In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
From Washington, D.C., if you drive north and west along the banks of the Potomac for enough time, you will come to a peaceful park best known for cornfields, an eroding but still sunken road, and a stone bridge over a creek called Antietam. These are the features of the field that produced the bloodiest day of the American Civil War, and this Monday marks the 150th anniversary of the battle.
In honor of the anniversary, the park welcomed thousands of visitors for a special program today. My wife and I were fortunate to be among them. Because I often write about what the federal government does not do well, it's only fitting and fair for me to note something the federal government does exceptionally well -- the preservation of this sacred site. It's a testament to the knowledge and dedication of the park rangers who have restored and maintained this battlefield, so visitors can walk the land as it appeared 150 years ago.
Here, visitors follow a park ranger up a ridge in the footsteps of the legendary Irish Brigade.
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Aug '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
The Brady images of Antietam were burned into my memory ever since my teens.
Bloody Lane
These really are the most intense moments in our collective American History .
Attacks from abroad are different .
America's Civil War is the key event in our history after our creation.
Edited on September 16, 2012 at 7:20amJul '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
If you go in the right frame of mind, you can hear the ghosts. At Antietem. At Shiloh. At Gettysburg. At all those places where 640,000 young American men paid a heavy price for our heritage of slavery. That was a great evil, and it was paid for in blood an bone, and years of denuded areas of the country of young men.
I'm a federal boy. But I am filled with wonder at both sides and their courage.
Sep '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
I've been to many CW battlegrounds. Antietam is the most haunting of all.
Jun '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Even on a cool beautiful day at Gettysburg, instead of a blistering hot one, the voices called out. It was eerie.
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Jan '11
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Growing up a little south of Philadelphia, we were close enough to have school trips to Brandywine, Trenton, and of course, Valley Forge. We always had trips to Independence Hall, and the Revolution sites nearby.
I live now in Baltimore, and I've worked in DC a few times. Fort McHenry, Antietam, and Gettysburg are nice day trips, which we've made a few times.
For those of us in these areas, we're extremely blessed to live so close to history.
Jul '12
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
I walked those fields nears Sharpsburg MD., this past January on an exceptionally mild Saturday. I was moved by the quiet and calm of that day contrasted by the hell it really was back then. I agree the Park Service does an exceptional job. In June, I was at Gettysburg. The same feeling. To be traversing the path of the those heroes of the Civil War, on both sides, is a very special experience. Thanks for sharing.
Jul '12
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
My relatives in the 25th Virginia Infantry, Co. F (the "Franklin Grays") faced off that day against the 59th New York in the West Woods near the Dunkard Church.
Feb '11
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Because the Civil War isn’t over. Its images, dreamlike, stay with us — young boys lying face-down in cornfields and orchards, and Robert E. Lee on Traveller. And Lincoln, dead in the White House, and the sound of crying.
The Civil War disturbs us, all these long years after, troubling our sleep. Like a cry for help, like a warning, like a dream. And we pore over it, trying to break the code, its meaning just out of reach..
--Connie Willis, Lincoln's Dreams
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
KC Mulville: Growing up a little south of Philadelphia, we were close enough to have school trips to Brandywine, Trenton, and of course, Valley Forge. We always had trips to Independence Hall, and the Revolution sites nearby.
I live now in Baltimore, and I've worked in DC a few times. Fort McHenry, Antietam, and Gettysburg are nice day trips, which we've made a few times.
For those of us in these areas, we're extremely blessed to live so close to history. · 41 minutes ago
Well said. There is no excuse for anyone around here to be bored on a pretty day.
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Thanks for sharing this. As you probably already know, the church has been rebuilt on the original foundation.
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Flownover, here's what The New York Times wrote in 1862 about Matthew Brady's exhibit on Antietam. "Mr. Brady has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war. If he has not brought bodies and laid them in our dooryards and along the streets, he has done something very like it. At the door of his gallery hangs a little placard, "The Dead of Antietam." (Credit to a park ranger who discussed this article today.)
