Most Endangered Battlefields 2008
Antietam, Maryland
September 17, 1862
The bloodiest single day in American history, the Battle of Antietam ended the Confederacy’s first attempt to invade the North in a resounding fashion. Though the battle itself was tactically inconclusive in its outcome, the 23,000 casualties left behind by the fighting shocked the nation. Moreover, Antietam’s proximity to major northern population centers and their emerging photography industries allowed Americans to see for the first time the true horror of war through the aftermath of battle.
Buoyed by a decisive victory at Second Manassas in late August, Confederate General Robert E. Lee decided to press his advantage and bring the war into the North. At stake, if he was victorious, was the potential recognition of the Confederacy by European powers and their aid in the war effort. The fighting that resulted was among the war’s fiercest, forever immortalizing battlefield landmarks like the Dunker Church, Burnside Bridge and Bloody Lane.
Threat
Outstanding conservation work undertaken by Antietam National Battlefield and private groups, including CWPT, has earned Antietam a well-deserved reputation as one of the nation’s best preserved Civil War battlefields. Few visual intrusions mar its bucolic landscape, letting visitors experience the site nearly as it was in 1862.
Now, however, this jewel among preserved battlefields is faced with the possibility of a cellular communications tower placed so prominently that it would be visible from nearly all of its most famous vantage points — including Lee’s headquarters and the Bell, Piper and Reel farms. If built, the tower would rise upwards of 30 feet above the tree line across much of the field’s breadth, marring this once pristine site and negating millions of dollars in preservation work undertaken by the federal government, the state of Maryland, the local community and private groups.
CWSAC classified Antietam as a Priority I, Class A battlefield — its highest designation.
Resources for Antietam
- Antietam National Battlefield
- Save Historic Antietam Foundation
- CWSAC Battle Summary of Antietam
- View CWPT's photos of Antietam
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MOST ENDANGERED BATTLEFIELDS:
Antietam, Maryland
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(PDF)
View Photos of Endangered Battlefields
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