Antietam

 We visited Antietam Battlefield (in Maryland right by the West Virginia border) during a perfect time of year. Coincidentally, we went at almost the same time of year that the battle took place.
The Battle of Antietam (Sep 17, 1862) was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Over 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln after this battle. Lincoln was waiting for a Union victory to ensure he had the support of the North.

 We started at the museum/theater/visitor's center. This is where we picked up the kids' activity packets and paid the whopping 6 dollar fee to tour the site. The kids were supposed to complete the packets and show them to a ranger at the end of our visit to get their "junior ranger" certificates. griffin scribbled over most of his during the introductory movie. One page says "color these items when you see them on the tour". Instead, he scribbled on the items when we saw them in the movie. So, by the end of the 20 minutes he thought he was all done.

 You can barely see the edge of the cornfield in the middle right. A lot of fighting took place in the cornfield and we were told about one soldier fell every second here. Maryland State Monument is on the left- dedicated to both sides of the battle because Maryland was a border state and Marylanders fought on both sides of the war.

 Dunker Church- started the day as a "focal point" of several Union attacks. Ended the day as a medical aid station.

 This little campsite showed how the soldiers lived, what they ate/carried/wore etc... After watching all the fighting in the introductory video griffin was terrified to go near this campsite.

 These muzzle-down cannons mark the spots where the 6 generals were killed/mortally wounded in the battle.

 This observation tower doesn't seem too bad, but after hiking the rickety stairs with the 4 kids I changed my mind.

The kids on Burnside Bridge.

We had to drive back to the visitor's center so they could get their "junior ranger" certificates. The ranger at the desk actually flipped through each page of the activity packet and asked the kids questions. They didn't do half the pages and griffin's packet was just a mess of scribbles. They just stared blankly at the ranger. I guess you don't have to do or know anything to be certified because they each got a certificate, a pile of cards, stickers, a pin for their shirts and another pamphlet.