Antietam panorama: The Cornfield

During my visit to Antietam last week, I spent much of my time walking John Otto's 40-acre cornfield, where the 16th Connecticut was routed. (Check out these three interactive panoramas that I shot there.) But on each of my visits to Antietam, I eagerly get up at the crack of dawn to run a 3.5-mile circuit near the much more infamous "Cornfield," the scene of savage fighting on the morning of Sept. 17, 1862. My route takes me from in front of the Dunker Church on Old Hagerstown Pike, down Cornfield Avenue (and past the simple yet beautiful Texas monument) and back up Smoketown Road. Aside from a woman walking a large dog, I was the only person on this part of the battlefield last Tuesday morning. It's an especially eerie experience when the fog lingers and the sun finally bursts on the horizon. The interactive panorama above, shot last Tuesday with my iPhone and made interactive with this very cool site, shows the southern portion of "The Cornfield," part of David R. Miller's farm in 1862. This excellent Civil War Trust site map offers further details.