Burnside Bridge

The stone bridge where some of Antietam's bloodiest fighting took place. Union troops tried to cross while Confederate sharpshooters held them back from the far bank.

Burnside Bridge stands as one of the most haunted locations on the Antietam battlefield, where the bloodiest single day in American history unfolded on September 17, 1862. The three-arched limestone bridge, built in 1836 by master bridge builder John Weaver for just $3,200, became a killing ground when approximately 450 Confederate soldiers from the 2nd and 20th Georgia regiments held off nearly 14,000 Union troops for almost four hours. Under the command of Brigadier General Robert Toombs and Colonel Henry Benning, the Georgian sharpshooters occupied rifle pits and barricades on the bluffs overlooking the creek, picking off wave after wave of Union soldiers attempting to cross the narrow 12-foot-wide span.

The assault began around 10 AM when General Ambrose Burnside received urgent orders from McClellan to capture the bridge 'at all hazards.' Five separate charges were repulsed before the 51st Pennsylvania and 51st New York finally stormed across around 1 PM. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Holmes of the 2nd Georgia, described as 'foolishly brave,' stood exposed on the heights observing his final shots before falling. Henry Benning later paid tribute to his men: 'During that long and terrible fire, not a man, except a wounded one, fell out and went to the rear -- not a man.' General Robert E. Lee himself noted that Toombs' small command had 'maintained its position with distinguished gallantry' against overwhelming odds.

In the chaos of battle, many fallen soldiers were hastily buried in unmarked graves in and around the bridge. These restless dead have never found peace. Park rangers and Civil War reenactors who have spent time at the bridge after dark report strange phenomena that defy easy explanation. Visitors at night have witnessed mysterious blue balls of light floating silently across the water and among the trees, dancing through the darkness as if marking the final resting places of unknown soldiers. The sound of a phantom drummer beating out a cadence echoes across the creek, then fades into silence -- perhaps the ghostly remnants of troops still marching to battle.

Witnesses describe seeing blue-uniformed soldiers crossing the bridge in formation before vanishing mid-span, as if replaying their fatal assault for eternity. One visitor reported: 'When I went there a couple months ago, I was standing on Burnside Bridge and all of a sudden I started smelling tobacco and gunpowder' -- the unmistakable scents of Civil War soldiers who once fought and died here. Others have photographed misty figures on the bridge that were not visible to the naked eye, and at least one famous photograph captured what appears to be ghostly faces in the water beneath the center arch, including what some believe to be a small girl in a red dress. Park Ranger Stephanie Gray and her staff examined the photograph and 'just fell in love with it,' with one ranger remarking that a figure resembled President Abraham Lincoln.

The temperature drops noticeably on the bridge itself, and visitors have reported feeling sudden overwhelming fear or despair for no apparent reason -- perhaps the emotional residue of young men facing certain death on that terrible September day. The sounds of gunfire and shouting have been reported, as if the battle continues to rage in some other dimension. These phenomena intensify each September 17th, the anniversary of the battle, when the veil between past and present grows thin.

The bridge, now under the care of the National Park Service and faithfully restored to its 1862 appearance, remains one of the most photographed locations of the Civil War -- and one of the most actively haunted. Sharpsburg Ghost Tours takes visitors past the bridge on candlelit walking tours, sharing tales gathered over four decades. The combination of violent death, heroic sacrifice, and hasty unmarked burials has created a place where the echoes of America's bloodiest day refuse to fade.