I Would Give Another Horse for Such a Victory: Adjutant Bogardus at Antietam

Advancing in support of the 124th Pennsylvania through Miller's cornfield, Acting Adjutant Stephen Bogardus of the Purnell Legion from Maryland recorded the horrors he witnessed among the cornstalks. 

    "The cornfield was a horrible sight," he noted in a letter sent to his hometown newspaper. "A live Rebel soldier is a disgusting sight, but a dead one surpasses description. And that field was full of them, lying in all positions. Here, one shot through the heart and there, one with his leg torn off, and still farther on a trunk without a head." Soon thereafter, the Legion would advance towards the Dunker Church where Bogardus would be severely wounded in the mouth. 

    During the Maryland campaign, the Purnell Legion was attached to Colonel William B. Goodrich’s Third Brigade of General George Greene’s Second Division of General Joseph K.F. Mansfield’s 12th Army Corps. Shortly after entering the field that morning, the Legion was detached and supported the advance of the 124th Pennsylvania, which was part of General Samuel W. Crawford’s First Brigade of General Alpheus Williams’ First Division of the 12th Corps.

          Bogardus’s short letter, written just two days after the battle from a Federal field hospital near Keedysville, Maryland, first saw publication in the September 23, 1862, edition of the Poughkeepsie Eagle in his hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York.

 

Brevet Major Stephen H. Bogardus served in three organizations during the Civil War: the 5th new York (Duryee's Zouaves), the Purnell Legion of Maryland, and the 192nd New York at the end of the conflict. Afterwards, he served five years as a lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry before moving west in the 1870s to New Mexico Territory. 

Keedysville, Maryland

September 19, 1862

          After a lapse of many weeks, I have found an opportunity to write a few lines. The smoke of the battle of Wednesday has not yet cleared away, still we can see enough to know that little Mac has gained another victory. I had, together with my regiment, the honor to participate in the fray.

          Tuesday night, we arrived on the left but at 10 p.m. we were ordered to march to the right. All night, the pickets and skirmishers were firing upon each other but the ball did not open until daylight. Then the artillery commenced playing and in a few moments the roar of cannons and the rattle of musketry combined with the groans and shrieks of the wounded and dying made a scene that cannot be put on paper.

          About 7 a.m., our brigade was ordered forward as a first reserve. The boys went willingly, although they had had nothing to east since the night before. In a little while, we were ordered to advance and enter into action. At the double quick, we marched to the conflict. We were on the right under Hooker, Fighting Joe as he is called. We were ordered to take the cornfield and to support the 124th Pennsylvania Volunteers, a new regiment, which we did until about noon.

The cornfield was a horrible sight. A live Rebel soldier is a disgusting sight, but a dead one surpasses description. And that field was full of them, lying in all positions. Here, one shot through the heart and there, one with his leg torn off, and still farther on a trunk without a head.

          At noon, we were sent to a piece of woods on the advance of the right, and here we remained until 2 p.m. at which time I was wounded and carried to the rear. I was hit by a musket ball coming from a party of Rebels carrying our flag. [Bogardus was wounded in the mouth] This was the second time I saw the same treachery during the battle. What the world thinks of a foe that in the disguise of a friend shoots you down I know not, but it seems to be their style of fighting.

          Our forces have captured a great number of Rebel battle flags while I think we lost none. Our loss in wounded is almost innumerable, but in killed small in proportion. The Rebel loss in killed far exceeds ours but in wounded I think not. This is accounted for by the Rebels using the old buck and ball while our boys use Minie balls altogether, and they kill when they hit. I was shot off my horse and lost him. But we whipped them and I would give another horse for such a victory.

 

Lieutenant Bogardus advertised for recruits for the 192nd New York in early 1865. He eventually received two handsome presentation swords from his comrades: Quartermaster E.F. Foster of the Purnell Legion presented him a regulation sword on April 1, 1865, while the men of Co. E, 192nd New York  presented him an elegant sword from Tiffany and Co. costing $500. 

          Acting Adjutant Bogardus arrived in Poughkeepsie the evening before his letter was published in the Eagle. He recovered from the wound and returned to the Legion, serving as the regimental adjutant until mustered out in October 1864. He later raised Co. E of the 192nd New York and served with that regiment until the close of hostilities, ending the war as a brevet major. In 1866, he accepted a commission as a lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry and served until 1871.

Following his service in the army, he moved west to New Mexico Territory and lived the remainder of his life in Wallace (later Thornton), New Mexico. Major Bogardus worked for many years as a station master for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, also serving as the town postmaster and mayor in his later years. He died of “general debility” on New Year’s Day 1907 and was subsequently buried at Santa Fe National Cemetery.

A collection of Bogardus’s wartime letters were published by Joel Craig in 2002 as Dear Eagle: The Civil War Correspondence of Stephen H. Bogardus, Jr. to the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle.

Sources:

Letter from Acting Adjutant Stephen H. Bogardus, Purnell Legion (Maryland), Poughkeepsie Eagle (New York), September 23, 1862, pg. 3

"Elegant Presents,"  Poughkeepsie Eagle (New York), July 4, 1865, pg. 3

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