Antietam National Battlefield, MD (6-27-09)
This album follows the course of the battle as told along the self-guided auto tour that circles the park. Where I have been able to find pictures from the time of the battle I have included links to accompany my shots and descriptions...
Battle Statistics
United States of America
Armies Engaged: Army of the Potomac
Commanding Officer: Major General George B. McLellan
Strength: 75,500
Casualties: 12,401 or 16.4% (2,108 killed, 9,540 wounded, 753 captured/missing)
Confederate States
Armies Engaged: Army of Northern Virginia
Commanding Officer: General Robert E. Lee
Strength: 45,000
Casualties: 10,316 or 22.9% (1,546 killed, 7,752 wounded, 1,018 captured/missing)
The visitor's center which, due to our lack of time, we spent very little time at...
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Antietam National Battlefield Map
One of the cannon near the visitor's center, overlooking State Route 65 (Sharpsburg Pike)...
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Sharpsburg Pike (ca. 2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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Dunker Church (ca. 2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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Poffenberger Farm
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...
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The North Woods (ca. 2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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East Woods - 6:00am
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...
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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...
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The Corn Field...(ca. 2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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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...
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The West Woods (ca. 2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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Mumma Farm (ca. 2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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Mumma Farm & Lane - 9:00am
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...
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Union Advance - 9:30am
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...
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Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) (ca. 2009)
The Union Army advanced across these fields around 9:30am the day of battle...
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The Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) - (ca.2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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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...
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The Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) - (ca.2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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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...
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Battlefield Observation Tower
The observation tower at the east end of Bloody Lane was constructed in 1897 to give visitors a birds-eye view of the battlefield...
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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.
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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...
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Observation Tower View - Looking South
The terrain to the south drops dramatically towards Antietam Creek. Burnside's infamous bridge sits beneath the trees a bit over a mile distant from this spot...
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Observation Tower View - Looking Northwest
The Mumma Farm is clearly visible in this shot to the north. This picture encompasses much of the terrain that was fought over during the first half of the battle. The Cornfield is located in the center of the photograph at the top of the far ridge. Later Union forces marched across the fields between here and the Mumma Farm against the Sunken Road off to the left...
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Observation Tower View - Looking Southwest
The village of Sharpsburg sets in the valley to the left side of this picture...
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Irish Brigade Monument
Located at the base of the observation tower this small monument commemorates the 4,000+ members of the Irish Brigade who sacrificed their lives during the Civil War...
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From the observation tower we followed Rodman Avenue south through some pretty fields towards the Lower Bridge...
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Looking back at the observation tower from Rodman Avenue...
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Sherrick Farm (ca. 2009)
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
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Lower (Burnside's) Bridge - (ca. 2009)
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Antietam Creek
View of Antietam Creek from Burnside's Bridge
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Lower (Burnside's) Bridge (ca. 2009)
Federal soldiers were buried along this wall adjacent to Burnside Bridge immediately after the battle...
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Lower (Burnside's) Bridge
Another look at the bridge from the Union side of the creek. The soldiers in blue were exposed to a withering barrage of cannon and small arms fire from atop the far ridge as they attempted to force a crossing...
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Lower (Burnside's) Bridge (ca. 2009)
Burnside Bridge as seen from perspective of Union advance.
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Final Battles - 2:00 to 4:30pm
Federal forces pushed the Confederates back towards the town of Sharpsburg across these fields after taking the Lower Bridge...
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Final Attack - 4:30pm
Just as the Confederate cause seemed lost General A.P. Hill's Corps, marching all day from Harpers Ferry, arrived and struck Burnside's exhausted forces, pushing them back to Antietam Creek. With dusk the fighting died out and over the following days the Confederates withdrew back south to Virginia... Sharpsburg Lutheran Church showing damage from the late day fighting between Burside and A.P.Hill's troops.
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Antietam National Cemetery
Dedicated on the fifth anniversary of the battle in 1867, the cemetery served as a necessary resting place for the 4,000+ men who lay buried, often where they fell, in the fields surrounding Sharpsburg...
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Antietam National Cemetery
My best count estimates there to be about 350 headstones in this shot. This accounts for less than one-tenth of the men who died during the fighting on September 17th. A powerful reminder of the sacrifices made on both sides during the Civil War.
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