Antietam!

The Joseph Poffenberger Farm

As you may or may not be aware, I have started a new job that entails traveling to Hagerstown, Maryland on occasion.  Of course, Hagerstown is a perfect place to visit some of the iconic Civil War locations, as it is twenty minutes from Antietam, thirty from Harper's Ferry, and less than an hour to Gettyburg and Monocacy.  Add in South Mountain, and one has quite a lot of options to get a battlefield fix.  In only my second week on the job I had to travel to Hagerstown, and so took advantage of driving to the work site by spending several hours walking some portions of Antietam that I had not previously explored.

Mumma Farm on left, Roulette on right

Leaving early from Cincinnati, I arrived at the Antietam visitor center by 1:00 p.m.  A bit of browsing in the bookstore (not as grand as I remembered it from a previous trip...must be a result of Eastern National taking over), I snagged a couple of items, particularly of note a book on the Shepherdstown fight that took place immediately after Antietam, and did a bit of the driving tour, stopping at a few places pertinent to the morning fighting before dismounting from my vehicle to walk the trail system starting near the Sunken Road.  I wanted to focus on this trip on the Middle Bridge area, where the Regulars saw some action, and I wanted to get a few miles of walking in.  So, taking the Three Farms Trail north away from the Sunken Road, I passed the Roulette and Mumma Farms, before bearing east then south to pass the Parks and Newcomer Farms, taking a side trip to Tidball's Battery location along the way.  

Overgrown "trail" near Tidball's position

One thing of note, and this reinforces my stand against Perryville becoming a National Park, is the trails at Antietam could be in much better condition, and if the NPS is millions in the hole in their maintenance budget, how in the heck could they keep all the trails at Perryville open?

After stopping in the information center at the Newcomer Farm (it was a hot day and I wanted a cool break for a few moments), I headed back out to try and find the trail as it goes along Antietam Creek near the Middle Bridge.  I was able to locate the trail head, and continue along the Three Farms Trail to the Sherrick Farm Trail, taking part of that trail back to the park road, and walking the park road back to the observation tower.  I spent quite a few minutes in the top of the tower, enjoying the mountain views and excellent breezes, before heading to Boonsboro for an early dinner.

The Regulars were active in the center, South Mountain in the distance

Some takeaways from this quick trip.  First, the terrain is very rolling with limited sight distances; I had forgotten how rolling the battlefield can be.  Second, the Regulars get the short end of the straw at Antietam as several battalions and batterie were engaged, coming within a stone's throw of the current location of the National Cemetery, yet there is not a lot of interpretation nor information about the Middle Bridge fighting.  And, someone really needs to write a book on the Regulars at Antietam.  Utilizing the trail system from the Sunken Road to Sherrick Farm, one can really delve into the key positions, farms, and locations of the Regulars, and a book, or at least a guide, about their involvement would encourage more battlefield trampers to visit this part of Antietam and gain a different perspective of the bloodiest day of the war.

I am looking forward to more "work trips" as it gives me a great opportunity to visit these key eastern battlefields.  In two weeks, Gettysburg!