Antietam, Parting Thoughts

As we leave Antietam I hope you have enjoyed viewing this series as much as I have sharing it. These photographs were taken one beautiful morning in late August as I roamed this sacred ground. I much prefer to visit such places when no crowds are present as it allows me to reflect upon what transpired here.

As I walk these grounds I feel as if I am in a sanctuary, much the feeling of reverence I experience in a house of worship but much stronger. The combatants upon this field were all American, some from the North and some from the South. Both sides worshiped the same god and asked their god to protect them and to give their side the victory. Many were good and a few were bad, but you could not separate them by the uniform they wore.

This war was fought to decide whether State’s rights came before the powers of the Federal Government. The issue was slavery.

Looking back I have difficulty understanding how a people who worshiped Christ and read the same Bible I read could have conceived and perpetrated such an institution but then again it is also difficult for me to understand how this same people took this land from its rightful owners, the Native Americans, through centuries of ethnic cleansing.

I have no answers, only questions as I contemplate the history of this great country. I have listened to preachers tell how our country was founded upon biblical principles by God fearing men and I am left to wonder when I look at the “skeletons in our closet”.