Civil War
25 July 2011 | Antietam Battlefield
Steve
One of the many places that I wanted to visit while on my summer visit to the East Coast was a Civil War battlefield. I wasn't really paying much attention in school the day they taught us about the Civil War, (or several other days for that matter), so I wasn't really sure about many of the finer details of this horrible war. It turns out that my Uncle's house in Western Maryland is in the middle of what was a hotbed of the Civil War.
Today Ross and myself drove to a place called Antietam Battlefield. Antietam is the sight of the bloodiest single day battle in the history of the United States of America. The 12 hour battle between the Union solders and the Confederate Army began at dawn on September 17, 1862. The armies fought several battles throughout the day. They fought through a cornfield, through woods and at one time the Confederate solders took cover on a farm road that was later renamed "Bloody Lane". The battle ended about 6:00 PM. In all 23,000 men....YES 23,000, were killed, wounded or missing....IN ONE DAY.
The thought of so many men being killed in one place and happening less than 150 years ago, gave the place a very surreal feeling. As you know I usually try to keep some humor in my blog...but there is nothing humorous about this very dark period in the history of our country. The only good thing that came out of this bloody day was that within a week of visiting Antietam battlefield, President Lincoln began penning the Emancipation Proclamation which would preserve the Union and end slavery.