The region along the eastern side of the Blue Ridge
Mountains from Gettysburg, PA to Charlottesville, VA has been called the Land
of Hallowed Ground because of the great Civil War carnage and also the homes of
so many of our presidents . Antietam in the piedmont of western Maryland has the
notoriety of being greatest one day carnage of any single battle in the Civil
War, the number of dead and injured in the one day exceeding American such casualties
in all wars (Revolution, War of 1812, and Mexican War) up until the Civil War.

Watching the film at the visitor center and the descriptions
of what took place at the stops along the battlefield drive it seems like the
huge number of casualties resulted from some very bad military strategy on both
sides, especially the Union side which had superior force strength. The
descriptions of the soldiers marching in formation in open fields towards the
enemy don’t sound all that different from the human wave attacks primitive
armies used. But it also seems like it wasn’t all that different a half century
later during WWI battles in Europe.

The Battle of Antietam took place in September 1862 about
nine and a half months before Gettysburg. Each summer of the war the
Confederates launched a campaign northwards into the area . The number of
soldiers and the battles taking place well into enemy-controlled territory seem
very different from modern-era warfare. When I think about wars I tend to think
of WWI and WWII with massive armies and long fronts between two opposing sides
rather than smaller armies marching deep into hostile territory to where they
might engage the other side.

When I go to a battlefield like this are try to understand
the story of what took place I can’t help but feel a lot of sorrow for the
thousands of lives that were either ended prematurely or dramatically changed
for the worse for abstract ideas that had little real relevance to those fighting.
Preserving the Union? Would the northern soldiers or their families have been
any worse off if the United States had permanently broken up into two
countries? Probably not. Saving the southern way of life (meaning preserving
slavery)? Were the large majority of poor southern soldiers in any way benefitting
economically from the institution of slavery? For most not. My sentiments are
with the draft rioters in New York. Kill all those in power when they try to
draft you into a war!

Antietam wasn’t as deserted as Monocacy but also not as
mobbed by visitors as Gettysburg always seems to be. I had wanted to go to
Antietam for a long time and am glad I finally made it.