Listed coordinates are the starting
location, NOT the cache. You will need a device that is Wherigo
capable like a Garmin Colorado or GPS enabled Pocket PC with
Wherigo Player installed. More information about Wherigo can be
found here: Wherigo Website. To hunt
this cache, you must download the Wherigo cartridge
"The Bloodiest Day"
The Battle of Antietam was the first invasion of the North by
Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern
Virginia. After Lee’s dramatic victory at the Second Battle
of Manassas during the last two days of August, he wanted to keep
the offensive and decided to splash across the Potomac River.
Arriving in Frederick, Lee divided his army in order to capture
the Union garrison stationed at Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry was a
vital location for the Confederate lines of supply and
communication back to Virginia. The 12,000 Union soldiers at
Harpers Ferry threatened Lee’s link back to the south. Gen.
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and about half of the army
were sent to capture Harpers Ferry. The rest of the Confederates
moved north and west toward South Mountain and Hagerstown,
Maryland.
Back in Washington D.C., President Abraham Lincoln turned to
Major General George B. McClellan to protect the capital and
respond to the Maryland invasion. McClellan quickly reorganized the
demoralized Army of the Potomac and advanced towards Lee. The
armies first clashed on South Mountain where on September 14 the
Confederates tried unsuccessfully to block the Federals at three
mountain passes – Turner’s, Fox’s and
Crampton’s Gaps.
Following the Confederate retreat from South Mountain, Lee
considered returning to Virginia. However, with word of
Jackson’s capture of Harpers Ferry on September 15, Lee
decided to make a stand at Sharpsburg. Thousands of soldiers in
blue marched into position throughout the 15th and 16th as
McClellan prepared for his attempt to drive Lee from Maryland. The
Battle of Antietam began at dawn on the 17th and for the next 12
hours the landscape was literally turned red with the blood of
Americas finest.
Despite over 23,000 casualties of the nearly 100,000 engaged,
both armies stubbornly held their ground as the sun set on the
devastated landscape. The next day, September 18, the opposing
armies gathered their wounded and buried their dead. That night
Lee’s army withdrew back across the Potomac to Virginia,
ending Lee’s first invasion into the North.