The Save Historic Antietam Foundation helps keep Antietam among the most pristine of Eastern theater battlefields

摘要

Up from the meadows rich with corn, Clear in the cool September morn, The clustered spires of Frederick stand Green-walled by the hills of Maryland. Round about them orchards sweep, Apple and peach tree fruited deep, Fair as the garden of the Lord To the eyes of the famished rebel horde, On that pleasant morn of the early fall When Lee marched over the mountain wall The first stanzas of John Greenleaf. Whittier's poem 'Barbara Frietchie' accurately describe the countryside of western Maryland in 1862, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first foray into the North culminated in the September 17 Battle of Antietam. That day remains the bloodiest 24 hours in U.S. history, claiming 23,000 Union and Confederate casualties.