Antietam
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I've always wondered how it's possible to have a "civil" war? 
As an unlikely, British, Civil War buff (well, as much as an English person can be), I had rememberd the day as well. I have been lucky enough to actually visit Sharpsburg a good few years ago.
Such a lot of suffering for so very little practical gain.
Such a lot of suffering for so very little practical gain.
I was in Maryland for my kiddos baseball tournament staying in Frederick which is only a short drive from Sharpsburg. On our way to MD we stumbled across the 150th Anniversary of The Battle of Gettysburg activities. My first time doing both Gettysburg, Antietam and the surrounding areas. After having read, seen pictures of and viewed Ken Burns's outstanding Civil War series, being there in person was as close to a religious experience as one could get.
For me, going to some of those battlefields it just gave it a new perspective that you cannot get from maps and pictures.
I felt the same at some WW1 and WW2 battlefields.
I felt the same at some WW1 and WW2 battlefields.
Absolutely.
At Antietam walking across Burnside bridge and trying to picture what had occurred there in such close quarters was horrifying. The same could be said for The Cornfield and The Sunken Road.
The sunken road was horrible, you got the exact dimensions and realised the size of it with all the pictures of the dead and wounded.
...Auntie Em?...who the hell fought a battle over her?...the hired hands after the tornado?....
Don Robertson (one of the major influences on King's writing style) wrote a wonderful novel called By Antietam Creek. He doesn't flinch from the horrors that occured there.
“Whole ranks of brave men…were mowed down in heaps to the right and left. Never before was I so consciously troubled with fear that my horse would further injure some wounded fellow soldier, lying helpless on the ground. This most deadly combat raged until our last round of ammunition was expended.”
John B. Hood describing the attack of his division at Antietam.
John B. Hood describing the attack of his division at Antietam.
I remember Antietam was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War because it was the question I missed on the Jeopardy! test. So I went and learned about it. I won't ever forget again.
It does seem a contradiction in terms.I've always wondered how it's possible to have a "civil" war?
I bought my big Chevy outside Gettysburg, went and got it with my pal Dead Dave, who was another history fan, on the weekend of the reenactment.
Somehow I snagged a room in a swell little motel just outside of town, so we went wanderin' around, doin' all the do's, possibly some of the don'ts, it was almost magical.
Sad, yeah, but wow, I mean I could feel the period, what with hearing the cracks of shots in the distance while we were just out doing our thing, heading for lunch, do a little window shopping type stuff, then hey, let's go see what all the action was about...reckon just like somebody else, so many more scores and years ago, musta done.
My favorite thing was sitting in this nice little Italian joint right near the center of town, and sitting at the next table was a Union Major I think he was, and a Confederate private, both eating lasagna and the house Italian sausage...that was a kick in the pants, damn fine Italian sausage, too, you know, for the era.
My mom lived for awhile close enough to pass by the battlefield often and be creeped out by it.