Sharpsburg and the Battle

Sharpsburg and the Battle. "We had to live on fear ". , The house across from you became a hospital and a scene of heartbreak after the Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862., Sharpsburg suffered terrible hardships during the battle. Confederate stragglers looted homes, while Union artillery fire crashed into the village, setting buildings ablaze. 23-year-old Maria Teresa Kretzer sheltered in her parents' cellar on East Main Street, along with crying babies, barking dogs, and six Confederate soldiers, as artillery projectiles exploded nearby. "We didn't have any breakfast ..." she later recalled. "We had to live on fear." Several buildings burned down, including the homes of widows Margaret Shackelford and Sarah Himes. After the battle, "Nearly every house bore the marks of bullets and cannon balls," Corp. Timothy J. Regan of the 9th Massachusetts Infantry recorded. "Some of the houses are entirely destroyed.", Following the fighting, Union medical personnel converted the town's churches and houses into hospitals, including the home of Adam Michael and his wife, Nancy Reel Michael, which still stands today, directly across the road. Four of their adult children, Elizabeth, Samuel, Caleb, and Catherine, lived in the household. During the time they housed the wounded, typhoid fever spread from infected soldiers to the family, taking the lives of Nancy Michael and her daughter Elizabeth. "The disease of the Hospital has afflicted three of our family," Samuel wrote to his brother David, who had moved to Indiana. "Mother died with this Disease on the 25th of November ... I never experienced such a night." Compounding their misery, soldiers carried off their horses, crops, and livestock. The surviving family members, like many other residents in Sharpsburg, faced an uncertain future while struggling to recover from their devastating misfortunes., (captions) , View of the Michael house from South Church Street. Collection of Sharpsburgh Museum of History, Pennsylvania nurse Anna Holstein cared for wounded and sick soldiers inside the Michael house. Public domain, Nancy and Adam Michael. Collection of Sharpsburgh Museum of History