Mansfield, commander of the Army of the Potomac’s Twelfth Corps, was wounded as he led troops into battle early on the morning of September 17, 1862. Thirty-six years later in 1898, this monument was erected to his memory.
This is a rather simple memorial. The inverted cannon, heavily green and corroded with age, sits on top of a stone pillar, rectangular. There is an oval, bronze plaque which reads:
Major General
Joseph K.F. Mansfield
U.S.A.
Mortally Wounded
38 Yards N. 70° W.
The memorial/monument is just past the T-intersection of Smoketown Road & Mansfield Road. The mortuary cannon is 200 feet east of the intersection and on the south or right side of the road if traveling east. The precision with which the plaque on the cannon specifies where Mansfield was wounded may not be accurate, since veterans of the battle argued about the location where he was shot (as well as the color of the horse he was riding) for years after the battle. SOURCE
The monument is also a contributing structure to the Antietam National Battlefield Historic District. From 1890s to 1960s veterans’ organizations erected monuments to commemorate the people and actions associated the Battle of Antietam (16-18 September 1862). Major General J.K.F Mansfield Cannon Marker contributes to the National Register under Criteria A and B. The cannon is classified as structure number 008.
From the nomination form:
The Major General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield Cannon Marker (1898) is significant under Criteria A and B because of its association with the commemoration of the Battle of Antietam and an influential military figure. The monuments and markers at Antietam represent a wide sampling of late 19th and early 20th century military memorialization from the period when such monumentation was in its heyday.
Major General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield was one of the oldest officers on the field at age 59. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Mansfield graduated from West Point in 1822. A professional soldier, he served in the Army for forty years, including service in the Mexican War. Just two days before the battle, he was given command of the XII Corps. Major General Mansfield led his men through the East Woods towards the Cornfield in support of corps already in action. Wounded in the chest, he died the next day. There is a monument and a mortuary cannon on the battlefield for Major General Mansfield.
Major General J.K. Mansfield’s monument is made from a Napoleon Cannon. The specific use of the Napoleon Cannon as a mortuary monument is significant because it was used during the battle. Prior to the 1850’s field artillery batteries were equipped with a mixture of smoothbore field guns and howitzers. In 1853 the French Army introduced a 12 pound field gun, named after Napoleon III, that revolutionized field artillery. The Napoleon was light enough to be moved rapidly on the battlefield by horses, heavy enough to destroy field fortifications almost a mile away, and versatile enough to fire solid shot, shell, spherical case, and canister.
The U.S. Army adapted a modified Napoleon in 1857 for experimentation. However, with the start of hostilities between the North and South, the Napoleon was pressed into service. During the Civil War, the Napoleon demonstrated its superiority over all other smoothbore field guns causing the extinction of the 6 pound and howitzer in the North. The South, having limited resources, supplemented their Napoleon cannon supply with the smaller guns but would have preferred more Napoleons. By the end of the Civil War the North had manufactured over 1100 Napoleons and the South over 600. With changes in technology, the rifled and breech loaded cannon would outclass smoothbores causing the Napoleon to be dropped from the ordnance inventory.
All six cannon markers were erected by the US War Department in the 1890s.
Short Physical Description:
The Maj. Gen. J. K.F. Mansfield Cannon Marker is located on the north side of Mansfield Avenue. It consists of a 4’high, 12lbs inverted Napoleon iron tube cannon, mounted muzzle down in a base of random coursed local fieldstone. A circular bronze informational plaque is attached to the cannon.
The Major General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield Cannon Marker is located on Mansfield Monument Road just east of its intersection with Smoketown Road.
Long Physical Description:
The marker is composed of a 4’ high, 12lbs inverted Napoleon iron tube cannon planted muzzle down in a 4’x 4’ square foundation of random coursed local fieldstone. The oblong bronze informational plaque located on the northeast elevation of the cannon reads: “MAJOR GENERAL/ JOSEPH K.F. MANSFIELD/ U.S.A./ MORTALLY WOUNDED/ 38 YARDS N, 70 (degrees) W.”
The cannon is oxidized and discolored, as is the fieldstone base. The mortar joints show signs of obvious, unsympathetic repair.
My Source
1.
NRHP Nomination Form
2.
Stone Sentinels
3.
Virtual Antietam
4.
Historical Marker Database
5.
Connecticut Monuments