1864 Battlefield Maps Gettysburg and Antietam

OldArmy71

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12:39p, 6/20/20

AG

In 1864 a guy made maps of the battlefields of Antietam and Gettysburg, recording surviving breastworks, troop positions, artillery positions, and, most importantly, graves. You guys may know about these maps, but I've never seen them. Very sobering.

Antietam

Gettysburg

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30wedge

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9:17p, 6/20/20

Those are very cool. Can't imagine walking over those battlefields not all that long after the fighting took place.

Thanks for posting those.

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JABQ04

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10:13p, 6/20/20

AG

We are going to Antietam and Gettysburg in August. (As long as things don't get locked down again).

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OldArmy71

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10:20p, 6/20/20

AG

There is a video at the bottom of this page that offers a ZOOM discussion with a number of historians.

The guy who made the map based it on charts and lists that were made of the bodies and burials in the days and weeks after each battle.

His Gettysburg map identifies about 10 specific men by name. The one from Antietam identifies the graves of about 50 men by name. The historians make some connections to the Alexander Gardner photos from Antietam that were on display at the famous NYC exhibit in October 1862.

The men in nearly all of the graves on the Gettysburg map were moved to the National Cemetery or elsewhere.

That is also true of many, but not all, of the men on the Antietam map.

tallgrant

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In reply to JABQ04 • 9:06a, 6/22/20

JABQ04 said:
We are going to Antietam and Gettysburg in August. (As long as things don't get locked down again).

You doing any special preparation beforehand?

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In reply to tallgrant • 6:52p, 6/22/20

AG

Special in regards to studying up on the battles or COVID stuff?

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tallgrant

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11:49p, 6/22/20

Studying battles or otherwise preparing to visit. I did a lot of prep via ranger led walking podcasts and researching hiking trails before my visit in 2018, and I got a lot out of it. Woke up at 5:30 each morning like a kid on Christmas, and would do 2 hours of serious hiking before my wife got up.

But at the least I'd recommend finding the Texas monuments. They're pretty distinct and nice to visit (I think I've found 6 at various battlefields). Good spot for a photo with a Gig 'em if you're so inclined.

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JABQ04

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In reply to tallgrant • 4:28a, 6/23/20

AG

We visited Gettysburg in 2017. I woke up at 5 am and ran the battlefield. First it was amazing because for June it was in the mid 60s as far as temperature and second, just quiet and peaceful and got to spend a couple hours all to myself. Unfortunately we only got to spend one day there, but did hit the Texas monuments before we left. Never even made it to Culps hill. This time we're doing multiple days there with some time at Antietam. I'll look into the ranger padcasts. I've watched the YouTube videos of the ranger tours.

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Rabid Cougar

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10:06a, 6/23/20

AG

Highly recommend gathering copies of period maps and period photos to take with you. You will not find any battlefields that have been better topographically preserved as these two. It is not hard to line features up and you will find you are looking a the exact same location as the photos.

My wife's cousin lives in Gettysburg just off Biglerville Road north of and within site of Barlow's Knoll. I have spend days on the battlefield with my books and maps following a single unit or a particular segment of the battle.

The same with Sharpsburg and Manassas. My brother lives in Middelburg,Va. at the base of Bull Run Mountain in the middle of Mosby's Confederacy (Fauguier and Loudoun Counties) . He has the books and maps and we will spend entire weekends doing Staff Rides.

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