150th Anniversary of Battle of Antietam

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Chuck Raasch, What Antietam Bloodshed Teaches Us About War Today; Horrific and historic day of combat echoes forward as Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are headed to the history books. USA Today, Sept 17, 2012 (title in print; feature article in front page).
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nat ... hanistan/57790744/1

Note:
(a) Please view the graphic first, and then skip the first several paragraphs by reading the paragraph that starts with "Besides stopping Robert E Lee's first invasion of the North and giving Abraham Lincoln the ability to issue the Emancipation Proclamation after a battlefield success, Antietam was the site * * *

Oops! I notice that the online version of the report does not carry the graphic. Please view maps 2 and 3 in (c) below for the cornfield (which changed hand six times), Bloody Lane, and Burnside Bridge.
(b) Antietam Creek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antietam_Creek
(a 41.7-mile-long (67.1 km) tributary of the Potomac River [originating in southern Pennsylvania, flowing south through Western Maryland]; The creek became famous as a focal point of the Battle of Antietam ; The term "Antietam" is thought to be a derivative of an Algonquian phrase meaning "swift-flowing stream")
(c) Battle of Antietam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Antietam
(also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South; fought on Sept 17, 1862; Result  Tactically inconclusive; strategic Union victory [see quotation])

Quote: "Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, it had significance as enough of a victory to give President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French governments from potential plans for recognition of the Confederacy. * * * Although Lincoln had intended to do so earlier, he was advised by his Cabinet to make this announcement after a Union victory to avoid the perception that it was issued out of desperation. * * * some suspected they [Britain and France] were planning to do so in the aftermath of another Union defeat.

(d) Town of Sharpsburg, Maryland, whose official website indicates 705 persons in 2010 census, was named "in honor of his friend Horatio Sharpe [1718 – 1790; governorship 1753-1768], the Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland."  Wikipedia
(e) Memorial Day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

Quote:

"Following President Abraham Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, there were a variety of events of commemoration. The first well-known observance of a Memorial Day-type observance after the Civil War was in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865.

"The preferred name for the holiday gradually changed from 'Decoration Day' to 'Memorial Day,' which was first used in 1882.

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The graphic (a map):

"BLOODY BATTLE
Key element of the battle of Antietam:

[i] Cornfield  A 24-acre patch that changed hands six times and left 8,500 casualties.
[ii] West Woods  Patch of trees in which a Union attack was outflanked by Confederates, resulting in 4,050 killed or wounded, most of them in 20 minutes of fighting.
[iii] Bloody Lane  Half-mile stretch of road where more than 5,600 men were killed or wounded in roughly three hours of fighting.
[iv] Pry House  Headquarters of Union Gen George McClellan and grounds where more than 400 wounded federal enlisted men and officers were taken.
[v] Burnside Bridge  Narrow stone arch over Antietam Creek that took several waves of attacks before Union troops crossed it; 500 federal and Confederate troops were killed or wounded here.

Source  National Park Service, USA TODAY research"