Scenic Byways Antietam Campaign

South Mountain to Sharpsburg

Including US 40 Alt, US 40, MD 17, MD 67 & MD 34

From Frederick, follow the Historic National Road Byway beyond Braddock Heights before branching off toward South Mountain Battlefield State Park. Intense fighting occurred here three days prior to Antietam, with some of the wounded, including future President Rutherford B. Hayes, removed to homes and churches in Burkittsville and Middletown.  Earn bragging rights for hiking on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail with a .2 mile walk to the top of South Mountain, where you can see the rugged stone tower erected by the citizens of Boonsboro in 1827 to honor George Washington in Washington Monument State Park. Or, take a sidetrack along Route 17 to honor fallen journalists at the majestic Civil War correspondents arch in Gathland State Park.

Back on the Byway, dig deeper into local Civil War stories at the Boonsboro Museum of History or take a break from history and hiking to explore a hidden world at the dazzling Crystal Grottoes Caverns.

As dawn broke on September 17, battle lines were drawn near Antietam Creek — Lee’s 41,000 soldiers faced a Federal army twice that size. By dusk, Union forces held the field, but more than half of the 23,000 casualties wore blue, not gray. Union dead were buried at the Antietam National Cemetery, with many Confederate soldiers laid to rest in nearby Hagerstown.

A thorough tour of the beautifully preserved Antietam National Battlefield— from Burnside Bridge to “Bloody Lane” — can take several hours when must-see visits to the Pry House Field Hospital Museum and Newcomer House  are included. Also plan to stop at the farmhouse where abolitionist John Brown planned a pre-Civil War raid of an arsenal in Harpers Ferry, W. Va. The raid, though unsuccessful, inspired many anti-slavery groups. On the way to the farmhouse, a detour to historic Harper’s Ferry provides an opportunity to get out of the car and learn more about John Brown and the raid.

A few days after the cannons fell silent at Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln visited the battlefield. Then on September 22, Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a major step toward the prohibition of slavery. One of the greatest ironies of the Battle of Antietam is that the Emancipation Proclamation did not free the 87,000 people who were enslaved in Maryland, including those who lived on the battlefield and in the town of Sharpsburg. Although a slave holding border state, Maryland was not in rebellion against the Union, thus the Emancipation Proclamation did not free enslaved Marylanders. It would take a new Maryland state constitution in 1864 to end slavery in the state.

A final stop at Tolson’s Chapel in Sharpsburg provides an opportunity for quiet reflection on the war’s end and the promise and pain of Reconstruction for the four million newly freed people and for all Americans. The chapel is a log-and-frame church built by an African American congregation in 1866 that was later used as a school staffed by teachers from the Freedmen’s Bureau. In an era when cemeteries were still segregated, the congregation established their own graveyard on the property, where Union Veterans and many souls who witnessed the Battle of Antietam now rest.