Antietam 150th prompts reflection on loss, freedom
Civil War reenactors (Getty Images)
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 09/17/2012
SHARPSBURG, Md. (AP) - Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson leads the lineup of speakers marking the 150th anniversary of the Civil War Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg.
The midday ceremony at the battlefield caps a long weekend of lectures, hikes and other events devoted to the bloodiest day of combat on U.S. soil.
McPherson has written that Antietam was arguably the most important battle of the war.
More than 23,000 men were reported killed, wounded or missing there on Sept. 17, 1862. Their sacrifices enabled President Lincoln to announce his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later.
The battle was inconclusive but the Confederates retreated to Virginia the next day. Had the South prevailed, France and England were prepared to recognize the Confederacy as a separate nation.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PRINT
Special Reports
-
Digging into day care discipline
Woman whose child care license was revoked sheds light on state's discipline process.
-
Local shops sell years old tires as new
Flip open the dictionary to the word new and you'll see Webster says it means, “Having existed or having been made but a short time."
-
Dangers of online dating battled w/ apps
At first it seemed to be just a house fire in the 5700 block of Highgate Drive in Northwest Baltimore.
Top Stories
-
So. Anne Arundel Co. hit with flooding
Southern Anne Arundel Co. gets hit with flooding on roads and around homes.
-
Charges dropped against officer charged
-
Men charged with stealing car batteries
-
Orioles call up Ishikawa, Britton
-
Subsidy cuts would jeopardize service
-
Hardware store in Harford County burns
- Stay Connected
