Compared with Gettysburg, no one goes to Antietam

Posted on Monday, August 08, 2011 at 05:31 PM

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Two weeks ago I did a two day tour of the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields. The contrast in what I experienced at the two battle sites was incredible.

If you can say this about a battlefield, Gettysburg is 'hot'. A massive visitor center, a multitude of parking lots, loads of bus tours all add up to thousands of daily visitors. {I'm guessing, but I was there on July 22 and I'm sure in excess of 10,000 visited that day.}

The gift shop at Gettysburg is a supermarket-sized store full of tee-shirts, baseball caps, books, videos, knickknacks, replica weapons and uniforms. It's huge. Even the fee for the visitor center is big - $10.50 per adult and $6.50 per child. That's $34 for a family of four.

Antietam is only 40 miles from Gettysburg, just across the border in Maryland. Based on official numbers, Antietam gets approximately 25% of the visitors that Gettysburg gets. I don't know how those figures are derived, but from what I saw 10% would be more like it. When I was there I saw few visitors and no buses at all.

Antietam has a small visitor center, a small parking lot and a very modest-sized gift shop. Oh, and it also has a friendlier admission price of $6 per family.

I'd been to Gettysburg in '95 when it was more like today's Antietam experience. I don't know what exactly has driven the change since then, other than possibly the impact of the movie Gettysburg, but today Gettysburg is a big time attraction. Reminded me of being at the Washington Monument or Independence Hall, only way out in the middle of nowhere.

Which is better to visit? I couldn't say, really. Gettysburg has the name and is, I suppose, the more significant battle. All Americans should get to Little Round Top or the Wheatfield or the Angle at some point.

View from Little Round Top

Yet the Battle of Antietam is pretty important too. The battle took place on September 17, 1862, which is still the bloodiest day in American history. It was easier to get my head around Antietam - Cornfield, Sunken Road, Burnside's Bridge. I found the key locations at Antietam somewhat more visually evocative, but maybe that's just me.

The point is that it's hard to choose between the two of them, yet one battlefield attracts a million more visitors annually than the other. I guess if someone told me they could only get to one, I'd probably go for Antietam simply because it's so much less crowded, but you probably need some idea as to what you're looking at before you go.

Also, from my an Irish perspective, standing on the ground in and around the "sunken road" or "bloody lane" is extremely poignant. It ranks right up there with Fredericksburg in significance. It was there that the Irish Brigade was first cut down in large numbers and, if you're interested in the Irish Brigade, Antietam is probably more crucial than is Gettysburg. {Although I prefer the Irish Brigade monument at Gettysburg - above - than the new one at Antietam - right.}

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jamieLM | Aug 09, 2011, 01:01 PM EDT

The Yank: you're right in your comments about when the address was given at Gettysburg, but regardless of the time frame, it's tied to the location. When I was a senior in h.s., I wrote a lengthy research term paper on Antietam. GeorgeDillon correctly comments that Southerners refer to it as Sharpsburg. As a Northener, we were taught to call it Antietam, but were informed that Southern Americans referred to it as Sharpsburg, as I always do when speaking with my cousins in Mississippi, Georgia, and North Carolina. Your comments and George's are food for thought. I've often wondered how quickly the war would've ended, saving countless lives, if Lee and other competent Confederate generals had been on the Union side, instead of the Confederate. I have nothing but admiration for all those brave men on both sides who fought for their beliefs and gave their lives out of loyalsty to their states and their country. It's very sobering to walk on those battlefields and through the cemeteries.

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TheYank | Aug 09, 2011, 08:23 AM EDT

GeorgeDillon

I've read that story about Lee's battle plan falling into McClellan's lap so often I just assumed it was true. Now you have me wondering.

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GeorgeDillon | Aug 09, 2011, 05:59 AM EDT

Round about where I live we prefer to call it Sharpsburg. In any case it was not a good day for the Confederate States. I think Sharpsburg put an end to hopes of an outright CSA victory. I wonder is the story of a CSA general putting the battle plan in a cigar case and losing it true? Hard to think history would turn on a minute's carelessness.

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TheYank | Aug 09, 2011, 01:45 AM EDT

jamieLM,

I know you're right - it's the Gettysburg Address as much as the battle that has made Gettysburg's name. As I'm sure you know, Lincoln did go to Antietam after the battle. In fact, he went only two weeks after the battle. However, he went to urge McClellan to pursue and destroy Lee & his army rather than deliver a speech. He should have held onto the Emancipation Proclamation and announced that at Antietam, rather than just after the battle from the White House.

It was more than 4 months after the Battle of Gettysburg before he delivered his address.

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jamieLM | Aug 08, 2011, 07:08 PM EDT

Lincoln went to Gettysburg and gave his famous address there. If he'd gone to Antietam and had given an historical address there, that might have made Antietam more well-known. Unfortunately, too many Americans know little or nothing about Antietam in comparison with Gettysburg. Regardless of the extensive marketing factor going on, Gettysburg enjoys wide name recognition. Overall, the military importance of the 3-day battle in 1863 at Gettysburg, a logistical disaster for the South, is greater than that of the battle at Antietam. I've toured many CW battlefields, including some minor ones, and I've found all of them to be worth my time. It's a moving experience to walk on the hallowed ground of our CW battlefields.

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