Civil War re-enactors fire a 12-pound Napoleon cannon during ‘Thunder on the Mountain’ at South Mountain State Battlefield near Burkittsville, Md., on Aug. 19. The Battle of Antietam was so big, they’re re-enacting it twice.
An engraving sketch depicts Union troops charging across the Burnside bridge over Antietam Creek in the third and final day of the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Md., on Sept. 17, 1862.
The two privately financed events, both open to the public, were scheduled on back-to-back weekends leading up to Monday’s 150th anniversary of the bloodiest day of combat on U.S. soil. About 4,000 uniformed re-enactors participated in last weekend’s event near Boonsboro, Md. Another 4,000 plan to take part in this weekend’s extravaganza near Sharpsburg, Md.
The dual re-enactments highlight a division between the hobby’s so-called progressive wing, with its scrupulous focus on historical accuracy, and mainstream re-enactors more interested in battle tactics and camaraderie than in having the correct number of uniform buttons.
Both groups are dedicated to commemorating the clash that occurred Sept. 17, 1862, on rolling farmland along Antietam Creek, about 60 miles north of Washington. More than 23,000 combatants from the North and South were reported dead, wounded or missing after 12 hours of carnage that began at dawn.
The battle was indecisive, but it ended Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North. He led his battered troops back across the Potomac River into Virginia the next day, giving President Abraham Lincoln the political strength to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation four days later, followed in January by the final version. Some historians consider Antietam a more critical turning point in the war than the Battle of Gettysburg, fought the following July.
It’s unusual for competing groups to mount separate battle re-enactments, but this is no ordinary anniversary. Antietam, known in the South as the Battle of Sharpsburg, is the biggest Civil War event of 2012. Many re-enactors who got into the hobby during the 125th anniversary are now in their 50s, with few opportunities left to join such large battle scenarios. Antietam came nearly 18 months after the war’s opening shot at Fort Sumter, and 2 ½ years before the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Va.
“We press the guys to have exact, correct uniforms, as best that they can, to duplicate the appearance so when the public sees it, it’s not just generic Civil War — it’s like pulling back a window shade looking directly into September ‘62,” said organizer S. Chris Anders of Rear Rank Productions in Hagerstown.
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