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THE ORDEAL OF ADONIRAM JUDSON WARNER: HIS MINUTES OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN AND ANTIETAM Edited by James B. Casey In January 1863, Lieutenant Colonel Adoniram Judson Warner lay unconscious on an operating table in Washington, D.C, as some of the North's most skilled military surgeons probed for a Confederate musket ball lodged in his pelvis. The wound had been received four months earlier on the field at Antietam amid some of the most desperate fighting of the Civil War, but for Warner himself, struggling against intense pain and submerged under the strange effects of ether, the most harrowing ordeal still remained. A few years later in his "Minutes of the Battle of Antietam," Warner vividly recalled his subconscious state while under the surgeon's knife: "I fancied that I was wafting at an inconceivable velocity over space through regions of every degree of darkness and of light. . . . The universe seemed filled with all loathsome things—serpents, lizzards, . . . crockodiles—monstrous beasts of all shapes mixing their slime in their gnashing for me. . . ." The final operation to remove the Confederate ball took five hours and left an incision which severed him "nearly one quarter in two."1 However , Warner was not contentwith merely surviving this bizarre, agonizing ordeal. Less than five months later the plucky colonel overcame the painful aftereffects of the operation to lead his Tenth Pennsylvania Reserves into battle at Gettysburg. Adoniram J. Warner, a man of considerable physical courage and uncommon intelligence, was among the most successful civic and business leaders to emerge from the CivilWar. His leadership ability enabled him to rise from the rank of captain in 1861 to that ofbrevet brigadier general by the close of the war. Before his death in 1910, Warner was recognized as a major business leader in Ohio and was a nationally respected authority on rail transportation. He also was a successful Democratic politician in Republican Ohio, winning three terms in the U.S. House of 1 A. J. Warner, Records and Account Book, 1858-63, vol. 1, ms. 548, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. The original spelling and syntax have been retained for all quotes from Warner's "Minutes." Civil War History.Vol. XXVIII, No. 3 Copyright© 1982 byTheKent State University Press 0009-8078/82/2803-0002 $01.00/0 214CIVIL WAR HISTORY Representatives (1879-81, 1883-87). In 1873, the newly established village of Warner in Washington County, Ohio, was named for him. Shortly after the war, Warner prepared detailed "Minutes" of his experiences as commander of the Tenth Pennsylvania on the Union right flank at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. The "Minutes" also include his vivid recollection of the journey through aid stations, hospitals and eventually to the operating table for treatment ofhis near fatal wound. The Warner "Minutes" offer a rare, incisive look at events in an important sector during one of the major battles of the Civil War and behind the lines where the dyingand wounded paid theprice ofvictory. At the time that he received his wound at Antietam, Warner was already a battle-hardened and successful field officer. Born in 1834, he was principal of Mercer Union School in Pennsylvania when war broke out in 1861. Warner succeeded in forming a company of men—which included a number of his students—into the Mercer Rifles. Upon his election as captain of this company, he joined with similar units from Warren, Crawford, Mercer, Venango, Lawrence, Clarion, Beaver, and Somerset Counties to form the Tenth Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment under Colonel John S. McCalmont. Warner's Mercer Rifles became Company G.2 After sharp actions at Dranesville and Ball's Bluff in 1861, the Tenth joined with McClellan's forces advancing on Richmond. Before joining in this campaign, Colonel McCalmont resigned on May9, 1862, and was succeeded as colonel by James T. Kirk. On May 14, Warner was elected lieutenant colonel, Kirk's second-in-command. During the campaign before Richmond, the Tenth suffered over two hundred casualties and participated in the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill. Kirk's absence after Mechanicsville left Warner in command of the regiment through three battles. At White Oak Swamp, Warner led...

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