Antietam National Battlefield

We picked our campsite in Maryland because it was near to several sites that we wanted to visit.  After the disappointment of the rising floodwaters at Harpers Ferry we headed to Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland.  This location saw the bloodiest battle in all of American history as more than 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or went missing.

In the aftermath of the battle the Army of Northern Virginia's invasion of the north was curtailed and the Union victory prompted Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

The battlefield includes a visitor center with walking trails (actually you can walk over most of the battlefield) and a driving tour.

The visitor center includes a theater, gift shop, some exhibits as you enter, an observation room, and a museum in the basement.  You can see a number of photographs of the aftermath of the battle.

This staircase leads down into the basement museum.

I always find explanations of contemporary paintings quite useful.

Did you know that twenty men received the medal of honor for actions at the battle of Antietam?

The observation room offers a good view of portions of the battlefield.

Walking out of the visitor the first monument we came to was the one built by New York State.

As you can see there are a number of monuments on the battlefield, but of course nowhere near as many as Gettysburg, where Lee's second invasion of the north was halted.

This monument was erected by the state of Maryland.

This is the view from the center of the monument.

As you leave you can see the New York monument and the visitor center in the distance.

The Dunkard Church is across the road, but visible as you walk around the walking loop back towards the parking lot.

What would a battlefield be without plenty of cannons?

Next to the parking lot was the ships bell from the U.S.S. Antietam, an aircraft carrier (CV-36) commissioned in 1945.  It was the first American angled-deck carrier and served until 1963.

We got into our car and started the driving tour by stopping at the Dunkard church.  The inside had also been preserved and was open to visitors.

This monument is dedicated to Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross.  She volunteered during the battle of Antietam and "delivered bandages and lanterns to field hospitals."

A number of monuments were visible along this road.

Again maps and photographs are most useful for understanding the flow of battle as we saw when we made our way over to the Philadelphia Brigade Park.

This monument was erected by the veterans from the Philadelphia Brigade in 1896 and is the tallest monument on the battlefield.

Tour stop 6 featured a short walk to a historic cemetery.

The cemetery was first used in 1797 when the land was part of the Orndorff farm.  It was settled by Christian Orndorff II, a patriot who settled the area not too long before the American Revolution.

This was the Sunken Road.
This farm lane served as a breastwork for the Confederate center. For about three hours 2,200 Confederates, later reinforced by additional troops, held off the attacks of a combined Union force numbering nearly 10,000. Finally, just after noon, this thin gray line collapsed and fell back several hundred yards to the Piper Farm. The Union attackers had suffered too many casualties to pursue their advantage. Seeing the dead in the road an observer wrote, "They were lying in rows like the ties of a railroad, in heaps like cordwood mingled with the splintered and shattered fence rails. Words are inadequate to portray the scene."
--from Antietam NB website

The day was a gorgeous one for walking around.  Of course it was also sobering to realize that the soldiers who fought here had a much different experience.

This observation tower was built by the War Department in 1896 and was used to help instruct people in the history of the battle.  Antietam was one of five national military parks first established by the War Department that were later transferred to the National Park Service.

A series of metal stairs led to the top of the tower.

The view from the top is excellent.

We drove past a couple farms and then had to walk down to the Burnside bridge as the road was under construction.

There were a number of signs to explain the detour.

Finally we visited the national cemetery.

Next to the entrance is an impressive stone structure.

I was impressed by the decoration on the gates.

As with all battlefield cemeteries it is something to be taken in quietly and accompanied by contemplation of the sacrifice by those buried within the grounds.

The monument in the center of the graves is rather large.

All of the photos in this post and more are visible in the album I made for our visit to the battlefield.

~Matt