"Going to Antietam and Gettysburg next month." Topic

My Wife and I are flying half way across the country to go to both battlefields for the first time. In order to avoid crowds we are going to Antietam July 1-3 and driving up to Gettysburg and staying three days there.

Staying at B&Bs both places. I have studied, played and built terrain for those battles for so long, I feel like I know them pretty well.

Any recommendations?

Wear a hat and have a full water bottle. MD/PA in July is heat exhaustion country.

No serious recommendations, but allow me a wonderful memory. I have been to Gettysburg several times over the years, but the one that stands out most was the summer between my daughter's 10th and 11th grade years. We went back to DC as a family and took a side trip up to Gettysburg. I had been an AP US History teacher some years before and the Civil War was the one aside to military history I allowed myself in that class… APs are not about military history. When we got to Gettysburg rather than renting a self-guided tour or joining an approved guide, my daughter asked if I would show her the battlefield and tell her the history… she is a wise and wonderful girl. Whatever her real feelings about the day, she hung on my every word and appeared to enjoy the whole experience. She is now 32 years old may not remember any of it, but it was a day I will never forget. Maybe your wife will give you that opportunity… oh, the kindness of women. Richard

At Gettysburg i really enjoyed the rented guide. He drove the car and answered all of our group questions. Well worth it,

At Antietam we followed the guided tour. Very good. After each of the tours you can of course go around again.
At Gettysburg I enjoyed walking Pickett's charge. an easy one to find, There is a metal observation tower too. Gettysburg shop is well stocker. allow a full day i think

Hope you enjoy it

martin

I second the recommendation for a guide at Gettysburg. Go on the website and see if Phil Muskett, that's right, Phil Muskett is available when you will be there.

I found Antietam disappointing. Cant really say why although I have attempted to analyze my feelings many times. On the other hand I can not get enough time at Gettysburg. A couple days is just about right but I can do three days easily and that does not count an extra half day to wander around the town itself. Any way it would be foolish not to see Antietam. A side trip to Manassas is also recommended.

On one of your Antietam days, treat yourself and your lady to dinner at the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown, WV.

My brother in-law lives in Shepherdstown and used to go to Antietam 3 or 4 times a year. Its probably my favorite battlefield. Park Rangers there have always been very knowledgeable and I usually learned something new every visit.

If you are staying near Antietam, you are not far from Harper's Ferry and it is well worth going there one of the days. You won't be disappointed.

Kim

Everyone, thanks for sharing.

Martin, I thought they tore down the big metal tower and are trying to return all the battlefield parks to how they originally appeared.

War in 15mm, thanks for sharing your wonderful experience. My undergraduate degree is in History Education but am not familiar with the term "AP". Alternative Placement?

Fred, Phil Muskett, okay I will look him up. But that must be his "Docent name".

Eumelus, now that is what I call a recommendation. Dinner at the Bavarian Inn. I assume if I mention your name we can get a good table?

Allen 57, I hope my experience at Antietam is better than yours, as that is my favorite ACW battle.

rmaker, sunscreen, water and hat, got it. Also bringing our favorite walking sticks. I am going to Little Round Top one way or the other.

Kim, if we can squeeze it in we may stop at Harpers Ferry. Flying out of Baltimore. I am just amazed how close all this is to each other. Living out west all my life where everything is six hours away.

Whatever else you do, don't eat dinner at the bar in Sharpsburg. Truly appalling.

At Antietam, make sure that you get the map with the walking trails. The walks that I did were fascinating.

I agree that Harpers Ferry is well worth the detour, but I suspect that the crowds will be insane in summer.

What rmaker said. Heat and humidity can be a bear.

Too bad you won't be at Gettysburg from 01-03 Jul, my ACW unit, the 28th PA, will be encamped at the Pennsylvania Memorial.

Eric

Definitely plan on some of the walking tours at Antietam. My two faborites are the Cornfield assault and the one that includes Burnsides fight after getting over the bridge (when AP Hill's men arrive). Best way to understand that field due to the nature of the terrain.

