Battle of Antietam

Burnside Bridge on Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, the narrow stone crossing that Union troops had to force under fire. On September 17, 1862, some 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of fighting at Antietam. Here, fewer than 500 Georgia soldiers on the steep bank above held off three assaults by Burnside's much larger Ninth Corps for more than three hours. Stand on it and the problem is obvious: one crowded crossing, overlooked by a steep wooded bank.