Sharpsburg is in next year's travel plans. Planning 2-3 days there in June.
Sharpsburg/Antietam is my favorite Civil War battlefield. Three distinct engagements, The Cornfield (West Woods/Dunker Church; The Sunken Road; and Burnside's bridge are truly awesome. I've been there at least 10 times (Lived in Maryland for 7 years). I wrote a poem about it:
ANTIETAM
I walked today on hallowed ground
Reclaimed by passing years
Where shot and shell and musket round
Cut trees and corn and heroes down
And summoned mother's tears
I lingered near the old west wood
Where the Dunker Church still stands
There Jackson's army turned and stood
Relinquished precious southern blood
And challenged patriot's hands
When Hooker's men, before he fell
In double line array
Charged like demons o'er the swell
Rushing headlong into hell
They sought to win the day
But Jackson braced and held the line
Then called on rebel zeal
Hood's Texans ran into the whine
Where stands today their noble shrine
And died there on that field
The battle shifted, as did I
To the center of Lee's line
Where D.H. Hill blocked passage by
New Yorkers there, prepared to die
For recompense Divine
At the sunken road, McClellan thought
Swift victory might be won
But Gordon's Alabamans fought,
And havoc on the Union wrought
Beneath the midday sun
A haunting peace pervades that lane
And makes one stop and pause
Belies the suffering and the pain
Brings tears that fall like summer rain
For Country, Home and Cause
I lost myself, and wept inside
Within that furrowed way
Where ghosts in butternut abide
With honored Union, side by side,
And pass the time of day
'Neath Burnside's bridge
Still runs the flood
None left now can remember
Whoever shed such noble blood
As those brave souls who on it stood
That day in mid September
Determined Federal flesh and steel
Disdainful of defeat
Crossed the span by utter will
Drove the Georgians from the hill
And threatened Lee's retreat
But
Little Mac on a distant lea
Still plagued by cautious doubt
Failed to give his troops decree
To take the fight to
Bobby Lee
And denied to them the rout
Virginia's gallant sons subside
Through Sharpsburg, west, and then
Across Potomac, swift and wide
To sanctuary on the other side
And form to fight again
A stillness there invades the soul
And makes the senses weak
The guns are silent on the knoll
The drums have ceased their martial roll
Along Antietam Creek
I sat in silence, grieved, alone
I heard the soldiers speak
And welcome me as one they've known
No seeds of hatred there are sown
Beside Antietam Creek
When I return, as I'm wont to do
They greet me through the pall.
And every heart is brave and true
My brothers now in gray and blue
And God reigns o'er us all
Yes, God reigns over all
[c 1994 Jack Dallas 2-1-94]