Thanksgiving in the USA (5)
Everyone knows that the American Civil War was a key period of US history that arguably still has resonances today and many Americans – including Mike – are fascinated by the personalities and engagements that made up that titantic struggle. Most non-Americans though would struggle to identify more than one of the civil war battles and that one would probably be Gettysburg. The last time I stayed with Mike & Laura we spent a fascinating and informative day visiting the site of the battle of Gettysburg. Yet most Americans are as familiar with the battle of Antietam as they are with Gettysburg and today (Tuesday) Mike & Laura took me to the site of this famous battle.
First though, on the way to Antietam, we stopped for a couple of hours at a place called Harpers Ferry in East Virginia which is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and the junction of the states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. The location is important in Civil War terms in two respects. First, on 16 October 1859, the fervent abolitionist John Brown launched an attack on the government armoury in the town. It failed miserably, he was hanged (remember the song “John Brown’s body”), and the event was subsequently seen as a key turning point in the build up to the war. Second, in the war itself, the strategically-located town was bitterly fought over by Union and Confederate troops and changed hands no less than eight times.
We had lunch at Harpers Ferry at a place called “Potomac Grille”. I decided to be American and to eat something new, so I had Reuben sandwich which is hot corned beef served on rye bread with Russian dressing, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese accompanied by pickle and crisps. It was good but too huge for me to finish.
From Harpers Ferry, we drove the short distance to the site of the battle of Antietam.
Antietam (named aft a local creek) – otherwise known as the Battle of Sharpsburg – took place around the town of that name in Maryland between 16-18 September 1862. It was a conflict between the Union Army of the Potomac of 87,000, led by General George McClellan, and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia of 45,000, led by General Robert E Lee. It is best known as being the bloodiest day in American military history with almost 23,000 men killed, wounded, missing or captured. The Union side suffered some 12,400 casualties, while the Confederates took around 10,300 casualties.
Despite being outnumbered two to one, Lee committed his entire force to the battle, while McClelland sent in only three-quarters of his force. While President Abraham Lincoln claimed victory and followed this up with the Emancipation Proclamation which changed the course of the war, military historians see the conflict as essentially a draw – but a brutally bloody one. During our time at the site, we viewed an explanatory film at the Visitors Center and drove around the battlefield whee we saw the locations of the three conflicts that inflicted the most casualties: the Cornfield, Bloody Lane and Burnside Bridge.
Before leaving the area, in the town of Sharpsburg we found an amazing ice cream parlour with the wonderful name “Nutters”. I ordered a brownie sundae with butter pecan ice cream and found that it came with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and nuts and it was HUGE. Even I could not finish it. The American portions are just too much.
November 23rd, 2016 at 9:33 am
Those of us brought up on the British “clear your plate” ethic always struggle with eating out in America. It’s usually best to have a starter instead of a main, or find one of your party to share a serving with you!
November 24th, 2016 at 12:32 am
Good advice! Janet, which I follow when I can.