount of personal property — horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, corn, hay, and other provender — which was taken from the farmers, was enormous, the whole lower portion of our county has been stripped of every description of subsistence, and what our people in that section of the county will do to obtain food for man and beasts during the approaching winter, God alone knows.’

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