Maryland, Antietam, and a Possible Ancestor's Fate

I've been to Maryland several times — some trips purely for pleasure and sightseeing, others for genealogy research. One of the places we visited that has stayed with me is the site of the Civil War Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg. Many of the young men who woke up that morning were also in Maryland for the first time. But they were not there for pleasure — they were there for war, and for many, for death.

At this point, I have not confirmed any ancestors who fought in this battle. No matter which side they fought on — Union or Confederate — it must have been horrific. I do know that I had ancestors living in Tyler County, Texas, at the start of that conflict. Tyler County, Texas, provided many volunteers to Brigadier General John Bell Hood. Hood's Texas Brigade became famous for his leadership and the ferocity with which these men fought, even when the odds were against them.

"At the Battle of Antietam (the costliest one day of fighting for Americans in modern warfare), the First Texas Infantry Regiment suffered the greatest casualty rate of any regiment, North or South, for a single day's action during the war. Over eighty-two per cent of its men on September 17, 1862, were either killed, wounded, captured, or missing — most of the casualties being sustained within a one-hour period. At this same engagement, the Texas Brigade, as a whole, suffered over sixty-four percent casualties, which was the third highest casualty rate for any brigade, North or South, for a single day's action during the war."^[1]

I would hope that none of my ancestors were caught up in this battle or any other, regardless of which side. Unfortunately, I may have one candidate: a man named Zachariah Smith. Born in Georgia, he immigrated to Texas in the 1850s, settling in Tyler County alongside his possible father, Job Smith. This relationship would make him my second great-uncle. Zachariah disappeared from the records after the 1860 census. However, after searching military records and learning which units drew their men from Tyler County, I found a likely clue to his fate in the burial records of Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The records list a "Zachariah Smith," Confederate veteran, Co. F, 1st Texas Infantry, Woodville Rifles, who "died at sick camp near Richmond, VA" on October 27, 1862.^[2]

This still does not confirm he was present at the Battle of Antietam. He may have been ill for weeks and could have participated in earlier engagements, beginning with the Battle of Eltham's Landing, which preceded Antietam by several months. But regardless, this was a man in Hood's Brigade, almost certainly from Tyler County, Texas. And even if Zachariah Smith never set foot on the Antietam battlefield, he was unquestionably a casualty of the Civil War's greatest killer: disease. It is estimated that two-thirds of all Civil War deaths resulted from illness — diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, and tuberculosis among them, all products of poor hygiene and sanitation. None of these was a peaceful way to die.

Whatever your views on the causes that led to the Civil War, one truth remains: too many young men never had a chance at life. Those who died young — in any war or conflict — deserve to be remembered. Because at one time, every one of them had flesh on their bones. They were living, breathing people with hopes and dreams for something better.

1. Col. Harold B. Simpson, "East Texas Companies in Hood's Brigade," East Texas Historical Journal: Vol. 3: Issue 1, Article 5, 1965, Stephen F. Austin University Scholarworks (https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/ethj/article/1061/&path_info=1_East_Texas_Companies_in_Hood_s_Brigade.pdf : accessed 7 April 2026). ↩︎
2. "Burial Records," database, Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia (https://www.hollywoodcemetery.org/genealogy/burial-records : accessed 7 April 2026); >Genealogy >Search Burial Records >Zachariah Smith, Section: Soldiers Section C, Plot: 60, Grave: 1.↩︎