Tagged With: U.S. Civil War

National War Correspondents Memorial

National War Correspondents Memorial

National War Correspondents Memorial

We decided to drive up to South Mountain this afternoon. We started out at with a visit to the Washington Monument. It was quite hazy, though, and the view wasn’t much to speak of. Also, the tower was closed, so we couldn’t go up it. From there we went to the three gaps that were the principal sites of fighting in the Battle of South Mountain in mid-September, 1962. They are, from north to south, Turner’s Gap, Fox’s Gap, and Crampton’s Gap.

The National War Correspondents Memorial, shown here, is in Crampton’s Gap in Gathland State Park. It was built in 1896 by Civil War correspondent George Alfred “Gath” Townsend (January 30, 1841 – April 15, 1914), who built a home for himself here in the early 1880s. He also built himself a mausoleum but is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

On our drive we happened to go by the South Mountain Creamery and stopped for ice cream.

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Dunker Church, Antietam Battlefield

Cathy at the Dunker Church, Antietam Battlefield

Cathy at the Dunker Church, Antietam Battlefield

On the morning of September 17, 1862, the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, presumably including Cathy’s 2-greats-uncle Gustavus, crossed the Wheat Field and approached the West Woods next to the Dunker Church. It was one of three main areas of fighting in the Battle of Antietam, along with the Sunken Lane and Burnside’s Bridge. We walked a lot of the battlefield and even without the family connection, it’s a sad place to be. We’re glad for what the Civil War accomplished but saddened by the huge cost. I sometimes wonder how different history would be if Lincoln had let the Confederate states form a separate country. I also wonder how different it would be if the North had been able to defeat the south in the first year of the war and it hadn’t taken those extra years.

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