Monday, May 14, 2007

Antietam National Cemetery

As you might have realized by now I tend to visit a lot of cemeteries. Of course its impossible to bypass the national cemetery at Antietam. Here is "Old Simon" standing guard over his fallen compatriots.
This is the Wisconsin section. As Craig, a Wisconsin native, put it, "Wisconsin, section 10 in the cemetery but first in your hearts." I don't have an ancestors buried here, in fact I don't think I have any ancestors who fought at Antietam but I tend to visit the Wisconsin section in any national cemetery I visit. From the Wisconsin section I could see a huge patriotic arrangement through the trees so made a detour over there. Here is the final resting place of Patrick Howard Roy, who was killed in the attack on the USS Cole. I had forgotten he was buried here but once I saw it I remembered the story. Roy was a Sharpsburg native who was allowed to buried here even though the cemetery has been closed to new burials since 1953. Very touching to see the display his friends and family had left behind.
Just south of the national cemetery is a great view of the southern half of the battlefield. Lee used this high ground during the battle and once you see the view from outside the walls its clear why he did so.

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