Last updated: August 9, 2026
Place
Philip Pry Farm
NPS Antietam/BBaracz
Quick Facts
Location:
Sharpsburg, MD
Significance:
US Headquarters during the Battle of Antietam and hospital aftewards
Designation:
National Park, National Register of Historic Places, HABS/HAER/HALS
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
The Philip Pry house was built in 1844 by Philip Pry and his brother, Samuel, on high ground west of Keedysville, Maryland. The house is a two-story, L-shaped brick structure on a stone foundation with a steeply pitched roof with two single chimneys. At the time of the battle, the farm grounds included then a barn, smoke house, cave house, a springhouse and a toll house. Because of its panoramic view of almost the entire Antietam Valley around Sharpsburg, Pry's prosperous farm and home was taken over by Union commander George B. McClellan to use as his headquarters during the Battle of Antietam.
After the battle, the Pry House served as a Union hospital, as well as the headquarters for Maj. Jonathan Letterman, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac. It was here that Letterman reorganized the army's medical department, including codifying field hospital administration and developing medical logistical operations of the Army of the Potomac, procedures that are still used in one form or another in the modern military, 150 years later.