The third annual appreciation event for members at the Honor Guard/Lifetime ($1,000) level was held on August 19. Antietam Park Ranger Keith Snyder kicked off the event with a walking tour of the Antietam National Cemetery. Keith led us on remarkable walk thru the National Cemetery recounting its history and stories of some of America’s fallen heroes buried there. To thank Keith for an unforgettable day we presented him with a copy of Scott Hartwig’s new book, I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign. After the program, we wandered next door to the Inn at Antietam for some food, wine, and fellowship. The Inn is owned by one of the Institute’s Corporate Members.
Committee Chair, Laura Marfut introduces Park Ranger Keith Snyder for the start of the Cemetery program.Each year the institute hosts an Honor Guard Gathering to recognize and thank the LIFE members of the Antietam Institute with a special program and reception.Keith points out the grave of Fireman Patrick Howard Roy, USN. Killed by terrorists in October, 2000 while serving aboard the Navy ship USS Cole. Patrick grew up in Keedysville, Maryland, just a few miles away. Although the cemetery closed in 1953, Roy’s family was given special permission to bury him here. He was only19 years old. May A. Lundberg from West Virginia.
She was a nurse during WWI, and is the only female veteran buried in Antietam National Cemetery.Maxwell Swain graduated from Hagerstown High School and joined the United States
Army just after graduation in 1944. Swain had be killed during the Battle of the Bulge. Buried in a unmarked grave, Swain’s body was identified only because of an address book given to him by his mother.Keith discusses how the soldiers were buried on the field after the battle. Using one of the Alexander Gardner photos of the Burnside Bridge, Keith identifies four New York soldiers that were reinterned into the cemetery.Those four New York soldiers are in the front row of the New York section, marked by the flags.Keith talked about Private Austin G. Michael who enlisted in the Maryland National Guard on June 5, 1917 and arrived in France on June 15, 1918 with the Blue and Gray 29th Division, Company “B” of the 115 infantry Regt. He was Killed in Action during combat operations in the Center Sector, Meuse-Argonne, France, on October 17, 1918, just ten days short of his 20th birthday.Of the 4,776 Union graves at Antietam National Cemetery, 1,836 or 38 percent of the dead remain unidentified. More than 250 post-Civil War dead are also buried here. Veterans and their spouses from the Spanish American War, World War I and II, and the Korean War. We want to thank Keith for an excellent program.Members gathered for a reception at the Inn at Antietam, one of our corporate members.Member Aaron Holley discusses the progress on our mapping initiative of creating a base map of the battlefield. We are looking to have the final version ready for printing and available for purchase at the fall conference.Institute President, Chris Vincent provided a brief state of the institute to the members and upcoming events, publications and philanthropic projects.Following the reception, Jim Rosebrock led some members out to Garden’s (Palmetto) South Carolina Battery. It is located just south of the cemetery and was commanded by Capt. Hugh R. Garden.
It was a wonderful time at the Inn at Antietam. Thanks to Miriam, Will & HAMISH, their dog.
