In September 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee took his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland with hopes of diverting some of the fighting into northern territory. If all went well, this would enable him to capture Washington, DC and force a Union capitulation. Any success he had would also be helpful in gaining the support of France and England, while also influencing upcoming national elections. Opposing his advance would be the Union’s Major General George McClellan.

Enroute, Lee lost a copy of his Special Order 191 in Frederick County, Maryland. Wrapped in paper with three cigars, it was found on September 13, 1862 by Union troops. The orders outlined Lee’s plan for moving his troops in the early part of his invasion. The Union’s discovery of Lee’s plans would play a role in battles at South Mountain and Antietam, Maryland.

After a victory at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where his victorious forces under General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson captured nearly 13,000 Union troops, Lee was defeated at South Mountain. He then moved his army to Sharpsburg, Maryland, where, on the banks of Antietam Creek, he awaited McClellan.

The Battle of Antietam unfolded on September 17, 1862, in a series of three “mini-battles.” The first took place in the early morning in farmer D. R. Miller’s cornfield and the West Woods. Fighting in the cornfield was so intense that it was said that “. . . every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before.” In mid-day the fighting shifted to the Sunken Road, followed by fighting later in the afternoon at what was referred to as the Lower Bridge, for its position on Antietam Creek. It is now known as Burnside’s Bridge. There, a small contingent of Southerners held off the Union army for nearly two hours.

The three skirmishes together make up what is now known as the Battle of Antietam. With nearly 23,000 casualties in just over 12 hours, the battle remains the deadliest one-day battle in American military history. Although tactically the battle was a draw, Lee’s withdrawal from the field allowed Lincoln to declare victory and issue his Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in states remaining in rebellion on January 1, 1863. 

However, with no control over the Confederate States, his decree had no official effect on the freeing of slaves. Symbolically, though, it changed the course of the war. By focusing the Civil War on slavery, European nations that had considered supporting the Confederacy abandoned those plans. It also saw Black Americans joining the Union army for the first time. By war’s end, some 200,000 would do so.

McClellan’s reluctance to pursue Lee after the battle led to his dismissal as commander of the Army of the Potomac. He would be replaced by General Ambrose Burnside on November 5, 1862. Burnside himself would resign after the disastrous Mud March in January 1863, replaced by Major General Joseph Hooker.

John Cook, Bugler, Company B, 4^th U.S. Artillery

By James Gindlesperger, historical author

John Cook was born August 16, 1847, to Thomas and Lydia Cook in either London, England, or Cincinnati, Ohio, depending on the source consulted. Whichever is true, it is known that he enlisted at Cincinnati on July 7, 1861, just one month before his 14^th birthday. He was assigned as a bugler in Battery B of the 4^th U.S. Artillery. Three months later, after learning the basics of how to play the bugle, he left with the battery for Washington, DC.

It would be nearly a year, on August 9, 1862, before Cook tasted war for the first time. On that date, he got his baptism of fire at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia. He experienced it again just two weeks later when he took part in the Second Battle of Manassas, Virginia, on August 28 to 30. Like most boys his age who served the Union army as a bugler or drummer boy, he was growing up fast.

Following the Battle of South Mountain, Maryland, on September 14, 1862, where Battery B was not engaged beyond firing a few salvos, Cook and his companions marched to Sharpsburg, Maryland. Crossing Antietam Creek, the battery set up camp on the Joseph Poffenberger farm. Just a short distance away, on the other side of the North Woods, Cook could hear the Confederate army doing the same. Unknown to the young bugler, his name would soon be etched into history.

It was not yet daylight when the first artillery shell was launched. Nobody knows for sure which side fired it, but it didn’t matter. A responding shot followed quickly, and the artillery duel was on in earnest. The 4^th Artillery’s Battery B moved into position just off the Hagerstown Turnpike, near the Dunker Church. There, they would support Brigadier General John Gibbon’s advance.

