America's Bloodiest Day
September 17, 1862
Antietam has become best known as “the bloodiest day in American history”. I guess that’s because “if it bleeds, it leads” which is the old newspaper room motto. Antietam got a lot of mention just after 9-11 as a “carnage comparison”.
I don’t think the body count is what is most important about Antietam…though the level of violence and bloodshed over 12 hours from sunrise to sunset is worth noting and remembering.
The importance of the many personal sacrifices on September 17, 1862 on the previously peaceful rolling hills and farmland near the Antietam Creek was what President Abraham Lincoln did, with those collective sacrifices and his executive pen 5 days later.
He released his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22 to much fanfare and also much criticism. The GREAT irony of this Emancipation was that it did not free the slaves in Maryland…because Maryland was not a state in rebellion.
Today there is a lot of activity at Antietam. Programs by the National Park Service and more informal events and reflections by people like John Banks and Gary Adelman on their respective Facebook Pages and blogs.
I’ve been VERY involved with the Illumination at Antietam for years. It’s an annual event on the first Saturday in December. The 1500 volunteers led by Georgene Charles distribute and light 23,110 luminaries across many acres of the battlefield.
Photos by Judi Quelland
It’s a stunning display, graphically illustrating the huge sacrifice made that fall day in 1862. For the past 10 days we have posted stories about Lee’s invasion of Maryland and some details we believe help personalize the thousands of luminaries on our Facebook page.
Today there will be multiple posts from the different phases and locations of the battle. We will continue to cover this for the next few days as Clara Barton becomes the “Angel of the battlefield” and Alexander Gardner takes death study photos that bring the sober reality of the war home.
Antietam was the beginning of the end of the Southern States attempting to break away and create their new country based on their belief that NOT all men are created equal. Their leadership vocally pushed the concept that the Founders were wrong. The Planter Aristocracy believed those of African descent who were kidnapped and shipped here to be enslaved and labor for them…to become their property…they believed that was God’s will…and they were actually helping them become good Christians.
Abraham Lincoln did not buy that concept. Nor did the new Republican Party.
So it came to Civil War…and on this day 162 years ago 2 great armies fought to the death over whose version of Freedom was going to survive. Lincoln defined the future with his pen 5 days later.
The US dead from Antietam are buried near the battlefield. Lincoln would visit these fields. Witness the graves and meet the wounded. Many historians believe that visit inspired his line in the Gettysburg Address that states they “Gave the last Full Measure of Devotion.”
Illumination Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068734570778
Peace