Lot 159
Original Cipher Battlefield Communication From General Burnside to General McClellan -- Antietam Campaign -- With Translation. Manuscript ciphered communication, in ink on 10x8" sheet, both sides, headed "Hd Qrs. Right Wing etc. in field near Damascus Sept. 10th 8 PM." The ciphered message begins: "Caldwell - Katy Thomas for just state shall to & their to has in regards with this that everything to market a affairs will the drink Adam received of send new report return indicate left accordance office directions but udder seem on once pigeons…." Signed "Doyle."
The decoded and typewritten text of this message is annotated as being furnished by the War Department, Feb. 20, 1895, at the request of Gen. Peter C. Doyle, Buffalo, N.Y. The decoded message reads as follows: "Headquarters Right Wing In the Field near Damascus September 10, 1862 - 8 p.m. General McClellan: The following report just received will indicate the state of affairs here. I shall send a squadron of cavalry to New Market at once, and report to you on their return. Everything would seem to indicate that the enemy has left this neighborhood, but in accordance with your directions I shall move carefully. Hooker's corps is on the National road in supporting distance of Ridgeville; two divisions of Reno's corps at Ridgeville; two on the Damascus and New Market road, three and a half miles from Damascus. The reserve artillery at the forks of the road, two miles from Damascus in the direction of New Market, where our headquarters are established. Reno sent a company of cavalry out to within two miles of New Market and without meeting any pickets. The captain reports that all the citizens informed him that the enemy had left New Market. Burnside, Major-General."
This communication between senior commanders is part of the positioning of troops during the week prior to the battle of Antietam. Burnside moved out of the DC area up through Brookeville, MD to New Market while Hooker was near Ridgeville, just down the road. Along with Franklin and Sumner, both moving in the same direction along parallel routes, they had not encountered any Confederates in the area. Lee's troops were moving through Virginia toward Harpers Ferry, then to the north-northeast. The armies finally met on Sept. 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, MD. Called the Battle of Antietam by the Union and the Battle of Sharpsburg by the Confederates, it would be the single bloodiest day in American history to date, with close to 23,000 in casualties.
Military intelligence from Lee's Special Order 191 was recovered by Union troops on Sept. 13 and played an important role in the Battle of Antietam. The battle would have been a clear Union victory if Lee had not got word to A.P. Hill, who was at Harpers Ferry with his Light Division. Hill raced to Antietam just in time to counterattack a move by Burnside to destroy Lee's right flank, bringing the battle to a stalemate.
The original message as encoded and written in the field shows some wear and has a couple of clean breaks at folds, but nothing is missing or torn off, so in very good condition for this type of document. The War Department-prepared decoded copy is in fine condition, with transmittal envelope present. Ciphered messages are exceedingly rare in private hands. Estimated Value $6,000 - UP
Cowan, June 2017, Lot 104.
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