"A Story of People and Terrain" ~ Photos from the Antietam Hike

There are a total of fourteen images and a separate photo gallery for your viewing pleasure in the links below.

1. It's 9:30 AM and time for morning assembly at the New York State monument on the plateau that the Confederates called, Artillery Hell.
2. One of our five NPS Ranger guides sets the scene before the eight-mile hike begins. He tells us that Antietam is a story of people and terrain and that theme will echo throughout the day, as we hear stories of the townspeople and the common soldier, and as we hike the landscape that shaped the battle.
3. Only two miles into the hike and already there is a long line of stragglers. The group is passing the monument of the 14th Brooklyn at the southern edge of the infamous Cornfield. Because of crop rotation the field was planted with soybeans this year.

4. The Church of the Brethren, better known as the Dunker Church was a stop at the halfway mark of the morning part of the hike. The small white church was the focal point of the Union attacks during the morning phases of the battle.
5. The fully restored Mumma Family farmstead was also a morning stop. This farm sat on a plateau visible to both the Union and Confederate lines. During the battle it was burned to the ground by the Confederates to keep it from being used by Union sharpshooters.
6. With almost twenty-years of Civil War re-enacting experience between us, Clark and I find ourselves leading part of the group in line of battle as we advance on the Sunken Lane, AKA the Bloody Lane. Lynn is to my left and Clark is at the opposite end (out of frame) of our double rank of eighty hikers. The other seventy hikers are in the Confederate position in the lane. This was a green bunch and Clark and I had our hands full keeping the line together. You can see that everyone is having a great time. Photo by Tom Perry.
7. This sunken country farm lane was used by the Confederates as a ready made trench that would forever after be known as Bloody Lane. The Confederate dead would be pilled three deep in this lane and the Union soldiers commented that you could walk from one end to the other without touching the ground.
8. This stone soldier stands atop the monument to the 132nd PA Vol. Infantry. They were one of the many Union units of the 2nd Corps that assaulted the Bloody Lane. After visiting Bloody Lane the hike would break for lunch. We would reassemble at the Burnside Bridge at 2:00 PM for the afternoon, and most difficult portion of the hike. The very hilly southern end of the field.
9. We would start the afternoon part of the hike near this howitzer cannon of Burnside’s 9th Corps artillery. This gun was rolled into the open field at the base the Rohrbach Bridge (AKA, Burnside’s Bridge) to bombard the 400 Georgians and South Carolinians on the bluffs overlooking the bridge. It would take Burnside’s 9000 men three hours to chase of those 400 defenders and take the bridge before they could begin the mid-day assault on Robert E. Lee’s right flank. Lynn decided not to do the afternoon part of the hike and instead she stayed at the bridge to read and enjoy the scenery.
10. This is a close-up of an upper window of the Sherrick Family house on the southern part of Antietam battlefield. Christ’s brigade of the 9th Corps would cross the farmstead. It had the benefit of being in a low area and thus would not be damaged during the fighting unlike the Mumma farm. The metal "S" shape is not an S. It's part of an iron rod that connects to a load bearing beam and holds the brick wall to the house.
11. When we finally climbed to the top of the ridge just west of the Sherrick and Otto farms we were greeted by these monuments to the 45th and 100th PA Vol. Infantry belonging to Colonel Thomas Welsh's 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of Ninth Corps.
12. Clark (right) and I ham it up and strike a pose next to Confederate artillery piece that we just captured along Branch Avenue. At this point we still have almost two hours of hiking ahead of us. Photo by Tom Perry.
13. Our group of hikers looks none the worse for wear after eight hours and eight miles of hiking. From left to right, Tom Perry, Clark Oliver, Lynn Pownell and yours truly.
14. As the sun sets on our day this volunteer soldier of the 124th PA Vol. Infantry stands watch over the hallowed ground. It's almost 8:00 PM and time to head home. You can see more Civil War images from Antietam and re-enactments by visiting my American Civil War photo gallery that I just updated.