Antietam National Battlefield (MD)
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The visitor's center which, due to our lack of time, we spent very little time at...
One of the cannon near the visitor's center, overlooking State Route 65 (Sharpsburg Pike)...
Entering the battlefield...
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
Union General Joe Hooker occupied this farmhouse the evening prior to the battle. Skirmishers placed by Hooker in the nearby North Woods were the first engaged in the battle...
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
The battle started to get serious here at the East Woods. Eventually Union forces gained control of the woods and pushed forward to the adjacent cornfield...
The Cornfield (Confederate Lines) - 6:00 am
The modern-day Cornfield Avenue marks the approximate front of the Confederate lines the morning of September 17th. Hookers men advanced upon this position across the soon-to-be infamous cornfield just to the left of this photo...
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
West Woods (15th Massachusetts Monument) - 9:00am
The 15th Mass. was one of the leading Union brigades to penetrate the woods suffering horrific casualties as Confederate forces converged on the advance...
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
As Union forces under General Sumner advanced south they passed the burnt remains of the Mumma Farm. Only the lane in the foreground and whitewashed shed in the center are original remnants from the battle...
Over 10,000 Union soldiers advanced along this lane passing the Mumma and Roulette Farms. Their objective was the center of the rebel line positioned along an old sunken road to the south. In 1862 this line of trees did not exist and the Union troops would have had a clear view of the Confederate lines at the edge of the field just visible in the distance between the trees...
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
The Union Army advanced across these fields around 9:30am the day of battle...
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
The Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) - 9:30am to Noon
This is the view the Confederate forces manning the sunken road would have had of the advancing Union troops. While the Federal soldiers would have been in plain sight of the rebels as they topped the rise in the distance the Union troops would only have sight of thousands of muskets pointing at them from behind the fence...
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
The Sunken Road - 9:30am to Noon
Another look at the Sunken Road looking northwest from the base of the observation tower. The Union advance would have been perpendicular to the angle of this photo directly against the Confederates positioned at the road. Nearly 6,000 men (30%) died or were wounded during the three hours of fighting here...
The observation tower at the east end of Bloody Lane was constructed in 1897 to give visitors a birds-eye view of the battlefield...
Observation Tower View - Looking East(?)
I didn't take good notes on this shot but I believe it to be to the east from the tower along the approximate route of the Boonsboro Pike towards the site of Middle Bridge... Middle Bridge in September 1862.
Observation Tower View - Looking Southeast
Looking in the general direction of Frederick, MD (about 17 miles distant beyond the near ridge). Antietam Creek runs through the middle of the shot in the low tree covered valley...
