Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-03

battle lines and into especially impor-
tant positions have been built by the
battlefield commission. but the copses
of woodland, tho fields of corn. grass
and wheat, the stone fences and the
rail fences and the deep. wooded ravine
through which the creek turns and
loops it's way from north to south are
all very much the same as they were
in the month Of September, 1862. The
picture would be familiar to men who
looked across those fields and woods
more than half a century ago.
On Antfetam creek, near the crossing
of the road from Keedysville to Sharps-
burg. stood an ancient gray stone and
timber grist mill which was built in
1882 by Christopher Orndorn. Nearly
all the hundreds Of mills that turned
their great wheels in the region OF
Washington have ceased their labors.
and this battlefield mill went the way
of most of the old mills. It was aban-
doned, fell into ruin and was torn
down. But it long fulfilled the useful
function of landmark.
The Middle bridge over Antietam
creek is not the bridge which the SOL
diers of 1852 knew. It was about one
mile east Of Sharpsburg, and the Boons-
boro pike crossed the Antietam there.
Westward from that bridge went
Sykes skirmishers, and behind them
went Sykes division, Tidbalrs Battery
"A" of the United States LIST Artillery,
Pettit's Battery B of the LIST New York
Artillery. Pleasanton's cavalry and the
guns of Van Reed. Gibson, Randol and
Robertson. 1t was stone bridge then
of three piers and arches. very much
like the present Burnside bridge. at the
southern end of the field which re-
MI kS,a T All
iron bridge spans Antietam creek
where the Middle bridge stood in 1852.
The sunken road, which came to be
called Bloody Lane. where French and
Rodes, Colquitt and Garland. and where
the slaughter was great, has been con-
siderably changed. During the battle
1t was a narrow lane, rough with loose
stones and had been worn and washed
till there was a steep bank on each
side. Along the top of the banks ran
rail fences The sunken road Is now
merely a gentle depression, green with
smooth turf, and paralleling 1t is
fne battlefield boulevard. SO that one
sunken road, and which was choked
with Confederate and Union dead and
dying. The rail fences have disappear
ed here and a post and wired fence
ward, which leads along that once
dreadful way. Along Bloody Lane are
several Of those large iron tablets
with raised letters in white which tell
the significance of the position they
occupy, and in the wide and clear fields
in front of the lane are monuments to
several of the regiments engaged there,
and among these monuments are those
of the 18th Connecticut and the 5th
Maryland.
AS the bower bridge or the southern
most bridge over Antietam creek has
come to be called Burnside bridge. be-
cause it was in the fighting zone OF
Burnside's Corps, and was one OF the
crossings used by troops of that corps,
the upper bridge near the northern
end Of the field has come to be known
as the Hooker bridge. 1t Is three
span stone bridge and similar to the
Burnside bridge.
Many men are confused because the
battle Of Antietam. like a number of
other civil war battles, was double
named. The Union side called 1t An
tietam from the creek along which
they began fighting, and which was the
central and most important thing in
the landscape. The Confederates called
it the battle Of Sharpsburg from the
village a mile west of the creek, and
along the line of which. north and
south, they stopped the Union advance
There is also the village of Antietam,
about three and a half miles south Of
the battlefield and on the right bank
of the creek where it flows into the Po-
tomac river about seven miles above
or north of Harpers Ferry, the Poto-
mac river in that part Of the country
following serpentine course from
north to south
This village Of Antietam did not fg-
uro except remotelv in the hattlA ~