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Here are some photos from the trip my friend Kim and I made to Antietam the day after the Fairfax show... The civil war battles that took place near Sharpsburg around Antietam Creek were some of the bloodiest moments in American history. Beginning on September 17th, 1862 in Miller's Cornfield and ending with General Lee withdrawing on September 18th, we now know that 23,000 Americans died during this 30 or so hour period of time. Just a side note here: at the end of the battles at Gettysburg, 53,000 Americans lay dead and dying. When walking through these woods and fields, one truly gets a sense of the gravity of it all. We have been so often spoon fed in our history classes...learn the battles, learn the generals...but, we forget about the cost. You can truly feel, on a very spiritual level, the hallowdness of the grounds. Think about it....23,000...53,000. |
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A MEMORIAL TO OHIO This is one of the many monuments you will see around the battlefields of Antietam. Since I'm from Ohio I was interested in how many Ohioans were there. I set off to find the memorials to my home state and there were about five of them at various sites. |
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BLOODY LANE
A very bloody battle took place at this site. The Confederate were stationed on the left (which was the west side) and the Union troops, quite aware that the South was already there, came up over a small ridge to the fence directly across. The Condederate opened fire and began annhialating the Union soldiers. The goal was to take this very prominent position away from the Southern troops who had been holding on. More and more Northern regiments came and although you can't tell from the photo, they are only feet apart. About seven feet apart. Aiming at one another at such close range were possibly cousins or even brothers. Can you imagine that? The Union finally wrestled this position from the Confederate. It's called Bloody Lane because there was so much death that the blood literally puddled in some places. 40% of the Union army stationed there were lost in twenty minutes. At the end of it all 3,000 Union soldiers and 2,500 Condederate were found dead or "missing" just at this one site. |
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ANTIETAM CREEK This photo is taken from the Burnside Bridge, site of what turned out to be a very costly Union victory. |
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BURNSIDE BRIDGE This bridge, formally know as Rohrbach Bridge, is a place of great interest. Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside was a very likable guy however he made a few mistakes, one of which was to send Northern troops on a pathway by the creek, completely open to fire from the over looking hill, to gain access and win the bridge. The first set of regiments were slaughtered by a Georgia regiment situated on the hill overlooking the creek. |
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THE GEORGIA REGIMENT This is the view the Georgia regiment had of the Union soldiers as they marched toward the bridge. After a slaughter in which many Northern soldiers lie dead and floating down the creek, Burnside ordered another regiment made up mostly of Pennsylvanians. These soldiers had been denied access to their whiskey so they were promised that if they took the bridge, they would get their whiskey back. They got their whiskey back. And without even an order from their commanding officer, the Pennsylvanians, in the heat of battle, started running across the bridge screaming and firing relentlessly at the Georgia regiment who had just moments before, been picking them off like flies. They overtook the bridge finally and got real drunk I'm quite sure! A side note...Burnside was finally dismissed from command in December after getting his army literally stuck in the mud at Fredericksburg. |
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MILLER'S CORNFIELD Although you can't see it that well in this photo, this is where it all began. Miller's Cornfield... Union soldiers had stumbled upon Lee's battle plan just days before the battles took place. Along the rode lay a paper wrapped with a ribbon and cigars which gave away General Lee's position. McClellan, over the Army of the Potomac, had every chance to completely overtake Lee and his Confederate army and yet the Union did not win a decisive battle here. Although Lee withdrew, throughout history, Antietam has been basically noted a "draw." But, there I am, at the forefront of Miller's Cornfield, dawned in Union cap, trying to imagine what it must have sounded like. It didn't sound anything like what I had been hearing the night before whilst standing in front of another great American. |
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GODS AND GENERALS Bob has written a song for the movie Gods And Generals to be released to limited view on December 27 and to the rest of the world in February. The soundtrack will be available in December as well. Robert Duvall, pictured here, portrays General Robert E. Lee and is a prequel to the made for T.V. series Gettysburg. Check these websites to learn more about the movie and civil war history. Gods and Generals, a film project of Ron Maxwell at www.ronmaxwell.com/ggenerals.html www.godsandgenerals.com/ |