The Antietam Illumination
Remembering Civil War Soldiers at Antietam National Battlefield
Aug 14, 2009
The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, was the deadliest one-day battle in United States history, with more than 23,000 men who lost their lives on the grassy fields near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Today, visitors can honor and remember their sacrifice at the annual Memorial Illumination. Held on the first Saturday of every December, hundreds of volunteers come out to the battlefield to light 23,000 luminaria — candles placed inside small, sand-weighted paper bags, one for each soldier who died. The glowing bags are placed uniformly across a five-mile stretch of the battlefield, creating a spectacular, moving — and haunting — scene of remembrance in the evening hours of late autumn.
The Battle of Antietam
According to the National Park Service (NPS) document “The Battle of Antietam,” the battle was the climax of the Maryland Campaign of 1862, where the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee made its first push into the North. Under direction from President Abraham Lincoln, Union Major General George McClellan responded, which ultimately led to the bloody, day-long battle. The following day, General Lee and his remaining troops retreated back to Virginia. According to the NPS document, Lee’s withdrawal gave President Lincoln “the opportunity he had been waiting for to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Now the war had a dual purpose of preserving the Union and ending slavery.”
The Luminaria
Today, the luminaria that are spread across the battlefield on the first Saturday evening of December underscore for park visitors the magnitude of the losses on both sides of the battle. The Memorial Illumination opens to the public starting at 6 p.m. at the Richardson Avenue entrance. Visitors must drive west along MD Route 34 and get their cars in line along the shoulder. It can be anywhere from a one- to two-hour wait to enter the battlefield, so it is recommended that cars get in line by 5 p.m. Once inside the park, drivers should turn off their headlights and drive slowly through the battlefield. Luminaria a half-dozen rows deep along the road will eventually turn into rows and rows of them that seem to stretch as far as the eye can see across the dark, rolling battlefield.
Luminaria cast a glow against the trees, wood fences, cannons, and monuments to the fallen. Visitors will see small bands of Civil War re-enactors on their drive through the park, warming themselves by bonfire. Near the end of the drive, luminaria glow against the walls of the old Dunker Church, which found itself in the middle of much of the violence on that September day.
Visit the Battlefield
If visitors find themselves hungry upon leaving the battlefield, there are nearby options for dinner in Sharpsburg and Boonsboro. Also, visitors should consider spending the night at a local hotel and returning to the battlefield the next day to learn more about this chapter of American history. The Visitor Center offers exhibits and a documentary about Antietam, and lectures by park rangers and self-guided hikes are available, too. Whatever one decides to do, no one will be able to forget the 23,000 men who died that day, represented so movingly by the luminaria placed across the rolling fields.
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