Antietam

Antietam Civil War Battlefield, in and around the small town of Sharpsburg MD. The site of the bloodiest single day battle of the war. Aanytime you visit a battlefield, expect to see lots of beautiful grassy rolling hills AND start your visit at the Visitors Center! Here I saw a one hour video of the whole day of battle presented by civil war re-enactors. Then when I took the driving tour of the battlefield, I could imagine what happened at each place.

This is "Burnside Bridge" the site of a 3-4 hour long battle to cross the bridge and engage in combat. Today it is a serene and lovely picnic spot and now my screensaver!

By mid summer this will be a new cornfield. The cornfild was the site of countless battles and chaos one side and then the other side winning at times and so many deaths.

An example of the beautiful grassy rolling hills that surround this area and were the sites of many battles during the day.

The Sunken Road. One of the most famous sites of this battlefield. Go online and read about it.

Another view of the Sunken Road. And an excellent example of the split-rail fences used during this time of the civil war.

Statutes and monuments and memorials are everywhere around the battlefield, to dedicate and remember fallen soldiers and their regiments.

A monument at the edge of the Cornfield battle area.

Some of the cannons you will see around the park.

Watching the video of the battle left quite an impression on me. Then when I started driving the tour of the battlefields..... I was amazed at the area it covered. One regiment hiked/ran 17 miles from Harpers Ferry that day and still engaged in long battles. Driving from site to site, I drove around present day farms and through parts of the town... the battlefield is a LARGE area!

And a little sidebar of fun...... At one point the tour takes you down a few streets of the town. As I was entering the town on my war to Antietam, I noticed that the folks were setting up for a parade. Well as I was driving through town on my battlefield tour, suddenly I noticed that the street ahead was blocked and the parade was going by, I was going to back up and turn around and go out the way I had just come BUT in those few moments (yes moments) the street was closed and blocked for the parade behind me..... so I sat out the parade in my car, watching the parade go by and eating my picnic lunch, which I was able to offer to the other two cars that were blocked in with me. Memories are made. And I saw my first battlefield.