Antietam National Battlefield Park

On September 17, 1862, the bloodiest one day battle of the Civil War was waged along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland. The site was established in 1890, and was transferred from the War Department in 1933 to the National Park Service.  Antietam National Battlefield Park receives over 330,000 visitors a year.

The Visitor Center has museum exhibits, a documentary, and the movie “Antietam Visit”, which depicts President Lincoln’s visit to the Union’s General McClellan.

The grounds include the Pry House Field Hospital Museum , which is sponsored by the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. It’s located in the house that served as  McClellan’s headquarters during the battle. Exhibits focus on medical care of the wounded, as well as information about the Pry House.

Antietam National Cemetery contains 5,032 graves, 1836 unidentified, on over 11 acres adjoining the National Park.  Only Union soldiers were buried in the cemetery; Confederates were buried in the Washington Confederate Cemetery in Hagerstown, Maryland, Elmwood Cemetery in Shepherdstown West Virginia, and Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick.