The stone observatory on the Bloody lane is now finished and ready for visitors. The view from this point alone is worth a visit to the famous Bloody lane as you can take in the entire right to the left nearly four miles. There will be, when all planted, nearly four hundred markers, giving one a good idea of the entire battle field with the advantage of the good roads. Every body ought to visit it and make a study of this great battle.
Antietam Monuments in Connecticut Park
Submitted by StephenRecker on Tue, 02/18/2014 - 9:12pm
A few weeks ago I talked about this monument to the 11th Connecticut at Antietam, and how it was originally in Connecticut Park before being moved down by Burnside Bridge. Well it turns out that another Connecticut monument was almost placed there also, the one to the 8th Connecticut.
Here is O.T. Reilly in the Antietam Valley Record on Friday, June 8, 1894:
Your correspondent is in receipt of a letter from a member of the 16th Conn. regiment stating that the 8th, 11th and 16th regiments of that State, will erect monuments on the 10 acre lot of the 16th Conn., south of town, in time to be dedicated on the 17th of September next.
The 10 acre lot referred to is called Connecticut Park. It is the north-east quadrant of Otto's forty-acre cornfield where now stands the monument to the 16th Connecticut.
O.T. reported a little over a month later, Friday, July 20, 1894, that the plans of the Connecticut veterans had matured somewhat:
Mr. John S. Lane and son, Harry C., of Meriden, Connecticut, who stopped at the Wyand House one night this week, were looking over the battlefield the past few days, viewing the field of carnage where Mr. Lane, Sr., helped to defend the Stars and Stripes thirty-two years ago. The State of Connecticut appropriated $1000 for each regiment of that State to be used in erecting battlefield monuments where they did their hardest fighting. Mr. Lane who is a member of the 8th Conn., bought of Mr. Uriah Gross, near Sharpsburg, a plot of ground 20 feet square for which he paid Mr. Gross $100. A monument will be erected on the spot at once and will be unveiled in October.
So, the 8th CT monument was to be "where they did their hardest fighting" and the dedication date had been moved to October. It is amazing to think that only three months before their monuments were to be dedicated, the veterans were still finishing their plans.
Also interesting to note the they may have crossed the Long Bridge to get to Wyand's place in Keedysville. The Wyand brothers had places across the street from each other, one a store and the other a train station/hotel. I will post some great old photos of those places soon.
About
Hello. I'm Stephen Recker and welcome to my blog. In it I will be discussing the different projects I am working on related to the American Civil War with a focus on photography related to the battle of Antietam. I am particularly interested in how the battlefield has been interpreted throughout the years. I will be discussing how it was done then and how new technologies can be brought to bear to bring life to those old materials as well as new ones. See the 99 Places Every Antietam Battlefield Guide Should Know.
Sharpsburg Items
Antietam Valley Record
Thursday, September 5, 1895