Evening star., 1935-05-05

A NTIETAM-the "lost battlefield"
~ of the Civil War and scene
~ of some of the bloodiest fight
4 4 ing in modern times-will be-
come one of the shrines Of
American history with fruition Of
present plans of the National Parks
Service.
It will serve dual purpose-to keep
In memory the fighting Of 1862. when
nearly $4,000 Northern and Confed-
crate casualties occurred there, and
to serve as a memorial of the great
German and Scotch-Irish migration
southwark out of Pennsylvania more
than q century before, which has q
less sensational but probably more
significant place in the American an
mails.
The actual significance Of the battle
Of Antietam is disputed by historians.
1t is generally agreed that the two
day struggle, in which one man out
Of every six engaged on both sides
either was killed or seriously wounded,
was draw" between Lee and Nc
Clellan. Apparently it left the status
of the two armies little different
than it had been before the fighting
started, although it did thwart a
disastrous Southern invasion of Penn
sylvania.
RUT it 50 happens that the little
~ valley of Antietam Greek was one
Of the defiles through which passed
the wagons of the German and the
Ecotch-Irish farmers on their way to
take up the rich lands of the Shenan-
doah Valley and to move southwark
into the Carolinas. Their cultures
came into conflict with the western
migration Of the English settlers Of
the coastal plain. Out Of this con-
dict came the migrations across the
Appalachians into the "Great Wilder
ness" of what Is now Tennessee and
Kentucky. And from these frontier
settlements came the peopling Of the
Middle West and the permanent
ethnic coloring of large section Of
the American populace throughout
most Of the history of the Nation.
Probably no other place is more suit
able for a memorial to the great
migration than this same valley where
the Union and Confederate armies
engaged in their death graprle in the
early Autumn Of 1862.
One of the first steps in the raising
Of the Antietam battlefield into a
national shrine has been the estab-
lishment of a museum there. The
National Park Service workers are
gathering together relics of the fight
ing, of the troops engaged and avail
able literature concerning the con-
fiict. But they are also gathering
relics and artifacts illustrating the
, colorful way of life Of the migrants
articles of their dress, their firearms,
their farming implements. their crude
furniture, their cooking utensils. Once
the project becomes better known such
material is expected to come in from
all over the United States, as the
descendants of these people look over
their heirlooms. Also 1t Is proposed to
collect here the pertinent literature
Of the migration. Its story never has
been adequately told. It still must be
patched together from biographies and
State histories, yet few movements
played q greater part in the making
: Of America.
The scenic attractions Of the An
.tietam Valley make it an exceptionally
attractive place for this combined
var-and-peace memorial park. Most
of the land still Is privately owned.
The National Park Service jurisdic-
+, ton at present extends only to the
roadways around the battlefield and
the sites Of the various monuments
> provided there by State governments
and regimental associations. Besides
there Is the Antietam National Gene
tery, where more than 5000 OF those
killed at Antietam are buried, which
is under the jurisdiction Of the War
Department. But it is expected that
most of the land will come eventually
under Government ownership through
gifts and otherwise. Meanwhile, the
KEY sites now under the National
Park Service control might well be
developed as q basis for the memorial
park Of several hundred acres.
COMPARED with the nearby bat
i, tlefield of Gettysburg. visited by
many thousands during the motoring
season every year, Antietam is prac-
tically unknown. 1t is just on any
trunk highway, 50 that 1t is necessary
to 70 slightly out of ones way to get
there and. In the past there has been