Antietam National Battlefield

Two years ago I bought a full middle school curriculum. The idea being that I’d pay a fee and have someone else plan out my whole year...less researching for me, less organizing, less planning; and, all this would result in a smoother, less stressful school planning experience. Yeah. Rainbows, sparkles and sunshine it was NOT! I forgot I’m waaaaaaay too Type A to feel alright about someone else planning my days. Good thing it was cheap, also this is probably why it didn’t work the way I dreamed it would. After digging through the pages of instructions and documents, one of my first thoughts was....who in the world would spend an entire year on the Civil War?! 

Well, as it turns out....this family would. And is. However, I wasn’t able to use this full curriculum as the core plan. Instead, I’ve spent hours and hours reading books, watching documentaries, searching the internet and putting together what I think has been a pretty thorough walk through a very dark time in our American history. 

Living in Mississippi allowed us to see places like Corinth, Meridian, Tupelo and Jackson. The cemetery that inspired Finch to write “The Blue and the Grey”, about the women of our city, Columbus, decorating the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers alike, was a few minutes drive from our home. We managed to slide in some New Orleans history on a dance competition trip. Now, living near where the two Civil War capitals were located, we have so many opportunities to walk where so many died fighting for their side. 

Today’s trip was to Antietam Battlefield, where we step back to September 17, 1862, the bloodiest day in American history. 

We hopped into the car at 815, turned on our Harry Potter audiobook and took off....slowly. A rainy day in SOMD meant slow moving traffic around D.C. What was supposed to be a 2 hour and 20 minute drive turned into a 3 hour 15 minute drive. Thank goodness we have an EZ Pass because taking the express lanes around the west side of DC shaved off almost 45 minutes from a drive that, as I was getting on 495, had jumped to a 4 hour drive. Lesson learned....rain + DC = interstate parking lots. 

We managed to arrive at the visitor’s center just minutes before the half hour video started playing in the theater. The lady at the front desk was so nice and just let us run in the theater to watch the movie before we even paid for our tickets. The video took us from the first moments of the day, through bloody battle after bloody battle, until the last shot of the day was fired. (Hey, Garytt, that’s Darth Vader narrating the movie. Garytt: 😲 How did they get DARTH VADER to do their movie?!?!). It wasn’t until we sat down that I thought: I wonder if they’ll show actual pictures from that day. I’d managed to keep the goriest pictures from the kids up to this point. But, there was no sheltering it from them sitting in the fourth row of the theater and having battlegrounds covered in death and missing limbs shown at 15’x20’.

After the movie, we toured the small museum. It gave a picture of what the war did to the local people. The people who took refuge in caves, who had their entire livelihood erased, and who came together in the aftermath to rebuild their lives and bury the dead. 

Next up...the vehicle tour. Since Garytt was giving me what I’m assuming is the beginning stages of his teenage attitude, I gave him the map so he could direct me through the 8 1/2 mile tour. He felt the power!

First stop is Dunker Church, the small local church that changed hands several times throughout the day. We walked around the building and then went inside. The kids said it smelled like old wood. 

Next, we drove around the North Woods, where Union troops spent the night before the fight, then we went to the Poffenberger Farm, where Gen. Hooker began his assault. <The auto tour is set up so you move around the area as time moved that day....chronological....that’s the word I’m looking for.>

The Angel of the Battlefield is said to have set up a lot of medical assistance here. There is a nice memorial to Clara Barton that explains what she did during the battle and then afterwards.

From here we drove past the East Woods toward the Mumma Farm. There are so many monuments all over the battlefield. The kids were getting annoyed at my need to take pictures of them all. Silly me....I found a monument hunt game in my research, but left it all at home. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I also had a document called “Interview with a Monument” where the kids found the most interesting monument and answered several questions about it. Forgot that one too. I forgot them all. I was probably foolish in thinking they’d both agree to pick up a pencil on a trip anyway. 

We found the Mississippi monument. This is the 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, Law’s Brigade, Hood’s Division.



We drove along the road, past the cornfield where the majority of bodies rested by the end of the day. I kept stopping to look at all the regiment memorials along the road. There are so many. Many of the monuments listed the killed, wounded and missing.

