History
The term "Antietam" is thought to be a derivative of an Algonquian phrase meaning "swift-flowing stream".
The creek is noted for numerous well-preserved stone arch bridges dating to the 19th century that still traverse the creek, the most famous of which is the 125-foot-long (38 m) Burnside's Bridge in the Antietam National Battlefield.
The creek was a major topographic feature during the Battle of Antietam (called the Battle of Sharpsburg in the American South), fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg. Burnside's Bridge became a major focus of combat as Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside repeatedly tried to capture the bridge from Confederate forces guarding the crossing from a high bluff overlooking the creek. The day of the battle is known as "the day Antietam Creek ran red" due to the blood of thousands of Union casualties mixing with the creek waters.
Read more about this topic: Antietam Creek
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“[Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.”
—Frances A. Griffin, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 19, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)