What is now known as The Cornfield took up a large part of the northern end of the battlefield, covering 30 acres from the Hagerstown Pike to Smoketown Road. It was part of the David R. Miller farm.

The early morning segment of the battle saw Hooker’s initial Union attack drive south into the Cornfield, only to be struck by Confederate counterattacks and thrown back. The fighting seesawed across the field all morning. In three hours of fighting, “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.” Over 13,000 men were shot down in the field, possibly the bloodiest ground in American history.