Photographs of the Cemetery

Maryland Herald & Hagerstown Weekly Advertiser
Jan 19, 1872

Antietam Cemetery.
We learn from the Herald that the officers of last year were re-elected and that the Governor (which one is not stated) has re-appointed Judge Weisel [?] Trustee. There is a surplus of $15,000 in the Treasury and a soldiers monument has been contracted for, which is to cost $30,000, the pedestal 25 feet high, and the statue 20 feet and weighing 65 tons. It is to be built by J. G. Batterson of Connecticut and completed in two years.

Antietam National Cemetery and Battlefield Site is currently administered the U.S. Department of the Interior. The cemetery was established in 1862, but title to the land was not transferred to the War Department until 1877.
The present day appearance of the cemetery with neat rows of grave stones did not come into being until the War Department began administering the property.

The Lodge at the entrance to the cemetery is visible in this photograph, but the large statue now in the center of the cemetery was not placed there until 1880, when it was fully paid for.

This drawing illustrates the ceremony described in this text. The ladies sat in the left of the stand. The President and his party were met by a miliary escort at the Sharpsburg station, and the public arrived on foot or by coach.

The cornerstone was laid for the monument which was itself not dedicated until 1880. This text describes it as a "Colossal Statue of an American Soldier standing guard over the loyal dead."

Robert Wood & Company were responsible for construction of the fence and gates, which were in place in 1866. The wrought iron fence cost six dollars a foot, and a gateway cost $880. "It is substantial as well as ornamental, and its entire length is six hundred and six feet, eight inches without the gateway, which latter is twenty-six feet in width—-sufficiently capacious to admit vehicles to pass each other in their ingress and egress."

"Near the entrance to the Cemetery, and within the enclosure, has been erected a neat and commodious Lodge House, designed for the occupancy of the keeper of the grounds, and the comfort and convenience of visitors."

History of Antietam National Cemetery

The budget for the Cemetery included:
173 perches stone, delivered for keeper's lodge, at $1.20 per perch, $207.60
Labor - For keeper's lodge, $1,500.00

In comparison, the budget for the removal, boxing, and burial of 6,000 dead, at $5 each, $30,000.00

View of Sharpsburg from Cemetery Hill

Map of Antietam National Cemetery as designed by A. A. Biggs, M. D., President & Genl. Supt., Sharpsburg, 1866. 

"Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1867 by the Board of Trustees of the 'Antietam National Cemetery' in the Clerks Office of the U.S. District Court for Maryland."