Gibbon’s forward movement stalled quickly when Wisconsin troops encountered heavy resistance. Gibbon ordered reinforcements to the aid of the struggling men from the Badger State, including two guns from Captain Joseph Campbell’s Battery B. First Lieutenant James Stewart took the guns and positioned them in the center of Gibbon’s line, along the right side of the road in the D.R. Miller barnyard.

With the guns firing immediately on their position, young bugler John Cook took a defiant stance with the rest of the men from the battery. Firing as rapidly as they could reload, their deadly fire ripped holes into the ranks of the advancing Confederates, halting their momentum. Rebel Lieutenant Colonel Zachariah Ruff ordered snipers from the 18^th Georgia Infantry to flank the battery and open fire on the Union gun crews in an effort to get the Southern advance moving again.

The sniper fire proved to be extremely effective, as one Federal gunner after another fell. Stewart raced to the rear to get additional men to replace the fallen. As he did, the rest of Battery B began to move down the turnpike to assist the two forward guns. Soon, all six guns were pouring lethal fire on the Georgians.

Arriving at the firing line, Captain Campbell dismounted just as a volley from Ruff’s men struck him and his unfortunate horse, killing the animal and wounding Campbell in the shoulder. Seeing his commander fall, John Cook rushed to his aid and began to assist him to the rear.

Reaching some of Miller’s haystacks, the boy bugler saw numerous wounded already there. Placing Campbell in a relatively safe location, Cook prepared to return to the battery. Campbell grabbed the youth’s arm and spun him around, telling him to inform Stewart that he would now have command of the battery. Cook nodded that he would, then rushed back into the fury that he had previously left. Reaching the battery, he delivered the orders to his lieutenant just as one of the gun crew fell dead directly in front of him.

Noticing that the dead man still had a full ammunition pouch wrapped around his shoulders, Cook recognized that this meant that the gun could not be fired. As bullets rained down on him, he scrambled to the dead man and, after a brief struggle, was able to get the pouch of ammunition free. He then rushed to the gun and worked with the remaining crew members to fire it continuously into the advancing Confederates.

Nearby, Gibbon watched sadly as the battery he had once commanded was being torn apart. He also saw a young bugler performing heroically. Almost reflexively, Gibbon rushed to one of the guns after seeing the gun’s crew captain fall. The general ordered the remaining crew to load double canister and fire it into the line of Georgians who were now nearly ready to overrun the battery. The fire was effective, and the Union line held.

When assistance from Major Rufus Dawes and his 6^th Wisconsin, what remained of Battery B was moved to the rear, where it would be found to have lost 38 men and 27 horses. Their young bugler, now 15 years old, was not among the casualties. He would join the remainder of the battery later in the day in further fighting.

Cook would continue as the battery’s bugler, participating in the Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he continued to prove his mettle by carrying messages while under heavy fire. All told, he would take part in 33 battles, suffering several wounds.

He mustered out of the army on June 7, 1864, at age 16 and returned to Cincinnati, where he worked at a variety of jobs. In 1870 he married 16-year-old Isabella MacBryde, with whom he would have three children. In 1880 he moved with his family to Washington, D.C., where he began working at the U.S. Government Printing Office.

On June 30, 1894. he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Antietam, one of the youngest ever to receive the award. His citation read, “Volunteered at the age of 15 years to act as a cannoneer, and as such volunteer served a gun under a terrific fire of the enemy.”

On August 3, 1915, John Cook’s life came to an end. Fittingly, he received a hero’s burial in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Further Reading:

• Arlington National Cemetery, John Cook – Bugler, United States Army, https://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/johncook.htm, Accessed August 16, 2024.
• Antietam’s Cornfield, John Cook:  An Ohio boy comes of age in Antietam’s Cornfield, https://antietamscornfield.com/2018/01/17/john-cook-ohio-bugler-antietams-cornfield/, Accessed August 16, 2024.
• American Battlefield Trust, Antietam, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/antietam, Accessed August 15, 2024.

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The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor, inspiring America to live the values the Medal represents, and supporting Recipients of the Medal as they connect with communities across America.

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