Antietam

I recently spent some time in Sharpsburg, Maryland, recently for parts of the 145th Anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Antietam, a special event since several of my family fought there.

The Antietam Visitors Center bookstore sells my Human Interest Stories from Antietam, and I signed several dozen copies for the store’s inventory. My son and I enjoyed the tours and battle talks and look forward to next year’s 145th commemoration of Gettysburg. The National Park Service deserves credit for putting together an excellent four-day program, with something of interest each day.

Several of my ancestors fought at Antietam. The Chambers boys of Marshall County, West Virginia, were my great-great-grandmother’s older brothers and cousins. They were a part of the 7th West Virginia in Nathan Kimball’s brigade that attacked the Sunken Road. After the war, most of the Chambers stayed in WV, but a few migrated up to Ohio after Mary Jane married my great-grandfather, Melvin Mingus. Descendants still dot the area, and some have memorabilia from the Chambers boys’ service to the Union.

Anyone else have ancestors or family that fought at Antietam?