Antietam National Battlefield - Sharpsburg, MD
N 39° 28.448 W 077° 44.678
18S E 263914 N 4372990
Antietam National Battlefield is a National Park Service protected area along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland which commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Antietam that occurred on September 17, 1862.
Waymark Code: WMHT2Z
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 08/11/2013
Views: 18
If you are into Civil War history and prefer in the field, hands-on learning, then this is a terrific place to come and visit. The NRHP district is not nearly as busy a Gettysburg and affords extra browsing time and much more convenient parking. I was able to pretty much drive and park anywhere with no hassles. There was no traffic to contend with and best of all I learned about a new and critical aspect of the Civil War.
Also, there are several properties and farmsteads nearby which are also National Park sites, run by the government. I spent about 6 hours there and almost saw everything there was to see. In contrast, at Gettysburg, I have visited 4 separate times, 8 hours on the average each visit and have only seen half the park. Antietam's claim to fame is the site of the single bloodiest day of battle. 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.