For more than 45 years, Joseph Mansfield
prepared himself for the ultimate test of a
soldier—high command in time of war.
After a long and successful career marked
by bravery in the field and rapid promo-
tion during the Mexican War, celebrated
achievements as a military engineer, and a
distinguished tenure as inspector general of
the U.S. Army, the moment he had waited
for all his life arrived early on the morning
of September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg,
Maryland.
Mansfield, a descendant of the first English
colonists and the youngest of five children, was
born to Henry Mansfield, a prosperous Con-
necticut East Indies trader, and his wife, Mary
Fenno Mansfield, at New Haven, Connecticut,
on December 22, 1803. Just months after his
birth, his mother was granted a divorce on
grounds of adultery after she discovered her
husband openly living with a woman in St.
Croix, Virgin Islands. Soon afterward, the fam-
ily moved to Middletown so that Mary could
be close to her family.
Lieutenant Colonel Jared Mansfield, an
uncle and professor at the new military
academy at West Point, began lobbying for
young Joseph’s admission, writing fre-
quently to President James Monroe andSecretary of War John C. Calhoun. In
1817, still shy of his 14th birthday, Joseph
was accepted to the academy, the youngest
member of his class and one of the
youngest ever admitted to West Point.
Graduating second of 40 in the class of
1822, he was commissioned in the presti-
gious Army Corps of Engineers just before
his 19th birthday.With America planning long-term de-
fenses to give teeth to the Monroe Doctrine,
such a commission was a dream assignment
for the bright young engineer. Mansfield
spent the next quarter-century as a military
engineer, mostly building coastal fortifica-
tions along the South Atlantic and Gulf
coasts. He met his greatest challenge in
1830 when he was dispatched to Georgia to
take over the construction of Fort Pulaski.
A massive, five-sided stone edifice with
mounts for 150 cannons, the fort was built
on Cockspur Island at the mouth of the
Savannah River to protect the city of Savan-
nah from naval attack. One of the first
junior officers assigned to Mansfield’s
command was another recent West Point
honors graduate, 2nd Lt. Robert E. Lee,
who was responsible for preliminary site
development and design. For more than 14
years, Mansfield supervised the major con-
struction project.When Union General Joseph Mansfield fell at Antietam, he became the oldest
general on either side to be killed in combat.
Soldiers By Steven L. Ossad
ABOVE: Union troops under Maj. Gen. Joseph Mans-
field exchange fire with Confederates defending the
Cornfield at Antietam in this sketch by Alfred R.
Waud for Harper’s Weekly. By then, Mansfield had
already been mortally wounded. LEFT: Mansfield
spent months in Washington politicking for a field
commission. He got his wish when he was given com-
mand of XII Corps two days before Antietam.Both: Library of CongressCWQ-Sum16 Soldiers *missing London Laurel_Layout 1 4/22/16 2:09 PM Page 8