The next stop was up a circle drive by the West Woods. This is where Sumner met Stonewall Jackson and Longstreet’s men. The obelisk is dedicated to the Philadelphia brigade that was surprised as they came, unimpeded, across the cornfield and then over a slight rise in the ground to find themselves surrounded by Confederates. Half of them were cut down in 25 minutes. 

This little plaque spoke to the kids for some reason. They both read it and took the time to point and visualize what happened at 0915 that morning almost 160 years ago.

I think maybe it was the fact that there was a visual representation of the battle movements, combined with the cannons set up for battle, and the quiet corner we were in...the kids really soaked in the gravity of this spot. Makes me wish we had more time to do one or more of the hiking trails they have set up around the area. 

We found one of three Maryland monuments of the day here. I read that one of the Maryland monuments was the only one dedicated to both Union and Confederate soldiers because Maryland sat on both sides of the fence...not against abolishing slavery, but not wanting to secede either. 

The Mumma Farm was next. All but one of the buildings is reconstructed because the Confederates burned them down for fear that the Union troops would use it for sharpshooters. One small stone building, a bit of fence and a small dirt lane are the only original remnants of the farm.

From the Mumma Farm, the Union troops battled the Confederates and pushed them back toward the Sunken Road. 

The Delaware memorial. The 1st Delaware Volunteers, 3rd Brigade 3rd Division, under Col. John W. Andrews.

5,000 casualties on this one little farm lane. The Sunken Road is also known as the Bloody Lane because some of the fiercest battling took place here, at times in point blank range.

From here we weren’t quite sure we drove in the right area. There’s a bit of renovating going on, so cones, orange ropes, and men in hard hats. But, I found a little spot to park and we meandered along the sidewalk. First up was the McKinley monument. I wasn’t quite sure why this was here...surely he didn’t die in battle BEFORE he became president. So, the interwebs explained to me that at 19 years old, he was the guy in charge of the commissary. During battle, he took it upon himself to make sure everyone had food and water between skirmishes, and under direct fire at times. This memorial was erected after his assassination. 

Burnside Bridge. The Union fought for hours to try and take this bridge, beginning at 1000 and then finally, around 1300, the 51st New York and 51st Pennsylvania broke through, ran across Antietam Creek and took the bridge. At this point in our trip the kids were ready to go. Our snacks had run out, water was running low, and they were getting Hangry. So, I told them we would go quickly by the last two stops on the tour. 

That tree on the left is the Burnside Bridge Sycamore Witness tree. There was a picture taken hours after the battle ended that shows the younger tree. Me: this tree saw a lot that day. Garytt: if this tree could talk about that day it would be a sad story; also I bet it had a lot of damage.

We saw several Ohio and Pennsylvania monuments around the battlefield. From here we drove by the next stop on the map. It was a field where outnumbered Confederate troops were under heavy attack from Union troops. Then, as the light was starting to fade on this bloody day, A.P. Hill arrived from a 14 mile march from Harper’s Ferry and they backed up the Confederate troops engaged here, managing to push back the Union forces.

Much to their annoyance....well, Kenz was ok with getting out and walking around, I made one last stop at the National Cemetery.  My usually eager to explore Boy, however, was soooooo over history for the day. He angrily walked behind us as we moved in and around this part of the cemetery. 

4,776 Federal soldiers are buried here, 1,836 of which are unknown. All told, 23,110 men were killed, wounded or missing at the end of a single day of battle. In the span of 16 hours the town of Sharpsburg had gone from quiet farm town to obliterated homesteads and mass graves for thousands. The Confederate dead were transported to three other cemeteries in Maryland and West Virginia, 60% of those bodies were unknown. 

This is the Private Soldier Monument, known locally as Old Simon.

Aside from the mumbling and grumbling of two hangry children, the day turned out pretty nice. When I paid for my entrance ticket, $10 for the vehicle, the lady said it was good for three days and I thought: what in the world would you do here for three days. Well, looking back, I could have easily wandered from place to place, down the hiking paths, and stopped at every monument, so maybe three days isn’t such a crazy idea. Next time, we’ll do it on a sunny day-or three!