Joseph K. F. Mansfield, Brigadier General of the U.S. Army A Narrative of Events Connected with His Mortal Wounding at Antietam, Sharpsburg, Maryland, September 17, 1862

Born in New Haven in 1803, he entered West Point at fourteen and graduated second in his class, launching a distinguished career in the Corps of Engineers. He served with distinction in the Mexican War, earned a series of brevet promotions, and later became Inspector General, traveling the nation to oversee the army. When the Civil War erupted, he was recalled to Washington, promoted to brigadier general, and fought at Fortress Monroe, Newport News, Suffolk, and finally at Antietam, where he received his fatal wound.

The narrative unfolds through the eyes of the 10th Maine volunteers, who were positioned near the General when the injury occurred. It confronts a bewildering array of competing accounts that locate the wound at several different spots on the battlefield, each supported by veterans, officers, and local observers. By piecing together first‑hand testimony and the author’s own investigations, the work aims to clarify what the 10th Maine actually witnessed amid the chaos of that fateful September day.