Another Day, Another Battlefield...

In a continuing effort to forcibly expose the children to as much culture and history as possible...wait, I mean "provide them with every opportunity to gain knowledge and insight into our great country and its complex, multi-layered, fascinating past"...today we took a Friday Field Trip to Antietam National Battlefield Park in Western Maryland. Of course before setting off on the excursion (being the uber-geek that I am) I searched online to refresh my memory regarding the particulars of the conflict. What I re-learned: it was the single bloodiest one-day battle in American history; 23,000 (yes, thousand) soldiers died in a 24-hour period; (on a more human-interest note) according to one source, the reason some Civil War engagements are recorded with two different names is because the Southerners, typically arising from a "rural, country" background, were impressed by the nearby city, and called the battle after it; while the more urbanized Northerners tended to focus more on the natural landscape, thus choosing the moniker of a creek to mark the skirmish. (Hence: Confederate name: Sharpsburg--Union name: Antietam.)

Armed (ha ha) with our pre-trip research, we sought out the road that would lead us back in time to September 17, 1862 (in this case, that happened to be I-70 West, the ultra-modern highway skirting Frederick). After an easy, pleasant drive through green, rolling hills, we arrived at Antietam. It was a partly-cloudy, cool-ish day (high temp in the low-80s...almost felt COLD after what we've suffered lately), perfect for hiking around a National  Park. We oriented ourselves in the Visitor's Center, picking up crucial (although only semi-helpful as it turned out, more on that later) maps and descriptive brochures, then we meandered off. Well...briefly. We initially scoped out all the monuments surrounding the Visitor's Center itself, then intended to do a 1.5 mile hike along "Bloody Lane". (Charming title, yes?) It began promisingly, with a couple of interesting memorials and--better yet--a Park Ranger fully-outfitted as a mounted Union officer with whom we could stop and chat...okay, to be completely honest, we really wanted to pet the horse! But then we attempted to locate the beginning of the trail...and although I comprehended the written directions, and had placed us accurately on the map I held in my hand, darned if I could spot the path anywhere. Feeling a bit foolish, I enlisted a Park Ranger for guidance (demonstrating for my sons that, when confused, it's perfectly acceptable to ask for directions immediately rather than waste precious time fumbling about randomly). She smiled knowingly and, instead of explaining what to do, led us personally to the Observation Deck to point out the way...which in fact is NOT marked at all, but a beeline through a field. (Okay, I don't feel quite so incompetent, now.)

Thus followed an enjoyable couple of hours tromping through expanses of grass, stopping to scan plaques or admire statues or (in one instance) climb a tower to survey the surrounding countryside. The Bloody Lane itself left the strongest impression...a sunken farm path with steep embankments on either side, from which intense and deadly fighting occurred for 3-1/2 hours during the day of combat. Surrounded by an atmosphere of almost-eerie stillness, I found myself glancing up uneasily as I trod along the same dusty steps that soldiers had used in the War Between the States. Pretty powerful stuff. Then we took a brief rest under a tree to eat our "rations" (juice boxes, cheese sticks, and fresh berries--much better fare than either Army received in the 1860s, I know), and rallied ourselves for the Auto Tour portion of our day. (Also not in keeping with the original footsore and deprived Civil War enlistees, but hey, we do what we can in the 21st century...) And here we encountered our only failure of the entire experience: we utterly failed to find Burnside Bridge, one of the important landmarks that we wanted to see. We still don't know what went wrong--we used the map and tried several different routes, but that darn bridge eluded us. (At one point we stumbled upon a signpost that pointed us "1425 yards" in a certain direction...across a fully-planted cornfield. What the?) Finally, we were forced to abandon the quest when my gas light came on and I refused to be stranded with an empty tank (AAA or no AAA) in the middle of East Nowhere. We settled for stopping by the Antietam National Cemetery, which brought the visit to an appropriately solemn and spiritual close.

All-in-all, a productive way to spend a Friday in the Summer--we logged some quality Mom/Son time; we got a great deal of exercise; and we picked up lots of facts about our nation's history. Not bad for a day's work...so I think tomorrow we'll practice our Constitutional right to sit around eating junk food and watching mindless television!