I'll put up some pictures in the blog that I took and try to briefly explain the significance of each site.
Some cannons in the cornfield on the battlefield......
This road is a sunken farm road in the middle of the battlefield. It was used as a natural fortification for the Southern soldiers in the middle portion of the day-long fight. There were a few thousand soldiers who lost their life along the mile or so stretch of this lane in less than 3 hours. The road is now known as 'Bloody Lane'.
Another view of Bloody Lane. Note that many Southern soldier remains are believed to still be in the vicinity of Bloody Lane.....
A view of Bloody Lane from the top of an observation tower on the battlefield. The sunken road is located between the two fence rows......
In the foreground of this picture, there are small holes in the hill overlooking the bridge now called Burnside's Bridge. A few hundred Georgian sharpshooters laid in these holes in the hill and fired across Antietam Creek at the Federal troops on the other side. Burnside tried for a few hours to take this bridge to allow the federal troops to easily cross to the other side of the creek. While the Federal troops did eventually get across the bridge, the Southern sharpshooters managed to pin heavy casualties on the Federal troops. In addition, by holding up the Federal troops, the Southern sharpshooters allowed time for the reinforcements that were headed up from Harper's Ferry to arrive in time to eventually carve out a win for the South. Without the sharpshooters, the Federal side probably would have won the battle.
A soldier's cap and some swords used during the battle.....
A saddle used during the battle.....
A drum used during the battle.....
The chapel at the Antietam National Cemetery....
The gateway into Antietam National Cemetery......
The marker for the Irish Brigade remains that were found recently on the battlefield and buried in the Antietam National Cemetery.....
The statue of a federal soldier located in the middle of the cemetery. The graves are in a circular form around the cemetery. Around 4,500 Federal and U.S. soldiers are buried in the cemetery. The vast majority of the graves are from the Antietam battle, but there are also graves from wars from 1860-1945.
Some additional views of the cemetery......
A view of the Blue Ridge mountain countryside from the back wall of Antietam National Cemetery. Many of the men buried in the cemetery died on this land you see in the picture.
A couple of views of the sunset from the mountain top bed and breakfast we stayed in.....
We stayed at the bed and breakfast on Saturday night as well and got up to enjoy another great breakfast in the morning. First course was poached apples in cinnamon sugar. Main course was a breakfast burrito and potatoes. Dessert was Bananas Foster. We finished off breakfast and headed back home to take care of some things before the weekend was over.
