150th Anniversary Antietam!

 On Saturday, it was a beautiful day!  And it was the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg.  And I saw my first ever Civil War Battle reenactment. It was pretty dang awesome!

Since the Battle of Antietam was such a major battle during the war, there were a lot of things going on in remembrance of the battle.

 They had hundreds of volunteers dressed up in period costume.  Some played music from the time period. 

 Others told us about the Navy and their involvement in the Civil War.

 Others told us about the medical treatment during the war.  (This poor mannequin was not in good shape. And yes that is his leg sitting on top of him.)

 There were lots of tents with little stores in them where they sold replicas of period pieces, such as toys, clothing, pictures, books etc.  We explored the tents.  I bought one thing...

 A snood.  All three of us bought snoods and wore them the rest of the day :) 

There was a reenactment of the Battle of Bloody Lane.  This picture was before the battle as they were preparing to start.

 The confederates awaiting the battle to start.

So before the battle started the soldiers had to all march out onto the field. As the Union soldiers marched by they carried an old American flag with them.  And at this point the announcer, on the loudspeakers, announced that we would be singing the National Anthem.

When we started singing I felt like we all were singing loud and proud. And I got the goosebumps as we sang our National Anthem and watched the old American flag march by as we commemorated one of the major battles in a war that helped shape the United States of America into what it is today.  It was awesome! 

These were the Union soldiers.  They had a lot more cannons than the Confederates did.

See that smoke in the picture.  Well they fired off the cannons. Of course they did not have the balls in them, but it definitely made the loud noise that it would if it did have one in. They try to make it as authentic as possible. 

 In the action of the battle.  The Union is on the right.  The Confederates on the left.

 Some of the casualties from the battle. The bloodiest day of battle ever fought on American soil.

And the Union won!  After the battle and the reenactors are marching off the field.

It kind of amazed me how many reenactors get involved in these things.  Meaning it costs quite a bit of money and takes a bit of time to be a reenactor and how many people love it enough to do it.  I think it's pretty awesome! 

I had to get at least one picture with a reenactor.  Thanks to Anne for calling him over for me :).  Thanks to Kara for inviting me to go.  I enjoyed it! 

Stay tuned for more pictures from day two of our mini-vacation...