Bloody Lane and the Burnside Bridge

I worked for an hour putting this post together and it vanished.  This is try #2, shortened and without the links that I'm not in the mood to track down.  Plus I managed to publish an old post by mistake.

The battle of Antietam took place on September 17th, 1862.  It was unplanned but I visited on the 147th anniversary of the battle.

The Sunken Road was a short-cut between two turnpikes.  The Confederates held the road on the morning of the battle.  Being in a ditch gave them a lot of cover but it is a deathtrap when facing overwhelming forces.  For three-and-a-half hours Union lines relentlessly attacked the southern troops in the road.  When it was over the Union had broken the Confederate army and Sunken Road became known as Bloody Lane.  There were so many bodies in the road that a Union soldier said he could have walked the road as far as he could see, pretty much the distance in the first photo, without stepping on the ground.

Before the battle McClellan ordered General Burnside to have his 12,000 soldiers cross Antietam Creek so that they could pinch the Confederate lines at the Sunken Road.  Beginning at 9 a.m. Burnside had his soldiers rush down the hill at left above and charge the bridge.  A well-protected Georgian command of 400-500 soldiers mowed down the exposed Union troops, charge after charge, for four hours.  It wasn't until the Federal troops had cover fire that they were able to take the bridge.

There were 23,000 casualties (dead, wounded, missing) on that day at Antietam.  Even though the troop positions didn't change much the battle was a turning point in the Civil War.  Had General McClellan pursued Lee's troops behind Bloody Lane he would have won the war in short order.  True to form, McClellan didn't advance.  Lincoln replaced him with Burnside several weeks later.

Fending off the northward intrusion of the Confederate army gave Lincoln the political cover to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.  Not only did this free the slaves, it gave the war a moral purpose.  By turning the war into a battle of freedom Lincoln prevented the Great Britain and France from offering aid to the South.  It would take more than two years for the Civil War to end but without foreign support the outcome of the war was essentially determined.

This was the second time I've been to Antietam.  Almost all the battlefield has been preserved with minimal modern intrusions.  You have to do some reading (horrors!) but the Park Service materials for the self-guided tour are really well done.  The only thing that would improve the visit would be a hot air balloon ascent so you can get an overview of the site.  The maps are nice but going up a few hundred feet with a park ranger that could point out the sequence of events would be even better.

Comments

[Joe]

Okay, maybe not shortened! I think this version is longer than the original.

[Marie]

Great story, Joe. I would never have known it was shortened and without links. You told it well. The gruesomeness of this battle (and others) still catches my breath. Wonderful photos, too.

[Dane]

I went there some years back and walked through Bloody Lane. It was quite an experience.

[Dane]

BTW, the photos are, as always, beautiful.

[Joe]

You ladies are too kind! I was more than upset last night and took my frustrations out on the keyboard.