On the fated day September 17th, 1862, men would come to believe in Hell on Earth.

It seemed as though it could be a splendid fall day as the dawn broke on those fated farm fields in the Maryland countryside, that is until at 6 a.m. when the silence was shattered by the resounding echo of thirty-five Union cannons bombarding the Rebs left flank. At the same instance, the Hagerstown Road came alive with some 12,000 Yankees charging Jackson’s smaller force of some 7000 troops. The Union force put up an unrelenting charge through the woods and into a large cornfield. The Rebels let loose a hail of minnie balls cutting down the Yankees with every step they took forward.

The high ground near the Dunker Church was the Yankees objective but the downpour of  lead, cannonballs and canister shot laid a ruinous toll upon the attackers. The Miller cornfield farm also became the scene of a ghastly harvest as the horrific missiles of war turned the cornfield into a slaughter pen. The body count was high for both the Rebs and the Yankees, the lead did not determine sides as officers, and troops from both armies were laid to waste and were cut down side by side. After nearly an hour and a half of intense hellish combat, Stonewall Jackson forces were about to buckle, it appeared as thought the Yankees would hold the upper hand.

However, at that heightened moment of the clash, General Hill and General Hood’s fresh Rebs took the field and immersed themselves in the horrid fray, routing the Federal I Corps from the blood stained ground. The Federal I Corps had been devastated during the slaughter losing some 3000 troops or about twenty-five percent of their force during the first hour and half of the mêlée.