During the Civil War, the Confederate Army, retreating from Antietam's bloody battlefields, left their wounded and dying soldiers two miles northeast of the clash in Shepherdstown. The town's 1,000 women and children and 10 doctors attempted to treat the soldiers wounded in what became the bloodiest day in American history, Sept. 17, 1862. Eight thousand injured men filled every building in the tiny town except the church, said local historian Jim Surkamp. More than 135 years later, Shepherdstown residents are hoping their town again can be a place of healing as Israelis and Syrians attempt to close a rift that runs far and deep between their two nations. Jefferson County saw 63 armed conflicts, more than any other county during the Civil War, Surkamp said.
Residents know the pain of war.
The women who ripped off the silk edges of their petticoats to form tourniquets or who attempted to ease the final hours of dying soldiers live on in today's Shepherdstown residents, Surkamp said. People are very close to their history . . There's a definite tone of compassion here. Although Clinton returned home Monday night, he was back again by early the next afternoon. Clinton hoped his presence could serve as an emulsifier between the seemingly unmixable oil and water of Syria and Israel.