Well, if you'd reverse your schedule you could see the Mifflin Guard reenactment battalion put on a demonstration at Gettysburg. We'll be there July 2-3 at the Pennsylvania Monument.

Rallynow, AP refers to Advanced Placement classes which are lower division college level classes taught at the high school to high school students. The proof that the AP class that has been taken is in fact a college level class is confirmed by the taking of subject specific Advanced Placement exams administered by the College Board (the organization the produces and administers the SAT exams) on the same day in May across the nation. When I was teach AP U.S. the U.S. History AP was typically given on the morning of the second Friday of May. The AP European History exam was given the same day but in the afternoon. Subject specific AP testing goes on for two weeks in May. If the test is passed at a defined level (3, 4, or 5), most colleges give either course or unit credit for the AP class taken. More than you wanted to know. Richard

As a frequent visitor…

Antietam is defintely worth the side trip from Gettysburg (as is Harpers Ferry)

At Gettysburgn, for a first time visitor, i cant recommend getting a licensed tour guide enough… They can be arranged though the Park Service Visitor Center…

Around this time of year they frequently have ranger guided battle walks on focused topics and nighttime outdoor programs at the amphitheatet… I haven't looked tgis year but again the visitor center should have the schedules for both type of events…

Also see the restored Cyclorama painting

When asked, I always recommend William A. Frassanito's two books: [Which used are cheap on Amazon. Even the hardcover is @ .40 because they have had so many editions since the first publication in the 1970s]

Antietam: A Photographic Legacy
link
And

Gettysburg: A Journey in Time.
link

What Frassanito did was take all the period photographs of the battlefield and find where they were shot and what angle. The book provides both the then and now photos as well as maps to find the locations. It is quite an experience. Personally, I like the Antietam book better because the battlefield is less spoiled and and Frassanito actually hunted up the photos of several of the soldiers buried in the Antietam battlefield cemetery. Even after visiting the battlefields several times, using the books as guides, those visits were the most memorable.

You can see a four part video about Frassanito's work on YouTube: part 1

YouTube link

That is not to say guides and tours aren't great too.

We scheduled it the way we did because we were worried about the crowds at Gettysburg during the anniversary. Plus just about every place to stay was booked up.

Even if you can't really ride it's worth getting on a horse-borne trip from Artillery Ridge campsite. The horses are very well-schooled and calm and it's perfectly manageable for non-riders and worth very penny; gives you an excellent 'general's eye view' of the relevant parts of the battlefield.
Also I imagine they still have a whopping great 20mm diorama there? If it's not busy they're very good about letting you do without the AV element so you can have your allotted time savouring the whole layout.

I just visited both last September. At Antietam, I went on the anniversary Ranger tours. They were good, so I'm sure the normal Ranger tours will be wort it as well. If you can, download, print, and take along with you copies of the Carmen/Cope maps. Or, have a tablet where you can access them on the go.

link

Antietam is smaller than Gettysburg, but all the action at the Cornfield/West Woods/Sunken Road is packed relatively close together and very moving when you realize the ferocity of the combat there. A big plus is that now you can probably access the newly purchased Wilson tract south of the Cornfield where Douglass' line was at the beginning of the battle. I also really enjoyed the area of the Ninth Corps attack on the Otto farm. You can't appreciate the valley and the terrain until you get there. I walked in the footsteps of the 9th New York across the valley.

Gettysburg is, well, Gettysburg. Get out of the car. Walk, walk, walk. Walk the Rose woods from end to end. Walk Hoods approach from Warfield Ridge to Devil's Den. Take the trail through Herbst/McPherson Woods in the footsteps of the Iron Brigade,then go to the other side of the creek and traverse the old golf course and walk the route of the 47th North Carolina.

I spent three days at each battlefield, and it looks like you will as well. You will enjoy it. Bring plenty of water.

