Road To Antietam

I set out on this hike for many reasons but most importantly to use the luxury of time to delve deeper into the experiences of our soldiers from Guilford and Madison. During the summer of 1862, local men joined the Grand Army of the Republic to heed Abraham Lincoln’s call to preserve the Union. Within one month of their mustering into the 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment, these men fought in the single bloodiest day in U.S. history.

We have all had a special feeling when standing at a place where our ancestors have stood, where famous people have spoken, where famous battles have been fought. I have stood where Abraham Lincoln stood on the battlefield in Petersburg, VA, where Paul Revere hung the lantern, where Patriots stood up to the British at Bunker Hill. In America, we have few native saints with their requisite statues. But we do have our heroes, our brave, and even our martyrs; and they do have their statues. Each of our New England towns has its monument to our Civil War heroes. These monuments are usually the largest with a long list of names of war dead. These men died, not for personal gain, not for land, not for glory. They died for the abstract ideas of preserving the union, freedom for all, extending the promises of the Declaration of Independence to all citizens of the United States.

I hope to take this hike (defined by Dictionary.com as: “a long walk or march for recreational activity, military training, or the like.”) to help me better understand our martyrs by following their routes, walking their paths, and meeting those along the way who study and understand the sacredness of their sacrifice. Just as the religious of the world walk the paths of their saints, I hope to take a pilgrimage and follow the letters of Raphael Ward Benton as he left Connecticut, travelled through New York, and took a train from New Jersey to Washington, DC. I will then follow as closely as I can, the hike or march taken by Benton and the 14th Connecticut Volunteers as they travelled through Arlington, VA, into Montgomery County, MD, through Frederick, MD to Sharpsburg and the Battle of Antietam.

On Sunday, 11 APR 2010, I will go to Sunday services, bid farewell to my family, and take the train from New Haven to Union Station. Although I left my family about 35 years ago to go into the military, I again have some trepidation. Will I have the physical stamina to hike 80 miles in six days? Will I have the facts right when discussing the most studied war in U.S. History? Will the experts understand my intentions and support my research? Will it rain for five days and will blisters the size of silver dollars form on my feet? I am not sure, but I do know I will feel better when I take the pack off after the first long hike.

I am reminded of Robert Frost before I begin the hike. No, not what you think…

The Pasture

by Robert Frost

I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;

I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away

(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):

I shan’t be gone long. You come too.

I’m going out to fetch the little calf

That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young,

It totters when she licks it with her tongue.

I shan’t be gone long. You come too.

Please follow along with me on my long hike to Antietam Battlefield during the week of the 11th of April. I hope to make this trip of discovery interesting, funny, and challenging to the reader and the hiker.

Sincerely,

Dennis