I wrote this article for The Civil War Courier a week after the events of 9/11/2001. Later, the death toll of the terrorist attacks was reduced. The Battle of Antietam of the Civil War, which occurred on Sept. 17, 1862, again took its place in history as the bloodiest day in American history with over 3,600 fatalities and 20,000 total casualties.

ANTIETAM NO LONGER "AMERICA'S BLOODIEST DAY"

            SHARPSBURG, Md. -- When visitors and park staff gathered for the observation of the 139^th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam Sept 15-17, they were painfully aware that one thing had changed.

            They no longer stood on the site of the deadliest day in American History.

            The over 5,400 presumed dead from terrorists attacks at the World Trade Center in New York has surpassed the 3,654 who died at the Civil War site.

            "Since the 11^th of September, we've thought of little else," Antietam Battlefield National Park Superintendent John Howard said.

            Howard said the staff met on Sept. 12 to decide whether or not to go on with the planned anniversary activities.

            "We made a conscious decision we would," Howard said.  The park staff wanted to be open for visitors and provide some sense of continuity, he explained.

            The weekend was very heavily attended.  "We had the folks who come every year, but we also had a lot who came who were not regulars," Howard said.

            Some of the visitors had simply been driving and stopped at the battlefield park.  "They were literally trapped by the shutdown of air travel and were trying to get home by car.  They saw our sign on the interstate."

            Howard said there were even people who had been in the World Trade Center on the day of the bombing.  "One man came up to me and thanked me for (the park) being open and giving him this place to go," Howard said.

            "A lot were looking for a quiet place to go."

            On Thursday, Sept. 20, Howard was sitting at his desk, trying to put into words his thanks to the park staff in a memorandum.

            "The staff was outstanding," he explained.  "The decision to stay open was easy.  The hard decision was to be them.

"A lot of my staff spent time listening, rather than talking."

            "This is a very passionate place to work.  But this weekend, I saw a fire in their eyes," Howard said.

            Howard said he and his staff recognized they were in a unique position.  They had the knowledge that things like the unbelievable loss of Sept. 11, 2001 had happened before.

            "On the 18^th (of September 1862), thousands of people were asking themselves, 'How can we ever survive this?'" Howard reflected. "But they did.  It's the message that we can persevere.  We have before."

            Estimates of the dead from the Battle of Antietam have ranged as high as 5,000, well above the official 3,654 of the day's battle.  Wounded reports range from 17,000 to 20,000. 

            After the battle, the sunken road there became known as Bloody Lane, with Confederate dead lying three feet deep for a mile, according to a description in "1400 Days: The US Civil War Day by Day".

            At Gettysburg National Park, staff members said after the terrorist attack that they have reflected on the parallel of people looking for lost family members, which happened in great numbers in the days after the July 1-3, 1863 battle.

            "We received calls, asking if we were open," one staffer said.  "Some callers were from New York and they said, 'We're thinking of getting out of town and wondered if you would be open.'"

            At Shiloh Battlefield Park, Superintendent Woody Harrell, his staff and visitors gathered in front of the Visitor's Center on Friday, Sept. 14, for a moment of silence.  They passed out American flags from a box containing 911.

            "I spoke on the symbolism of 9-11, how the number 9-1-1 nationwide represents both a code for the occurrence of life-threatening catastrophic incidents big and small, and the underlying system of help and support that Americans in trouble find only a phone call away," Harrell reported.

            "As this date takes its place alongside Dec. 7 in American consciousness, every time we think of 9-11, we need to renew our commitment to continually reach out to assist our fellow citizens.

            "I then reminded the group that for over 100 years, the hallowed ground of Shiloh had been set aside as a special place because here we also commemorate a similar staggering loss of life - 3,500 outright American deaths in less than two days, 23,746 total casualties."

            Harrell said that over the weekend, they left the box of flags out and have offered subsequent visitors the chance to place a flag with others near the Visitor Center.

            "The number of flags on the lawn still grows," he said.

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