Sharpsburg in Washington County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Aftermath Along the Hagerstown Turnpike

Antietam National Battlefield

— National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior —

Aftermath Along the Hagerstown Turnpike Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 13, 2011

1. Aftermath Along the Hagerstown Turnpike Marker

Inscription.
Throughout the morning of the battle, fighting raged here along the Hagerstown Turnpike. At one point, Union and Confederate forces found themselves just yards away from each other on opposite sides of this road. Afterward, commander of the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry Major Rufus Dawes, remembered, “The piles of dead on the Sharpsburg and Hagerstown Turnpike surpassed anything on any other battlefield of my observation . . . my feeling was that the Antietam Turnpike surpassed all in manifest evidence of slaughter.”

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil.

Location. 39° 28.821′ N, 77° 44.903′ W. Marker is in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in Washington County. Marker is on Old Hagerstown Turnpike / Dunker Church Road south of Starke Avenue, on the left when traveling north. Marker is in Antietam National Battlefield on Dunker Church Road, just south of Starke Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sharpsburg MD 21782, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Sedgwick's Division, Second Army Corps (a few steps from this marker); Twelfth Army Corps (a few steps from this marker); Massachusetts State Monument

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(within shouting distance of this marker); 124th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (within shouting distance of this marker); First Army Corps (within shouting distance of this marker); New Jersey State Monument (within shouting distance of this marker); Second Regiment (within shouting distance of this marker); Jackson's Division, Jackson's Command (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Sharpsburg.

More about this marker. The background of the marker features a Civil War era photo of dead soldiers at the location of the marker. It has a caption of “Photographer Alexander Gardner described these broken bodies as dead Confederates. The Hagerstown Turnpike is on the other side of the fence on the right.”

Also see . . . Antietam National Battlefield. National Park Service website entry (Submitted on October 13, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)

Alternate View of Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 13, 2011

2. Alternate View of Marker

Marker on the Hagerstown Turnpike image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 13, 2011

3. Marker on the Hagerstown Turnpike

The Hagerstown Turnpike and the field seen on the marker are visible in this photo. The New Jersey and Indiana State Monuments can also be seen in the upper right corner of the photo.

Marker on the Antietam National Battlefield image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Bill Coughlin, April 13, 2011

4. Marker on the Antietam National Battlefield

Credits. This page was last revised on October 13, 2022. It was originally submitted on April 15, 2011, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 2,240 times since then and 63 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 15, 2011, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.