"Life is a Battlefield"

During my parents' visit, those words were more than a paraphrased 1980's power ballad. My dad, the Civil War teacher and general history buff, took us to Antietam battlefield in western Maryland. I love education masked as a day trip to a cornfield.

Dunker Church, strategically located up on a hill and therefore fought over by the Union and Confederacy (two dudes out front not historically accurate):
A memorial to the fallen soldiers from Maryland:
The obligatory "Civil War cannons on the battlefield" picture:
Clara Barton was one of many women on the battlefield in Antietam. Some were disguised as men so they could fight. Others, like Ms. Barton, whose efforts to aid the suffering laid the groundwork for the American Red Cross, were considered "angels of the battlefield." This is a memorial to Ms. Barton, complete with a red cross made from parts of the chimney of her childhood home:
Thousands of soldiers died in the field below, which was full of corn before the battle began. Over the course of that September day, the corn went from a thick field to completely mowed down from the guns and canons firing. Soldiers were firing at each other at point-blank range. Some companies had a more than 80% fatality rate. One soldier's beloved Newfoundland dog was among the casualties, found draped across his master's body, trying to protect him after he was fatally shot.
The Civil War saw the first battles fought using trench warfare, which would become commonplace by World War I. The Confederate soldiers lay in wait in this trench, coined "Bloody Lane," while the Union soldiers marched toward them. They could hear their steps growing closer, but were told to wait to fire until they saw "the eagles on their buttons."
Our final stop that day was to the famous bridge named for General Burnside (who may be remembered more for his distinctive facial hair, or "sideburns"). The Confederate soldiers waited on the bluff for the Union soldiers as they tried to cross the bridge. Soldiers slipped down the banks of the river and were fired upon as they scrambled over each other up the muddy banks.