Having already mentioned that today is the sesquicentennial of
the titanic Battle of Antietam, here is another photograph.
Alexander Gardner took it on September 19, 1862, two days after
the battle and the day that Robert E. Lee retreated back south
into Virginia. He provided this caption: A Contrast: Federal
buried, Confederate unburied, where they fell, on Battle-field
of Antietam. Research conducted by the historian William A.
Frassanito later identified the background trees as being part
of the famous West Woods that saw fierce fighting on the morning
of September 17. And the writing on the freshly dug grave’s
headboard reads, “J. A. Clark, 7th Mich,” referring, Frassanito
explains, to 1st Lieutenant John A. Clark, Company D, 7th
Michigan Infantry. Remarkably, that’s him there below right. And
if you click to enlarge the map, you’ll see where Union general
Edwin V. Sumner‘s men attacked the West Woods. Those attacks
included Clark and his men, who were part of John Sedgwick‘s
division. Who was John Clark?