drive type a rural route featuring frederick and several small towns 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. antietam campaign miles from white’s ferry to sharpsburg South Mountain to Sharpsburg INCLUDING US 40 ALT, US 40, MD 17, MD 67 & MD 34 126 i n 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. to Gettysburg, Pa. Civil War exhibits are found inside the circa-1793 John Poole House. Several miles due north, you’ll fi nd the Monocacy National Battlefi eld. Well-known as the site of the July 1864 confl ict dubbed “The Battle that Saved Washington,” Monocacy also played a key role during the Campaign of 1862. Ask at the battlefi eld 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, defi antly waved an American fl ag from her window as Confederate troops moved through town. From Frederick, follow the Historic National Road Byway beyond Braddock Heights before branching o toward South Mountain Battlefi eld State Park. Intense fi ghting 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 fi eld, but more than half of the 23,000 casualties wore blue, not gray. Union dead were buried 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 Blu , and in 1863, Confederate horsemen stormed through on their way 20 | maryland scenic byways
MD Scenic Byways Digital Guide: Page 20
