The Horrors of the Battlefield

“The sounds of bullets and cutting off arms and legs” were the words of Dr. Bernard Vanderfieft, a military surgeon who was born in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day long battle in the history of America. Dr. Vanderfieft claims; "That day alone, 23,000 dead and wounded were counted. The hospital only consisted of several tents and barns, which could house 600 wounded men, who laying on field beds or on straw". The Battle of Antietam was located in Sharpsburg, Maryland. A large field with a few small structures is where the battle took place.

One of the small structures located on the battlefield was a barn. This barn was originally used as a Hospital, but soon got overrun. Bodies were coming in by the hundreds and thousands. Only a fraction could be partially treated, the majority were not even seen before they perished.

Two more structures on the battlefield were two brick houses. Both used during this incredibly gory battle. These two houses go by the names of The Pry House and The Piper House. Both of these houses are reported to be haunted. Some stories ranging from, "footsteps heard on the stairs to apparitions of a woman thought to be the wife of one of the generals who died in the house." The Pry land was inherited by two brothers, Philip and Samuel Pry, by their father in 1828. The brick house was not constructed on the land until 1844. This house was a headquarters for the Union Army. The Piper house was comendered on the 15th of September 1863 and was used as the headquarters for Confederate soldiers. Both of these houses saw much carnage and are both reportedly haunted from souls of soldiers who were killed on the property of each house.

The last significant building was a the St. Paul Episcopal Church in Sharpsburg which was "used as a Confederate hospital". The church had seen lots of action and eventually overrun leaving the floorboards "still stained with blood and cannot be removed even with sanding."

"After twelve hours of combat, the roar of battle started to fade away. 23,000 men had been killed, wounded, or listed as missing, the single bloodiest day in the history of the United States. R.E. Lee's first invasion of the North ended as he retreated back into Virginia on the night of September 18." Although this day goes down as the bloodiest day in the American Civil War, this day was a major turning point in the war for the Union Army.