The Faces Of War -- Confederate Dead At Sharpsburg

Confederate dead on the Hagerstown Turnpike, north of the Dunker Church near
Sharpsburg, Maryland following the bloodiest single day of the War Between the States (1861-1865).
Photograph taken by Alexander Gardner courtesy of the Library of Congress.

"Before the sunlight faded, I walked over the narrow field. All around lay the Confederate dead...clad in ‘butternut'...As I looked down on the poor pinched faces...all enmity died out. There was no ‘secession' in those rigid forms nor in those fixed eyes staring at the sky. Clearly it was not their war."

       ~Private David L. Thompson, Company G, 9th New York Volunteers surveying the dead after the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam Creek), Maryland on Wednesday, September 17, 1862.

The Battle of Sharpsburg still remains America’s bloodiest single day of war, with over 24,000 casualties, including over 5,300 dead.

Never Forget!