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Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg September 17, 1862
Topic Started: Sep 17 2012, 09:37 PM (208 Views)
LTC8K6
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Assistant to The Devil Himself
~23,000 casualties in one day...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antietam

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Rusty Dog
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I visited the battlefield in 2010. The Rangers there do a very good job helping the visitors understand all aspects of that battle.

After we got home, I was looking at a book we already had and I discovered a most interesting item on one of the maps.

There marked near The Dunker Church was a farm named with my maiden name. The stone barn was used as a Confederate hospital until it was destroyed by Union artillery on the second day. The daughter, or maybe the niece -it isn't clear- served as a nurse while the rest of the family moved out. I have never found out if they were related to me. It wouldn't have been far to travel to get to the parts of Ohio where my grandparents and great aunts & uncles lived.
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Rusty Dog
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In the fall of 2008, some remains were discovered near the cornfield that turned out to be an unknown Union soldier. His identification was only as complete as that he was from New York. His buttons told them that.
He was returned to Saratoga and was buried with full military honors in a Civil War cemetary there, on the 147th anniversary of the battle.

The Rangers at Antietam built a box from an old pine tree from the battlefield and they carried his flag draped coffin with honor to the hearse for the motocycle escorted trip to New York. Three of the four Rangers in the photo of that day worked with us during our visit the following summer.

Edited by Rusty Dog, Sep 17 2012, 11:15 PM.
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LTC8K6
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Must be lots more out there, too.
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Rusty Dog
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Might be. But there was a really strong effort in the 5-10 years after the battle to see that all the dead were discovered and had a proper burial. Still . . .





edit: I googled "Antietam, last soldier found" and there are lots of links, including a movie of the ceremony I described above.

Edited by Rusty Dog, Sep 17 2012, 11:22 PM.
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