Another One Rides the Bus

Another One Rides the Bus

Two Saturdays ago I went on a tour of the South Mountain Battlefield to explore the landscape and hear the stories of the soldiers who fought and died there three days before the Battle of Antietam on September 17th, 1862. The tour was a special field trip for the Antietam National Battlefield Volunteers that started at 9:00 AM with a short hike to the Washington Monument - where we had a panoramic view of all of Washington County, MD - followed by visits to Turner's, Foxes and Cramptom's gaps in South Mountain. In the above image I decided it would make a cool photo to use the reflection in the hub cap of people getting on the bus. We stopped for lunch at the historic John Hagan's Tavern just east of Middletown, MD.

Tavern Banner

After a lunch of an Angus Beef burger and two beers it was back on the bus and off to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, MD.

Civil War Union Surgeon's Medicine Chest

You're probably thinking, "What’s in that museum besides a couple of hack saws and bullets with teeth marks in them?" All I can say is quite a bit for a small museum. The "pain bullets" as they are referred to are a Civil War myth. Over 90% of surgical operations were done with anesthetic and when someone had to bite down on something for pain it was a leather strap and not a bullet. So what about those teeth marks? They were made by scavenging pigs after the battles. If you are in Frederick stop by and visit and learn about all of the advances medicine made during and immediately after the war. All in all it was a fun day full of learning, exploration and the making of new friends. I met a dozen volunteers that I had never met before and seen some faces I hadn't seen in months.