[okie01]

In terms of battlefields, Little Big Horn had a much bigger emotional impact on me.

I saw Little Big Horn in September, 1949 at the age of 9. The image is still vivid today -- treeless, rolling hills, grass waving in the wind. Deathly quiet, a cloak of sadness across the entire scene. Something both terrible and honorable happened here.

I had the same feeling six years ago, in the corn field at Antietam. My wife actually started bawling in the road cut, sensing the Mississippians who fought and died there.

As compared to Gettysburg, I prefer Antietam. It was a one-day battle, so you can easily follow it site-by-site, on a north-to-south line, from beginning-to-end. We were there in September, about the same date as the actual battle, and in similar weather (Indian summer). Accordingly, we experienced the same daybreak, lighting and weather conditions as were actually the case. <

Little Big Horn and Antietamm...they both have a "feeling" about them.

[antidisestablishment]

Bastogne affected me the most of any battle site that I have seen. All of the white crosses juxtaposed by the picturesque village is just awe inspiring. Trying to imagine the lives of all those men and the families who lost them... impossible and heart-wrenching.

[exit82]

Agree with you about Antietam.

A one day battle that you can walk through and follow in the same amount of time, with plenty of time for reflection, as it was the bloodiest day in American history.

Spent about 15 minutes alone in the Dunkers Church where so many were brought as a field hospital, as the church changed hands six or seven days during the battle.

Although the structure is about one third original, it had “the feeling”. I was there in between tour groups.

I spent three days once in Gettysburg reliving the battle day for day, and have led tours there since.

But Antietam is much more compact, and the amount of killing that took there in that area in one day is mind-numbing.Then combat was close quarter—today, not so much.

I enjoyed Burnside Bridge. Apparently after a frustrating morning trying to get across it, the Union general offered some Pennsylvanians a lot of beer if they took the bridge, and that did the trick.