Antietam connection: Unionville Civil War memorial

A huge American flag drapes a Civil War memorial in Unionville, Conn., 
before its unveiling on July 15, 1916. Photo courtesy of  Unionville Museum.
(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.)

On July 15, 1916, an enterprising photographer climbed into the steeple of a church in Unionville, Conn., and shot the dedication of a Civil War memorial that was called the "most beautiful G.A.R. monument in New England," according to the event program. A large American flag draped the 30-foot monument, which was largely funded by local businessman Nathaniel Hayden, a veteran of the Battle of Antietam. A captain in the 16th Connecticut, Hayden suffered a bullet wound in his left arm in farmer John Otto's 40-acre cornfield at Antietam. (See my interactive panoramas of the cornfield here.) Bits of bone oozed from the wound as late as May 1863. Hayden, who made a small fortune in the coal, feed and trucking business, died six weeks after the monument was dedicated. On June 13, 2013, an amateur photographer standing too close to a busy street shot the interactive panorama of what the scene looks like today. Click on image below for full-screen panorama.