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The Burnside Bridge:
Known as the Rohrbach Bridge before the battle, it was renamed for General Ambrose Burnside who commanded the Union soldiers who fought to take this crucial Antietam crossing during the battle. This bridge is one of several bridges that Washington County constructed as part of a project that spanned a 40 year period.
Designed and built by John Weaver at a cost of $2,300, the bridge connected Sharpsburg with Rohrersville, the next town to the south. It was completed in 1836 and was actively used for traffic until 1966. In an effort to preserve the bridge, a bypass was built to take cars across a new bridge upstream. At the same time the four monuments that had been mounted on the bridge were removed and relocated to the east bank. The wooden coping was restored and the asphalt removed. |