Here are a few more photographs that Bill and I took at the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpburg, Maryland last Sunday. These photographs were taken in the area around the visitor center of the park, where heavy fighting took place in the morning of September 17, 1862 on the Antietam Battlefield. If you didn’t see them, we posted our photographs from the Burnside Bridge area of the park earlier this week. As we mentioned in the previous post, the light wasn’t very good the morning we were at Antietam, so Bill experimented with his new infrared DSLR camera, and I took multiple exposures of many scenes to create High Dynamic Range (HDR) images in Photoshop.
The first two photographs are ones that Bill took with his Canon Rebel Xti that has been converted to an infrared camera. They are both scenes of the battlefield taken from near the visitor center. The first shows on of the Civil War era cannons in the park.
(c) 2008 William Lawrence
The second shows the battlefield with the barn from the Miller Farm in the distance. The Miller farm including the cornfield where some of the heaviest fighting of the battle took place was owned by David R. Miller.
(c) 2008 William Lawrence
One of the most easily recognized monuments at the Antietam Battlefield is the New York Monument. The monument honors all the men and units from New York that fought at Antietam. Almost twenty five percent of the Union forces at Antietam were from New York.
(c) 2008 Patty Hankins
Not far from the New York Monument is the Maryland Monument. It is the only monument dedicated to soldiers who fought on both sides of the war. This is one of HDR images from Antietam.
(c) 2008 Patty Hankins
This next photograph is the statue on the top of the Maryland Monument.
(c) 2008 Patty Hankins
Our final photograph from our trip to Antietam is of the cannons and carriages used to transport the artillery during the Civil War. The artillery near the visitor center is located where Confederate Colonel Stephen Lee had his line of 19 guns from Virginia, Louisiana and South Caroline during the morning of the battle. The New York State Monument and the 20th New York Monument can be seen in the background. This is another of my HDR images from the battlefield.
(c) 2008 Patty Hankins
If you’ve never been to the battlefield at Antietam, it is well worth visiting. It is located about 90 miles from Washington, DC and only a few minutes from Hagerstown, MD. The battle was one of the key battles of the Civil War and President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation shortly after the battle. The National Park Service website for the Antietam National Battlefield is wonderful – be sure to visit it before you head to the park.