Antietam is a sacred place that in my mind ranks on par with Waterloo and Omaha Beach. Normally the guys that I do re-enactments with are a chatty bunch but it was real quiet in the van after we visited there.
Snippy and I just got back from Antietam Battlefield.
It rained on and off all day. The Cornfield and Bloody Lane were awe inspiring. We walked the lenght of Bloody Lane and just thinking of the numbers of men who fought and died there boggles the mind. Very somber experience. We stood on both sides of Burnside bridge and it's easy to see how the Georgians could hold off attacks all afternoon. Great defensive postion. Looking at it from the Union side makes you wonder how men could keep charging across that bridge and up the ridge. Just unbelievable!
Well worth the visit even though we brought back a lot of Maryland rain in our clothes.
We're back. You were right. Choked up at the cornfield and at the sunkenn road. The preservation of the area is wonderful.
I was talking to a young lefty I work with the other day and he was all exicited about Ameica have 1,000 casualties in the war on terror. I pointed out to him the number of casualties at Antietam in 12(?) hours. Context is all.