MD Scenic Byways - Digital Guide
Antietam Campaign
2021-08-10 23:05:57
A RURAL ROUTE FEATURING FREDERICK AND SEVERAL SMALL TOWNS
drive type
The bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War took place on Maryland soil, as Confederate soldiers crossed the Potomac River and clashed with Union forces in the sleepy town of Sharpsburg.
126 MILES FROM WHITE’S FERRY TO SHARPSBURG
in September 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee moved his Confederate army into Maryland so farmers in war-torn Virginia could complete their fall harvest. He also hoped that a military victory on Union soil would gain foreign support for the Southern cause. After several smaller confrontations, Lee’s ensuing campaign came to a head with the Battle of Antietam.
White’s Ferry to Frederick
INCLUDING MD 107, MD 109, MD 28, MD 355, MD 85, MD 80 & I-70
Confederate soldiers forded the Potomac River and entered Maryland near White’s Ferry. Cavalries then clashed in Poolesville, which was no stranger to Civil War action: In 1861, Union troops assembled here before being ferried into Virginia for the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, and in 1863, Confederate horsemen stormed through on their way to Gettysburg, Pa. Civil War exhibits are found inside the circa-1793 John Poole House.
Several miles due north, you’ll find the Monocacy National Battlefield. Well-known as the site of the July 1864 conflict dubbed “The Battle that Saved Washington,” Monocacy also played a key role during the Campaign of 1862. Ask at the battlefield visitor center for details about Lee’s “Lost Orders,” which were found in this area by a Federal private and given to Union Gen. George McClellan prior to the battle at Antietam.
Frederick — the site of a 50-block historic, cultural and commercial district — has both the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Barbara Fritchie House. Fritchie was a 95-year-old widow who, as poet John Greenleaf Whittier proclaimed, defiantly waved an American flag from her window as Confederate troops moved through town.
South Mountain to Sharpsburg
INCLUDING US 40 ALT, US 40, MD 17, MD 67 & MD 34
From Frederick, follow the Historic National Road Byway beyond Braddock Heights before branching off toward South Mountain Battlefield State Park. Intense fighting occurred here three days prior to Antietam, with some of the wounded, including future President Rutherford B. Hayes, removed to homes and churches in Burkittsville and Middletown. Local Civil War relics are displayed at a museum in Boonsboro.
As dawn broke on Sept. 17, battle lines were drawn near Antietam Creek — Lee’s 41,000 soldiers faced a Federal army twice that size. By dusk, Union forces held the field, but more than half of the 23,000 casualties wore blue, not gray. Union dead were buried at the Antietam National Cemetery, with many Confederate soldiers laid to rest in nearby Hagerstown.
A thorough tour of the beautifully preserved Antietam National Battlefield — from Burnside Bridge to the “Bloody Lane” — can take several hours when a mustsee visit to the Pry House Field Hospital Museum is included. Also plan to stop at the farmhouse where abolitionist John Brown planned a pre-Civil War raid of an arsenal in Harpers Ferry, W. Va. The raid, though unsuccessful, inspired many antislavery groups.
A few days after the cannons fell silent at Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln visited the battlefield. Then on September 22, Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a major step toward the prohibition of slavery.
MARYLAND LORE
The Monocacy Aqueduct, the largest such structure on the C&O Canal, was twice a target of Confederate demolition crews during the Antietam Campaign, but both attempts to destroy it failed.
TRIP TIPS: Annual events include an Independence Day concert and December’s Antietam Memorial Illumination, with 23,000 lights placed along a five-mile driving route.
ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIFIELD
Sharpsburg • 301-432-5124
www.nps.gov/anti
BOONSBOROUGH
MUSEUM OF HISTORY
Boonsboro • 301-432-6969
www.boonsboromuseum.com
JOHN POOLE HOUSE
Poolesville • 301-972-8588 www.historicmedley.org
KENNEDY FARM HOUSE
(JOHN BROWN HQ)
Sharpsburg • 301-977-3599
www.johnbrown.org
MONOCACY NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD
Frederick • 301-662-3515
www.nps.gov/mono
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CIVIL WAR MEDICINE
Frederick • 301-695-1864 [www.civilwarmed.org] (http://www.civilwarmed.org)
SOUTH MOUNTAIN
BATTLEFIELD STATE PARK
Burkittsville • 301-791-4767
www.dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/pages/western/southmountainbattlefield.aspx
SIDE TRIP
The War Correspondents Arch stands inside Gapland-based Gathland State Park. www.dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/pages/western/gathland.aspx
Maryland Civil War Trails has an app to help guide you along the official trails and offer suggestions for more to explore.
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