Existing comment:
"A Nation Should Preserve the Landmarks of its History"
-- Committee on Military Affairs, 1891
In 1890, legislation was passed to create Antietam Battlefield for the purpose of, "surveying, locating, and preserving the lines of battle." The US War Department was to supervise this undertaking not only at Antietam, but at four other Civil War battlefields. The Antietam Battlefield Board, composed of Civil War veterans, was established to research and oversee the early preservation efforts. The Board reached out to veterans for their assistance in creating a thorough history of the Maryland Campaign and began constructing tour roads and placing historical markers. Eventually, Antietam and the four other military parks were transferred to the National Park Service in 1933.
An observation tower at Sunken Road was completed in 1897. Over 300 War Department tablets were placed on the new tour roads in the 1890s to mark the location of different parts of each army during the battle.
Early military tours of staff rides to Antietam were conducted on horseback. This 1907 image shows the Army War college at the Burnside Bridge. From its inception in 1890 until today, military groups have trained at the park.
In 1924 the US Marines marched here from their base in Quantico, Virginia. After arriving, they conducted exercises on the battlefield, which even included tanks and aircraft. The training concluded with a re-enactment on September 12th before a crowd of 40,000 spectators.
The Battlefield Board established over five miles of tour roads to, "enable the visitor to reach, by public highways, the points of greatest military interest." Today, visitors still travel essentially the same roads created over one-hundred years ago to tour the field. |