When you walk along Bloody Lane, as you tour the
Antietam National Battlefield, you will see rolling green hills speckled with old wooden fences, few trees and various
monuments to heros on both sides of the
war. It's a peaceful place, this barely traveled road with a
gruesome name. The horror that occured has long since past, but has never been forgotten.
Reenactments bring back a small taste of what occured here on Sept. 17, 1862, but not the full
impact. Specators will see their neighbors, cousins and teachers donned in
wool and armed with
muskets at any given performance. This is as it should be. As it once was.
The crowd will gather to see the
representation of 9,700
Union troops battling 6,500
Confederate troops in a four hour long
battle. They will stand, sit and press together in huddles as their ears are bombarded with musket fire for the duration. They will watch as actors portray the
death,
capture, and wounding of a combined total 5,500
soldiers. They will see men tended to, they will see them piled three deep on this dirt encrusted road. Surely the grand scale of the
death toll will paint the picture, depict the meaning, behind the name.
The truth is that it doesn't. The
horror of seeing the reenactors laying, as still as they can, in piles on the road will leave a mark in their
memory.
Antietam was one of the bloodiest days in our country's history. Partially because of this small country road dubbed Bloody Lane. On this day, this Battle between North and South, the road ran like a
river with
blood. So many died during those four hours that the blood flowed down the sunken road creating an image that would haunt the survivors the rest of their lives. Something no reenactment can truly portray.
I encourage you to go to
Sharpsburg, Maryland and see the
battlefield, watch the reinactments and get a sample of what happened within
our borders at our own hands.
View of Bloody Lane: http://www.cwreenactors.com/bloodyln.htm
References:
Antietam.com, http://www.antietam.com/reenact/news-spec-crowd-bloodylane.html