The Washington times., 1933-06-03
ANT|ETAN ROAD
FILLED WITH
BEAUTY
CONTINUED from Page 10)

N>VHGGuuG0 from EdHG 4V/
scene of one of the most bloody
one-day battles in the worlds his
tory and the worst ever on the
American continent.
Lee, going North to spread ter
ror into the hearts of the indus
trialists in Union territory, got as
far as South Mountain, a little
beyond Sharpsburg, but was met
by the Union army under Gen.
George B. Mcclellan and forced
to fall back on the fields above
and to the west of Antietam
Greek.
That was on September 16,
1852, and the two armies rested
opposite each other that night,
the bloody battle of Antietam
Greek beginning at Z o'clock the
morning of the 18th.
Mcclellan lost 2,010 killed, 9,416
wounded and 1,043 were reported
missing. Lees losses were greater,
although he was on the defensive,
and many of the Federal troops
were killed in carrying Burnside
bridge and in fighting in Bloody
Lane and in the cornfield.
Lee lost 2,062 killed, 1O,428
wounded and 4,792 were missing
when darkness settled over the
field.
Cost Mcclellan Job
The total casualties for the
fierce one-day battle were 29,749.
Lee retreated into Virginia and
Mcclellan was relieved of COM
mand for failing to follow the
Southern army and exterminat-
ing it.
Where Lees artillery was massed,
pointing down the Boonesboro
Pike, is now the National Gene
tery, founded by the Act of 1865.
In 1t are buried 1929 soldiers. of
whom 1,847 are unknown"
Clarence L. Nett, superintendent
OF the cemetery, takes great in.
terest in the battle and in its
many angles.
He has copies of the battle maps
made at intervals during the day,
and they show the exact positions
OF both armies at all times. One
OF the things that most puzzles
h1m-and military historians as
Wells why General Ambrose E.
Burnside attempted to force his
way across the bridge that now
bears his name when he could
have spread out his troops and
forced a way across Antietam
Greek along wide front.
Burnside was from 9 in the
morning until 2 in the afternoon
getting his troops across that
bridge and getting a foothold on
the opposite bank. Three hun
dred and twenty-five of his men
were killed, 1859 wounded and 1874
missing when the bridge and its
approaches finally came into his
hands. He succeeded Mcclellan
as commander of the Army of the
Potomac, and was leader at the
slaughter at Fredericksburg which
cost him the command.
Mr.. Nett-Who came to Antie-
tam from Arlington-said the last
veteran of the battle to be buried
there was John Ward, a veteran
of the Union Fifth Maryland Regi-
ment, who died last December, the
last man in his company.
There are but three men of the
old Fifth Maryland still alive, one
of them dreaming away his days
in Sharpsburg, almost on the bat
tie ground.
The Trail Home
Boys who played around the bat
tie field and cemetery in their
youth and who reached manhood
in time to join the American
forces in France now are being
buried in the cemetery, Mr.. Nett
said.
The boys who fished in Antie-
tam Creek, surreptitiously hunted
rabbits on the bao..efield, nov are
being buried close to their boy
hood haunts, victims of a bigger
and more savage war than that
engaged in by their fathers.
"A n" r