Antietam National Battlefield Park Map
Place your mouse on the tour stops to learn about these key battlefield locations.
 
Last updated: 4/16/02, KBS

 

General Hooker launched the initial Union attack from this point. It was stopped by Jackson's troops in the Cornfield, 1/2 mile to the south. More fighting took place here in the Miller cornfield than anywhere else at Antietam. The battlelines swept back and forth across the field for three hours. Union Gen. Joesph Mansfield was fatally wounded here as he led his XII Corps into battle. Union Gen. John Sedgwick's division lost more than 2,200 men in less than half an hour in an ill-fated charge into these woods. Burned by the Confederates to prevent their use by Union sharpshooters, the Mumma farm buildings were the only civilian property purposely destroyed during the battle. The church was the focal point of repeated clashes as both armies sought to occupy and hold the high ground around it. Leveled by a storm in 1921, the church was rebuilt in 1962. Union troops under Generals French and Richardson crossed these fields on their way to meet the Confederates posted in the Sunken Road. For nearly 4 hours, Union and Confederate infantry contested this sunken country road, resulting in over 5,000 casualties--thus the name Bloody Lane The remains of 4,776 Union soldiers, including 1,836 unknowns, are buried in this hilltop cemetery. After taking the Lower Bridge and reforming his Corps, Burnside marched his men across these hills toward Sharpsburg, threatening to cut off Lee's line of retreat. Just as the Federals reached this area, A.P. Hill's Confederate division arrived from Harpers Ferry and drove them back. Named after the Union general whose troops were held off most of the day by a few hundred Georgia riflemen.