The monument to Confederate General George Burgwyn Anderson at Antietam is at the Sunken Road, or Bloody Lane, off Richardson Avenue. (see map) It is one of six mortuary cannons commemorating three generals on each side who were killed or mortally wounded during the battle.
During the battle Anderson commanded a brigade of North Carolina regiments in Major General Daniel H. Hill's division. He was wounded in the ankle during the desperate fighting in the Sunken Road.
From the monument:
Brigadier General
George B. Anderson
C.S.A.
motally wounded
235 yards S, 19° W
Born in Hillsboro, North Carolina, Anderson graduated from West Point in 1852, serving on the frontier in Texas and Kasas and in Utah during the Mormon War.
He resigned his comssion with the outbreak of the war and returned to North Carolina where he was appointed colonel of the 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. In June of 1862 he was promoted to brigadier general for his bravery at the Battle of Williamsburg. He was wounded at Malvern Hill, but returned to command his brigade at South Mountain and Antietam.
After the battle Anderson was transported across the Potomac to Shepherdstown, Virginia, then to Staunton, Virginia and eventually by train to Raleigh, North Carolina, were his infected foot was amputated. He died on October 16.
(below) Brigadier General George B. Anderson,
from a drawing done in 1862.
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