Antietam Through the Years
Illustrated, photographs, appendices, 131 pp., 2009, privately published, available at Antietam National Battlefield Book Store, $15.96, softcover. This book’s intent is to commemorate the history of Antietam National Battlefield and to pay tribute to the personalities connected with it over the years. The material is presented in scrapbook form, illustrating major events by reproducing written programs, brochures, newspaper articles and photographs. The story of each memento is tied together with a text narrative. One theme that emerges is that the battlefield was surprisingly slow to develop despite its apparent historical significance. An inhibiting factor was its location in a border state. After the war, Southern sympathizers gained political control of Maryland, and these state politicians had little interest in erecting monuments or commemorating a battle known as a Confederate defeat. Unionists responded by rebuffing the Southern sympathizers at every opportunity. For the battle’s 25th anniversary event in 1887, for example, only Union veterans were invited. The first legislation to survey the battlefield and preserve lines of battle was introduced in 1890. A battlefield preservation plan was adopted in 1895. The original park site was only 22 acres and remained approximately the same size until 1940. The plan was that the Federal Government would purchase only a minimal amount of land because the Sharpsburg area was likely to remain rural and agricultural for the foreseeable future and thus there was no need to worry about maintaining the battlefield’s environment. Lee’s headquarters was not preserved until 1935; the Dunkard Church, not until 1951. The visitor center was not constructed until 1961. Antietam dodged a potentially horrendous visual pollution issue in 1968 when Potomac Edison backed away from a plan to build a 500,000-volt power line in a 200-foot right of way that ran near the park. Due to the public outcry, the power line was diverted to an area four miles north of the park. One of the more recent Antietam additions was the opening of the Pry Farm as a museum illustrating the operation of a field hospital. Attendance at the park as recently as 1960 was a modest 98,000 annually. Antietam’s accessibility to nearby urban areas soared after Interstate 70 in Washington County was opened in 1968. Today, the park averages a more respectable 300,000 visitors annually. One of the most unusual incidents in Antietam’s history was the 1912 murder of the park superintendent, Charles Adams. He was shot not far from the Burnside Bridge by a mentally disturbed resident who was upset by superintendent’s damaging testimony in an earlier court case. We learn also that the last Union soldiers’ corpses to be found at Antietam were dug up from an unmarked grave in 1988. The four skeletal remains of men from the Irish Brigade were reburied on Sept. 17, 1989, near where they were found in Bloody Lane. The volume is, unfortunately, marred by typographical errors and production mistakes, including illustrations and photos without captions and text that jumps from one page to nowhere. Despite these drawbacks, this book is still a valuable research resource as well as a treasure trove of trivia for anyone who has a passion for the park and its history. Reviewer: Walt Albro Walt Albro is a magazine editor and writer based in Rockville, Md. His history articles have appeared in such publications as MHQ (Military History Quarterly), Military History and The Civil War Times.
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