CIVIL WAR
HISTORIC SITES
May 20,
2006
This day
we carefully
planned our touring strategy. Two hours
for Antietam, one hour for Harper’s Ferry and three hours for
Gettysburg.
Off we
went to Antietam, the
battlefield where one of the crucial actions of the Civil War was
fought. We were looking at some of the
monuments and
storyboards when we heard the announcement of a photography lecture at
the
Visitor’s Center. Don headed over to
attend that presentation while I continued to stroll around the grounds
reading
about the battle. After about ½
hour I
went into the Visitor’s Center figuring Don’s photog class would be
over, but
no sign of Don, so I went through the museum.
When Don
finally came out he
was very excited about the presentation he had just attended. We went upstairs to the viewing area so he
could point things out and tell me about it. As
we were looking over the battlefield another ranger
started a
presentation about the battle. This guy
was just great—full of enthusiasm and great information and insights
into the
events of the day. We were thoroughly
engrossed in his presentation as he stepped us through the events of
September 17,
1862. The battle at Antietam was the bloodiest day
of the Civil War, with 12410 Union soldiers and 10700 Confederate
soldiers killed that day. Many more were wounded. Our
ranger showed us the terraine and discussed various strategies and
actions and the outcome of each military decision of the battle.
We were enthralled. We wish teachers in school could make history
so interesting! Then we took the driving tour around
the battle site discussing each phase of the battle and how the
strategy worked—Dunker
Church, North Woods, The Cornfield, West Woods, Mumma’s Farm, Sunken
Road, East Woods, Burnside Bridge. The
next thing we knew it was 2pm and we were way behind
our schedule.
We had a
picnic lunch and
went on to Harper’s Ferry, thinking maybe we could catch up by skimming
through
this area. Nope! More
really interesting people, stories,
museums, buildings, and sites. We
became engrossed in the story of John Brown, the abolitionist, who
seized the
US Armory in this gun-manufacturing town in an attempt to take custody
of
100,000 firearms. Although he failed to
hold the Armory, due to Robert E. Lee arriving to take command of the
local
militia, this raid was a critical step in the division of the nation.