Visited Antietam for the first time a couple of years ago and it reinforced my opinion that it is just not possible to really appreciate a battle until you have walked the physical ground and taken in its subtleties. I found that true not only with respect to the area around Dunker Church, but also up at the sunken road, which is in fact a very cleverly situated reverse slope position. Climbing the slope from the fence line below the ridge, the Union troops could not even see the Confederate position until they had reached the crest less than 50 yards away.

Be mindful of woodchuck holes lurking in the grassy fields. I stepped into one right up to the knee and was fortunate to have escaped with only a wrenched knee.

B

Walk, walk, walk, Antietam! The bookstore sells little walking tour booklets. I suggest buying them all and walking the battlefield. You will appreciate the terrain SO much as compared to the driving tour, which is nice in its own right and can be used for each walk's starting point.

For Gettysburg, I would do a farm tour…not an official tour but I did this for my wife a couple of years ago and it will get you all over the battlefield. But the Trailhead Graphics map and do the car tour, but stop to visit every extant farm along the way. It will get you away from the main crowds and allow you to gain a view of the battlefield from a different perspective. Go back out in the evening to visit the iconic areas. Less crowds and better lighting for pics.

Which BnB at GBurg? I have stayed a Doubleday and Brickhouse…both excellent for different reasons. At Doubleday I could look out the window and see the 95th NY monument across the lane. At Brickhouse the food was excellent (Doubleday was good as well). And each morning you can take a job or a walk on the battlefield tour roads before the crowds get out.

For me, both Antietam and Gettysburg are intensely personal. My GGGrandfather. Elisha T. Kindred, was in the 4th Texas. He survived the entire war, and afterward settled down in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

To stand at Miller's Cornfield at Sharpsburg, where he and his brothers stood, or at the lines where they assembled prior to the assault on 2 July, is something that is hard to put into words. It's a bond with the past.

Regardless of how you decide to tour those great fields, take a little time to stand and just dwell upon what took place so long ago.

The is also a little walking tour booklet for Gettysburg. Think it's published by the Boyscouts. Takes you over trails in the park. A lot of fun.

South Mountain battlefields are also worth a visit if you're staying long enough at Antietam link I found those sites more worthwhile than Harper's Ferry.

I'd highly recommend Jay Luvaas and Harold Nelson's guides for the battlefields, especially Antietam . They are based on US Army War College staff rides for the battles and combine extracts from participants first hand accounts with modern directions to sites and context.

I'll also second the recommendation for Frassanito's books for his fantastic photo analysis.

Chris

Rallynow: As someone who is originally also from the west, I visited both the battlefields for the first time in 1966, (courtesy of my local draft board). Now I am fortunate enough to live so close I can visit them dozens of times a year. I hope you will have as good a time as I have every time I go. John Miller

The very big metal tower has all gone. The tower I meant is on the confederate line and is not as huge.
Do try it

martin

Sunken road at Antietam was a major insight for me.
One, how close the Union troops got before they saw it.
Two, how cramped the Confederate defenders were. You stand up in that road and you're dead.
Three, how isolated from reinforcements they were. I saw how Anderson's division was an easy target for the Union troops just over the crest from the road.

Lots of great suggestions. I can't add to the Antietam or Gettysburg recommendations. However, if you have enough time a side trip to the Monocacy battlefield is worthwhile (the "battle that saved Washington). It's about an hour from Antietam and maybe 45 minutes from Gettysburg just outside Frederick MD.

You can download the Army Center for Military History Staff Rides for these battles. The address is History.Army.Mil
Best
Joel

I am a guide at Antietam and every time I go out I see something I had not seen before, much like the guides at Gettysburg. Out self guided walking tours will give you a view of the field from the soldiers' perspectives. Comfortable shoes, bug spray, sunscreen and water are recommended. Take a camera too.

I've been to Gettysburg a few times and found it very rewarding. I only recently discovered that my GGGG uncle was there with the 107th NY so I plan to go back with fresh eyes to see where he might have stood.