--- ANTIETAM BATTLIELD ---

Robert E. Lee invaded the North twice. The first was Antietam, the second was Gettysburg. Gettysburg’s place in history was Lincoln’s Gettysburg address following the battle, while Antietam secured its place on September 17, 1862 as the bloodiest single day in American history with 23,000 casualties.

Unlike Gettysburg, Antietam’s landscape remains essentially unaltered from its peaceful, rural appearance before the battle, making it a rarity among Civil War battlefields. Farmers still till the land. Take a leisurely drive through 3,200-acres on 8 miles of road. Traffic is usually light so you are able to tour by bike. Start at the Visitor’s Center with the movie, then take a self-guided tour. The dramatic “must-sees” are Bloody Lane and Bunside Bridge.

For four hours the Union and Confederate infantry fought over a little road, producing over 5,000 casualties. The Confederates were caught in the sunken road. Their bodies were piled so deeply that afterwards, it was named “Bloody Lane".

Burnside Bridge was named after the Union Commander who continued to send his men over a narrow bridge crossing the Antietam Creek to be slaughtered by a few hundred Georgia riflemen firing down from the high embankment. The irony of the Union casualties is that they could have crossed the creek a short distance from the bridge. This is the original bridge. Walk over it and look up. Walk up the embankment and look down. You wonder what Burnside was thinking.

After touring the battlefield, visit the town of Sharpsburg. It is free of modern commercial establishments. Sit on a bench by the town’s square with ice cream from Nutters, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor (Mechanic Street), and feel the history of the rural village where thousands died. Antietam is a dignified national treasure worthy of a visit. To reach the Battlefield, take Exit 29 of I-70 (one of the Hagerstown exits), to Md 65, to Sharpsburg for approximately 8 miles.

Contact: National Park Service 301-432-5124, www.nps.gov/anti