Antietam and Frederick
We start our final day with a pleasant country drive before arriving at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, site of the bloodiest day in American history. We continue on to the city of Frederick, where we will catch our last ballgame of the trip.
Dad and I began the final day of our Mid-Atlantic Baseball Road Trip once again driving along rural highways, the morning summer sunlight bringing gradual color and dimension to the countryside around us. We drove through more remote places than we had previously, cruising beside the winding Juniata River, its waters curling around the tiny town of Hopewell; and climbing over densely forested Riddlesburg Mountain, where we lost cell service and nearly lost our way. We hit all of the burgs — Riddlesburg, Martinsburg, McConnellsburg, Mercersburg — and saw many more cornfields. We chatted, listened to our podcasts, and enjoyed the scenery as we headed toward the finish line of this immense and intense journey.
We crossed over into Maryland and circled around Hagerstown — former home of the Minor League Hagerstown Suns and now home to the independent Hagerstown Flying Boxcars — before turning south toward Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg.
Antietam National Battlefield
The Civil War battlefield lies amongst cornfields and pastures between Antietam Creek and the Potomac River. This pastoral place is the site of the bloodiest day in American history — September 17, 1862 — when a combined 22,717 men died, were wounded, or went missing.We went inside the Visitor Center and walked upstairs to listen to a ranger describe the fighting while standing in front of tall windows revealing the battlefield scene.
It was the first major battle of the war to take place on Union soil. With Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in defensive positions along the creek, the army of Union Major General George B. McClellan launched a frontal assault. Troops under Union Major General Joseph Hooker then attacked Lee’s flank but were unable to strike a decisive blow. The army under Union Major General Ambrose Burnside then entered the fray, suffering heavy losses while capturing a bridge — now called Burnside Bridge — over Antietam Creek.
Just when Union soldiers seemed destined to overwhelm their adversaries, Confederate Major General A. P. Hill arrived with troops from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, launching a surprise counterattack that ended Burnside’s assault and the battle.
Dunker’s Church, site of fighting during the Battle of Antietam
I took a tour of the Visitor Center’s museum describing the Battle of Antietam and its larger importance in the Civil War. While the battle was essentially a stalemate, Lee’s advance north had been repelled. This gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation months later, declaring millions of slaves in Confederate states to be legally free. The move gave a massive boost to the moral justifications for the war and caused considerable chaos in Confederate territory. It also dissuaded the British and French from joining the successionist cause.
We stopped in nearby Sharpsburg for lunch at Captain Benders Tavern, a pub that has operated on Main Street since around 1936. There is no photographic evidence, but authorities say an Antietam Reuben Panini was spotted at the scene.
Frederick, Maryland
We drove about 40 minutes east from Sharpsburg to Frederick, Maryland, our destination for the final ballgame of our trip with the Frederick Keys later that night. Our first order of business was to find a UPS Store so that Dad could ship his heavy box of accumulated logo baseballs back home. That business done, we checked into our hotel, Dad settled in for an afternoon siesta, and I drove to downtown Frederick to check things out.I stopped first at Carroll Creek Park, a ribbon of floodplain south of downtown that has been converted into a pleasant creekside walking trail.
With more than 78,000 people, Frederick has the second-highest population of any city in Maryland, trailing only Baltimore. It is likely named for Frederick Calvert, the last in the line of Barons Baltimore who governed the province of Maryland in the pre-Revolutionary War era. Frederick inherited his role upon his father’s death at age 20. He would later be known for refusing to provide funds for the defense of the colonies in the French and Indian War — the only colony to do so; for his fascination with Turkish culture; for his endless philandering; and for being put on trial (though acquitted) for abduction and rape.
Frederick the city is known for more honorable things, such as religious tolerance. A variety of major churches have graced its streets for hundreds of years — Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal — giving Frederick the nickname of “Spire City.” I walked along Church Street, passing four of those places of worship, then turned down Market Street. Shoppers were out and about on this Saturday, strolling through the shade of the late afternoon.
Back at our hotel, I noticed a string of ballplayers walking out of the hotel toward an idling coach out front. It was the visiting State College Spikes, heading off to ballpark number 20 on our itinerary. We would be on our way soon after.