Antietam Battlefield

The landscape restoration project at the Antietam National Battlefield will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays, Oct. 15, 22, 29 and Nov. 19. Volunteers are needed to plant native wildflower plugs in several buffer areas. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Antietam National Battlefield Visitor's Center, 5831 Dunker Church Road, Sharpsburg. Work projects start at 9 a.m. and end at noon. Participants are asked to dress for the weather, bring a water bottle, and wear sturdy shoes or boots.

The delicate dancing squeak of the fife and the rum-pum stickings and rudiments of the calfskin drums called Saturday afternoon visitors to Antietam National Battlefield to a shady patch beneath the trees just behind Dunker Church. The sounds luring them were the tunes of the Fort McHenry Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Led by Director Tim Ertel, the corps demonstrated Union field music that marked the moments of a soldier's day. "We give a program teaching music through the day of the soldier from 'Reveille' to 'Tattoo,' or lights out," Ertel said.

Antietam Battlefield SHARPSBURG - Antietam National Battlefield Visitors' Center will be open 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. today through Thursday, Sept. 18. The center will be open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, through Sunday, Sept. 21. There is a $2 per person or $4 per family fee to enter the park. For information, call 301-432-5124. Thursday, Sept. 11, and Friday, Sept. 12 Interpretive programs throughout the day. Saturday, Sept. 13, and Sunday, Sept.

Scouts of Troop 412 and Pack 34 participated in a hike Jan. 19 at Antietam National Battlefield. The Scouts hiked to Georgians' Overlook, then hiked Snavely Ford and Final Attack Trail. It was a joint hike with Pack 34 so the Webelo Scouts could meet the requirement of participating in an activity with a Boy Scout troop. Troop 412 is sponsored by Paramount Baptist Church and Pack 34 is sponsored by Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Dunker Church Road at Mansfield Avenue in Antietam National Battlefield has been blocked off from Sharpsburg Pike (Md. 65) all week. Mansfield Avenue is being worked on as part of the Antietam National Battlefield Park Project, said Doug Hecox, spokesperson for the Federal Highway Administration. The project, which began in August 2010, involves rehabilitating and resurfacing all of the roads in the battlefield, Hecox said. Crews are working on Mansfield Avenue, but in the coming weeks they will be working on Richardson Avenue, Hagerstown Pike, and around the Philadelphia Brigade monument.

Antietam National Battlefield Historian Ted Alexander will discuss “Two Great American Armies at Antietam” on Wednesday, May 9, at 7 p.m. at the battlefield's visitor center theater. Alexander will discuss the opposing forces, their differences and similarities. Topics will include leadership, combat efficiency of the troops, weapons, uniforms and equipment.  There will also be a discussion on the condition of the artillery and cavalry. The ethnicity of the soldiers will also be highlighted in the sharing of research documenting the service of Hispanics, American Indians, and thousands of Irish and German immigrants.

On Oct. 25, the middle school students at Antietam Academy went on a field trip to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg.  In addition to learning about the battlefield, and in conjunction with their social studies and language arts classes, the students fulfilled student service-learning requirement hours for middle school.  In the morning, the students participated in three activities with Ranger Christie Stanczak. The activities were “Civil War Soldier,” “Angels of the Battlefield” and “Flags that Talk.” In the afternoon, the students worked with Rangers Andrew Landsman and Chris Tawney and planted a variety of seedlings.

David Burkey Hagerstown As a volunteer for the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, David Burkey helped run a raffle for MSO concert tickets and Baltimore Orioles tickets, which he said drew attendees into the shade of the MSO's white tent Saturday afternoon. “People hear MSO tickets, and say, 'Oh, OK,' and then they hear Orioles tickets and are like, 'Oh yeah, I'll sign up,'” he said, laughing. Burkey said he has been coming to the celebration for several years, and loves looking out over the battlefield from his vantage point up on the hill.

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer A land conservation group announced Thursday it has donated 11.6 acres near Antietam National Battlefield to the National Park Service, preserving an area that was the site of fighting during the famous Civil War battle. The Richard King Mellon Foundation, assisted by The Conservation Fund, recently acquired the land, said Jack Lynn, senior associate for the Arlington, Va.-based conservation fund. It was Mellon's fifth donation to the battlefield, he said.

Marcy Fleeharty had no idea her great aunt had multiple sclerosis until only days before Saturday's Walk MS Hagerstown at Antietam National Battlefield. Fleeharty, of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., said she already had decided to take part in Saturday's walk for her friend's mother, who was diagnosed with the chronic, often disabling disease. “Two days ago, talking to my mother, I found out my grandmother's sister had MS. I had no clue,” Fleeharty said. “The fact that the walks are designed to bring awareness works,” Fleeharty said as she and her friend, Lindsay Unger, finished the last several yards of the walk.

