Antietam National Battlefield

Antietam (pronounced an-TEE-tum) National Battlefield, located north of Sharpsburg, MD, is the site of what is commonly referred to as the bloodiest day of the civil war. Amazingly the Battle at Antietam lasted only 12 hours but counted for over 23,000 men being wounded or killed and greatly altered the course of the Civil War. It provided Lincoln with the victory he needed to announce the abolition of slavery in the South with the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation effectively eliminated any chance of Great Britain or France joining in the fight of support for the Confederacy.

Upon arriving at the Visitor Center, we sat in on an orientation lesson given by one of the park rangers, and then viewed a 30 minute film. This was all very helpful for the actual tour we took later in the day with a park ranger to the three major battle sites.

Our first stop was near The Cornfield. More fighting took place here than anywhere else at Antietam with the battlelines changing hands across the field for nearly three hours. The Union troops advanced through this cornfield not realizing that the Confederate troops were stationed on the other side waiting for them. When all was said and done, bodies laid strewn over this cornfield in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks and with the corn being cut down from gunshots as closely as could have been done with a mower.

Next was Sunken Road also known as Bloody Lane. For nearly four hours Union and Confederate infantry fought over this sunken country road resulting n over 5,000 casualties. It is said that after the battle, the bodies were so thick that as one walked across the road your feet would not touch the ground, only the dead. To stand on this hallowed ground was not only a little eerie but also very emotional.

The last stop was at Lower Bridge also known as Burnside Bridge. About 450 Georgian sharpshooters had taken up positions behind trees and boulders on a steep wooded bluff some 100 feet high and overlooking the Lower Bridge. For several hours they were successful in driving back the Union soldiers, but finally the Federals were able to cross over the bridge. Then about 4pm the Confederate reinforcements arrived from Harpers Ferry and drove the Federals back nearly to the bridge. After this last skirmish, the battle was finally over, and the next day Lee began withdrawing his troops back across the Potomac River.

Although neither side technically gained a decisive victory that day, Lee's failure to carry the war further into the North was a turning point. After Lincoln's proclamation, the war now had a dual purpose to not only preserve the Union but also to end slavery.