Battle of Antietam - Casualties

Thursday, September 18, 1862

The Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment had retreated to the Poffenberger farm, which was being used as a hospital for the wounded. Colonel William Lee sent a detail from the Twentieth to assist in removing the wounded and burying the dead from the battlefield.

The battle at Antietam on September 17, 1862 would prove to be the bloodiest day in American history. The Union reported over 12,000 casualties, while the Confederates reported over 10,000. Casualties among the Twentieth were high; the regiment lost one-hundred and fifty men out of four-hundred. Casualties among the officers of the Twentieth were also severe. Colonel Francis Palfrey was wounded by a canister ball to his shoulder. Captain Norwood "Pen" Hallowell received a shattering wound to his left arm. Captain Oliver Wendell Holmes, shot in the neck and left for dead on the battlefield, was later revived with a shot of brandy. Sergeant James Spencer was struck by a shell fragment in his leg and was carried from the battlefield by his own men. The most tragic and poignant casualty was the death of Doctor Edward Revere, who was killed while performing field surgery on the wounded. Doctor Nathan Hayward was taken prisoner as he tended the wounded, but was paroled as the Confederates withdrew.

Some of the wounded officers would never return to the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment after the battle of Antietam. Colonel Francis Palfrey never returned to military service. Brothers Edward "Ned" Hallowell and Norwood "Pen" Hallowell received commissions to Massachusetts' first colored regiment, the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers.¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 175-6. Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Lebanon, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 2005), 176-80.

Ball's Bluff - The Aftermath

Tuesday, October 22, 1861
The Twentieth Massachusetts suffered a devastating blow to their ranks at Ball’s Bluff. The regiment reported 87 killed or wounded and 111 captured, for a total of 198 casualties, a loss of approximately one-third of the regiment.

The casualties among the officers were catastrophic. The high command of the regiment were captured and taken prisoner by the Confederates. Colonel William R. Lee, Major Paul Revere, Adjutant Charles Peirson, and Assistant Surgeon E.H.R. Revere, as well as First Lieutenant George Perry of Company D, were reported captured. Major Revere was also wounded.

Among the officers killed were Second Lieutenant Reinhold Wesselhoeft of Company C, Second Lieutenant William Lowell Putnam of Company E, and Captain Alois Babo of Company G.

Among the officers wounded were First Lieutenant Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. of Company A, Captain Ferdinand Dreher of Company D, Captain George Schmidt and First Lieutenant James Lowell of Company E, and Captain John Putnam of Company H.¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 59-61.