The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-16
THE SCENE OF THE GREAT BAT
TIE VERY MUCH AS 1T WAS
IN 1852.
NO RUSH OF POPULATION.
BEEN MADE IN THE PAST
THIRTY-FIvE YEARS.
MEMORIALS ARE NOT NUMEROUS.
the BattIeieId-DunkerC Church
and Burnside Bridge.

Special Correspondence to the Globe.
ANIlETAM, Md, Jan. 13.-Of the
five battlefields of the war which have
been set apart for memorial purposes
Antietam, Gettysburg, Chickamauga,
Shiloh and Vicksburg-the first-nanied
has certain interesting features not
possessed by all. The increase of pop
ulation and the march of material
progress have not disturbed Antietam.
1t is in the rugged and picturesque
mountain country of Western Mary
land, which today looks about as it
did in 1862. The farm houses are scat
tered at about the same intervals of
space as on the day of the battle. Not
mile of pike exists today which
was not here then. Burnside's bridge
over Antietam creek is the same struc-
ture that saw the terrible slaughter
thfrty-siX years ago, and the Dunkard
church, around which the sharpest of
the conflict ragged, is still the place of
worship of the little society of Ger
man brethren. This makes the battle
maps clearly Ineligible, besides CIV
ing the visitor the charm of seeing real
things, instead of being obliged to in
terpret all objects as standing where
something else STOOD" or occupying the
space where so-and-So could once have
been observed. For the historical stu
dent, therefore, it is fortunate that
there has been no rush Of population
to the poor farm country of Western
Maryland. Even the little grist mills
which abound in this region Of quick
mountain streams are generally de-
n njQnnS
decreed that Antietam shall remain as
on the one day which made the name
memorable in all the world. In oily
single respect has the face of nature
changed, and that the Battlefield
Commission purpose to set back as
soon as they have the means. The
woods have been considerably cut off,
and many acres are now cleared that
We're well forested in 1862. But the
farmers are raising the same crops,
and everything in nature looks just as
1t did then.
tcrical scenes. At Gettysburg, the
shire-town Of Adams county, Penn
sylvania, population has increased
greatly, and only the strong arm of
government ownership of outlying
lands and highways restraints the desc
crations of growth by leaps and bounds
In the last three decades, and things are
moving rapidly about Vicksburg,
Antietam is sufficiently near Wash
ington to make it a convenient place
for leisurely tourists to visit. Keedys-
VILE, on the HagerStoWna branch of the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad, about. sixty
miles northwest of Washington, is the
me st accessible station, although the
Norfolk and Western road comes near
er the field at station formerly called
Sharpsburg, but now named Antietam.
Between the villages of Sharpsburg and
Keedysville lies the battlefield. SharpS-
burg is on the Potomac ten miles north
of Harper's Ferry, the village being
about a mile from the river, While
Keedysville is five miles inland to the
north. The country is about as noun
famous as the southern part or New
Hampshire, or the most rugged regions
of Vermont. Gapland, where the war
CT respondents memorial has been
erected, is but a few miles away, and
along the same HagerStown branch;
while the clustered spires Of Frederick,
made famous by Whittier's verses, and
the thriving city of Hagerstown are
distant, but a few hours drive. GettyS-
burg is, perhaps, forty miles 20 the
northeast. 1t is curious fact that
"Antietam'' was not the name OF a
town or a settlement of any kind. The
town is Sharpsburg to this day, and
the Southern historians have always
so designated the battle. The Antietam
Is a small mountain creek which emp
ties into the Potomac above Harpers
Ferry, but fortunately the battle be-
came known by the name of this
stream beside which, particularly at
the Burnside bridge, some of it's sharp
est contests were fought.
By comparison with Gettysburg, the battle
field memorials at Antietam do not amount
to much. They have cost the government
but s76 coo thus far, and state governments
and regimental associations but few thou
sand more. million dollars would not pay
for the Gettysburg memorials, and to see
them is a hard days sightseeing. But the
battlefield of Antietam Is a quiet afternoons
ride by carriage or bicycle. Near the village
of Sharpsburg, four miles from the Keedys
vile station. the national cemetery and
the observation tower, beside the Bloody lane.
About mile to the north are the Dunkards
chapel and the newly erected Massachusetts
monument, while Burnside bridge lies mile
esque scenery of the field is there found All
the main roads. as throughout rural Mary
land and West Virginia, are turnpikes which
the traveller who is able to ride pays a toll
of five cents. There is a toll-gate just out
side of Keedysville and one near the Dunkard
church. In addition the government has
built six miles of narrow avenues follow
ing important battle lines, the object being
to make drive by the iron tablets which
state the position of the various corps, and
other facts of historic interest. These mark
ers begin as soon as the visitor leaves
Keedysville The first one is in a farmers
COW, yard. and points to a rough lane with
these words "U. S. A. route of the First
and Twelfth corps to the crossing of the
Antietam.'' But the tablets are most pienti-
full along the battle line. especially about
Jiper's cornfield, and the bloody lane on the
north side of it. They are painted black
with raised white letters, and rest aslant on
a low iron post. In some places as many as
nine of these are in a row, but the full in
scription is interesting to the student of
military maneuvers rather than to the gen
eral visitor.
The Dunkard,. church is an old-fashioned
affair, which looks exactly like a one-story
gable-roofed country, dwelling. Like many
of the structures in the locality it Is built
Of brick and whitewaShed. 1t now bears this
inscription: life Dunkard Church Erected in
1853 by German Baptist Brethren During
the battle the wounded of both armies sought
and found sanctuary within its walls The
building was repaired and Divine worship
resumed In the summer of 1864. This quaint
little church was on athe edge of the woods
in 1862, but now sHin the midst of open
country. The conventional wartime picture
of the battle ofnAntietam shows this building
with the woods. forming a background There
now two beautiful monuments but short
distance away One IS tall, slender stone