---
id: "69085"
name: Antietam Campaign Byway
distance: "126"
duration: Allow 4 hours to drive the byway.
description: This byway is one of two Civil War Trails the intersect Maryland's Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area. Explore the remnants of Civil War battlefields in Western Maryland.
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websites:
  - url: https://www.visitmaryland.org/scenic-byways/antietam-campaign
    name: Maryland Travel Guide
attractions:
  - url: https://www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm
    name: Antietam National Battlefield
  - url: https://www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm
    name: Appalachian National Scenic Trail
  - url: https://www.nps.gov/hafe/index.htm
    name: Harpers Ferry National Historic Park
  - url: https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/western/southmountain.aspx
    name: South Mountain State Park
designations:
  - Maryland State Scenic Byway
states:
  - MD
ll:
  - -77.7460630002073
  - 39.45893899983497
bounds:
  - - -77.79943099984075
    - 39.146061000115026
  - - -77.3500139997463
    - 39.50641999958327

---

As the autumn of 1862 approached, President Abraham Lincoln felt he needed a decisive Union victory to ensure that there would be support for a yet-to-be-announced proclamation freeing the slaves. It's still debatable just how decisive the slaughter at Antietam - remembered as "The Bloodiest Single Day of the Civil War" - truly was. By sheer numbers, the Sept. 17 battle ended in a draw, with 10,7000 Confederates and 12,4000 Union soldiers killed, wounded or missing in action. However, General George McClellan's Union army thwarted the Rebel advance north, and a few days after the cannons fell silent, Lincoln visited the battlefield.

This byway roughly follows the chronology of events beginning Sept. 4, as General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, and ending two weeks later as Lee's forces limped back into West Virginia.  The byway brings you face to face with both familiar and lesser-known Civil War stories, while also placing you among breathtaking scenery and convenient recreational opportunities.