The Road to Antietam—Past, Present, & Future

A view from the acquired property toward Antietam Battlefield across Harpers Ferry Road.

American Battlefield Trust/Patrick B. Bowers

Recipient: Board of County Commissioners, Washington, Maryland
Amount: $122,600.56
Acres: 0.96

The Battle of Antietam was the first field army–level engagement in the Civil War to take place on Union soil and remains the bloodiest day of combat in American history, with a combined tally of 22,727 dead, wounded, or missing.

Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia entered Maryland on September 3, 1862, following the Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 30. Emboldened by success on and off the battlefield, Lee intended to take the war into Union territory. Early in the war, Confederate sympathizers attacked Massachusetts and Pennsylvania state militia passing through Baltimore and President Lincoln traveled in disguise through the city en route to his March 1861 inauguration. Confederate troops sang "Maryland, My Maryland!" as they marched, assuming a warm welcome from the citizens of this border state, but by the fall of 1862 pro-Union sentiment was growing, particularly in western Maryland.

At dawn on September 17, 1862, Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker mounted an assault on Lee's forces in defensive positions behind Antietam Creek. Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller's Cornfield and fighting continued around the Dunker Church. Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's forces entered the conflict and captured a stone bridge over Antietam Creek and advanced against the Confederates. At a crucial moment, Confederate Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and launched a surprise counterattack, driving back Burnside and ending the battle.

NPS American Battlefield Protection Program’s Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant supports the preservation partnership of Washington County and Save Historic Antietam Foundation with the preservation of an acre at Antietam Battlefield along the road to Harpers Ferry traded back and forth between Union and Confederate forces during this long and bloody day of battle—and now forever protected.

Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants from the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program empower preservation partners nationwide to acquire and preserve threatened Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War battlefields. In addition, the program administers three other grants: Preservation Planning Grants, which are open to all sites of armed conflict on American soil, and Battlefield Restoration and Battlefield Interpretation Grant programs. This financial assistance sustains community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.

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Check out the American Battlefield Protection Program's website for more information about various grant offerings and eligibility.

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