January 10, 2014

**Antietam Friday**

Before the Texas Brigade’s reputation for fierce fearlessness and heavy loss was reiterated at Gettysburg, there was Antietam. The Texans were more or less butchered in Miller’s cornfield; here they lost their treasured flag and many of their comrades. This summer I stood at the parking lot near the cornfield and gazed out over the fields, trying to understand how not only the Texans but also thousands of other men could duel to the death amid the towering stalks. Near this spot is the Texas State Memorial. I was interested in comparing Antietam’s Texas monument with the one at Gettysburg, hence the photos below:

 Antietam on the left, Gettysburg on the right

**HONORED TODAY**

PVT. DAVID CROCKETT WILKINS

and

PVT. HENRY MARTIN WILKINS

Co. E, 11^TH Mississippi Infantry

Died July 03, 1863

During the horrific charge that would come to be known as the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Assault (as well as by many other names), four brothers stood side-by-side. Charles and Thomas survived, but at a terrible cost . . . they watched a Union artillery shell plowing up the field and instantly killing David and Henry. David was twenty years old; Henry was twenty-nine. The book “Also For Glory Muster” by Don Ernsberger shares the tragic tale in more detail.


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