20210716 - 0719 Antietam Battlefield , Williamsport, MD

Antietam Battlefield , Williamsport, MD 

At our KOA Campground - 17 July 2021

View of Little Conococheague Creek. Tori keeping cool. 

A year and a half into the Civil War, General Robert E. Lee decided to move his army out of war torn Virginia with the intent of moving north into Pennsylvania. With the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry threatening Confederate supply and communication lines, Lee decided to divide his army into three incursions into Maryland; Hagerstown, Harpers Ferry and Boonsboro. The discovery of Lee's Special Order 191, the "Lost Order", detailed Lee's future campaign and afforded Union General McClellan the realization that he could strike these divided forces. Events over a few days would bring all these forces together for the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War. Dunkers Church, built in 1852 for pacifist German Baptist Brethren, became a focal point for Union attacks on the morning of the battle.

Joseph Poffenberger farm was purchased in 1851 from his father-in-law. The farm was occupied by the Union Army in preparation of the Battle commencing on 16 September 1862. The barn was used as a temporary field hospital following the battle. Clara Barton's actions of bringing bandages, lanterns and food to the hospital, led to the founding of the American National Red Cross. She was christened "The Angel of the Battlefield".

Observation tower above Bloody Lane (Sunken Road), Sharpsburg, MD,  which served as a breastwork for the Confederate Center. For three hours, 2200 Confederates held off the attacks of a combined Union force of nearly 10,000 men. Union and Confederate armies collided across several cornfields of local farms resulting in 23,100 men wounded, killed or missing in action.

Next to the Burnside Bridge, a tree that was young at the time of the battle, the Burnside Sycamore still stands to commemorate the Battle of Antietam that occurred 17 September 1862. Held by 500 Confederate troops for 3 hours, the bridge was finally captured by Burnside's command which forced the enemy to withdraw.