Apr '12
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Our family visited Sharpsburg and Antietam when employment moved us to the east coast many years ago. We were completely hushed by the sight. It looks just like the Matthew Brady photos, sans dead soldiers. It is a great thing that these sites are preserved. We should never forget what it took to atone for the "birth defect" of slavery, as Ms. Rice referenced it at the RNC. It is a place of reverence and should always be treated that way.
Edited on September 16, 2012 at 4:01amSep '12
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
I'm envious - I would love to be there this weekend. My great-great-great uncle was a member of the 1st Texas Infantry, CSA which suffered the highest single-day casualty rate of any regiment during the entire war at Antietam. He was about 27 years old when he was killed in the battle, presumably in the Cornfield. I'm very fortunate to own a set of letters that he wrote to his family during the war, passed down from my great-grandmother. He is definitely in my thoughts on this 150th anniversary.
Jul '12
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Antietam is my favorite Battlefield. It is not commercialized at all --primarily because it is in a very rural area even tho only 9 miles from an I-81 exit. I came across it years ago when my curiosity and need for break on a long drive --north-south--brought me to explore what there might be. I stayed for hours. No tickets or crowds or anything else. Just a very well preserved immense battlefield that is not much changed from 1862. You can walk forever all over the different sites and trails. Being by myself made it even more poignant. Prosaically, great exercise; and deeply meaningful.
Mar '12
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Jonathan, I had the good fortune to visit Gettysburg this Spring for the first time. I look forward to seeing Antietam sometime soon. McPherson's book on the battle there offers an outstanding account of the action as well as the broader political implications of the outcome. Thanks for sharing the thoughts from your visit.
Jul '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
I had the fortune of visiting Gettysburg earlier this spring. I enjoyed walking the battlefield immensely, and was deeply moved standing at both the starting and end points of Pickett's Charge. I stayed a few days in the town, and left the place quite drunk from the excellent local winery, but also with a deep disillusionment and contempt for Robert E. Lee. What sort of fool would ever have chosen to fight an offensive battle there?!
Dec '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Without knowing of this important anniversary, my son and I watched "Gods & Generals" over the last couple of nights (at 4:40 it takes two sittings). That film gives ample treatment to that battle and caused us both to shake our heads at the outrage and discipline it must have taken to march up that hill towards that wall. Why? Why do that when you know you're being sacrificed in a war of attrition?
I had similar thoughts standing atop Little Round Top at Gettysburg a few years ago as I looked down from that commanding position to the woods where Confederates massed attack. The thought that kept returning was, "What madness!"
May '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
When I returned home from a visit there as a teenager, the smell of a slaughterhouse reminded me of Gettysburg. It might have been imagined.
The only knowledge I have of my family's participation in the war is some ancestors who were millers (but not Millers) and died in a Yankee prison camp.
May '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
flownover: ....
America's Civil War is the key event in our history after our creation.
Agreed. It's important for people to remember that this nation is younger in some states than in others.
It's also worth noting that hundreds of thousands of Southern soldiers did not put their lives on the line for the property rights of a handful of wealthy aristocrats. Slavery might have been a key reason Southern politicians decided to secede, but it was not why Southern soldiers fought the war; it is not why they fought brothers, cousins and old friends.
Jul '10
Re: In The Footsteps Of The Irish Brigade
Aaron Miller
flownover: ....
America's Civil War is the key event in our history after our creation.
Agreed. It's important for people to remember that this nation is younger in some states than in others.
It's also worth noting that hundreds of thousands of Southern soldiers did not put their lives on the line for the property rights of a handful of wealthy aristocrats. Slavery might have been a key reason Southern politicians decided to secede, but it was not why Southern soldiers fought the war; it is not why they fought brothers, cousins and old friends. · 19 minutes ago
Nor on the North side. They mostly fought to preserve the union.