A boom bellowed and black smoke poured from the barrel's mouth, but the caliber of sound the cannon made was only narrowly louder than the subsequent shrieks and gasps from the 12-and-younger crowd on Saturday at Antietam National Battlefield. Junior Ranger Day, which was divvied into sections aimed at Civil War education as well as teaching those in attendance to be “stewards of the park,” drew about 150 children plus their families, park Ranger Christie Stanczak said. Sam Cool of Hagerstown brought two of his daughters to the battlefield on what he termed a “staycation.” “She studied the Civil War in school and this is firsthand experience - can't beat it,” Cool, 47, said of his 9-year-old daughter, Molly, who described the day as “awesome.” Park volunteers Tracey McIntire and Audrey Scanlan, outfitted in uniforms representing the Iron Brigade - regimes from Wisconsin and Indiana that fought in the cornfield at Antietam - demonstrated how soldiers fired artillery using black powder blanks.

Volunteers from throughout Maryland will team up with the Civil War Trust to help clean and restore four Civil War sites in the state. The 17th annual Park Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 6; the rain date is Saturday, April 13. Volunteers will receive T-shirts and hear a local historian describe the significance of the site. Two local participating sites are:  Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg Contact: Debbie Cohen at debbie_cohen@nps.gov Activities: Landscaping, gardening, general cleanup Times: Beginning at 8 a.m.; work projects from 9 a.m. to noon; interpretive program, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Where to meet: Antietam National Battlefield visitors center, Sharpsburg  Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick, Md. Contact: Brett Spaulding at brett_spaulding@nps.gov Activities: Landscaping, wayside signage preparation, general cleanup On the same date, volunteers from within the Potomac River watershed will gather together to remove trash from streams, trails and roads within the watershed as part of the Alice Ferguson Foundation Potomac Watershed Cleanup.

Name: Thomas G. Clemens Age: 62 City in which you reside: Keedysville Day job: retired professor emeritus, Hagerstown Community College; licensed Battlefield Guide at Antietam; president, Save Historic Antietam Inc., a battlefield preservation nonprofit corporation.  Book title: "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. I & II," written by Ezra A. Carman, edited and annotated by me.  Genre: Civil War...

Scouts of Troop 412 and Pack 34 participated in a hike Jan. 19 at Antietam National Battlefield. The Scouts hiked to Georgians' Overlook, then hiked Snavely Ford and Final Attack Trail. It was a joint hike with Pack 34 so the Webelo Scouts could meet the requirement of participating in an activity with a Boy Scout troop. Troop 412 is sponsored by Paramount Baptist Church and Pack 34 is sponsored by Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Age: 54 City in which you reside: Smithsburg Day job: Web developer, High Rock Studios, Hagerstown Book title: "Rare Images of Antietam and the Photographers Who Took Them" Genre: Historical nonfiction, Civil War Synopsis of book: "Rare Images of Antietam" is the beginning of my attempt to document, organize and interpret, in a comprehensive fashion, the historical photographs and photographers associated with...

Before the sun set Saturday, the thousands of luminarias arrayed across the fields of Antietam National Battlefield were almost invisible from a distance, the paper bags blending into a background of wheat, hay and corn stubble. As day gave way to dusk and dusk to darkness, the 23,110 candles began to glimmer and then glow, their lights following the contours of the land where an equal number of men were killed, wounded or reported missing 150 years ago during the Battle of Antietam.

On a quiet December evening, the flickering glow of candles will dot the darkened landscape at Antietam National Battlefield like thousands of stars that have fallen to the ground. Driving slowly through the park gates, visitors will be greeted by a single luminaria followed by another and another until suddenly, as far as the eye can see, rows and rows of candles will take their breath away. There will be 23,110 candles, to be exact - each one representing a soldier who was killed, wounded or missing at Antietam on Sept.

On Oct. 25, the middle school students at Antietam Academy went on a field trip to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg.  In addition to learning about the battlefield, and in conjunction with their social studies and language arts classes, the students fulfilled student service-learning requirement hours for middle school.  In the morning, the students participated in three activities with Ranger Christie Stanczak. The activities were “Civil War Soldier,” “Angels of the Battlefield” and “Flags that Talk.” In the afternoon, the students worked with Rangers Andrew Landsman and Chris Tawney and planted a variety of seedlings.

A 24-foot high cross will now overlook motorists driving down Sharpsburg Pike and past The Battle of Antietam in Miniature building on the right. The cross was put up Friday as Pastor Bill Mantel from Cambridge, Minn., along with a team of area residents, assembled it to honor those who were killed in the Civil War and the Battle of Antietam. “We know that God played a very important part in what was happening in the Battle of Antietam,” he said. “We want to give Him glory to what happened at that battle to where we are today.” The cross is part of an international ongoing project for Mantel, of Christian Cyber Ministries, where he plans to put at least one cross in every country and at least one in every state in the United States.