Antietam National Battlefield

Last Saturday, R and I drove up to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, a little over an hour away. While Gettysburg is probably much better known, Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle of the American Civil War. On September 17, 1862, nearly 100,000 soldiers waged a 12-hour battle near that small town. Nearly a quarter, 23,000 men, became casualties, meaning that they either died, were wounded, or were captured or missing.

Near the Union advance, Bloody Trail Lane.

The memorial to Maryland soldiers. (Dunker Church in the background.)

The memorial to New York soldiers.

Cannons.

Near the North Woods.

Burnside Bridge.

Monument to William McKinley (later to become the 25th U.S. President), who served as a Commissary Officer during the battle, handing out warm food and coffee to the soldiers.

There weren't very many visitors on the day that we were there, which is somewhat surprising, given the summer tourist season. It was a fascinating tour, but sobering in that I kept thinking of what a waste it all was. Not that the Union was preserved or that slavery was abolished, of course, but that the loss of life was horrendous. And that wars are still prevalent today - different causes, different justifications, but war and heartache all the same. Can't we get beyond all that already?