Presidential Visits to Antietam Battlefield-- Part 1: McKinley and Lincoln

Today, I wrote about the speech President William McKinley gave at the Antietam Battlefield for Decoration Day (it was called this before changing to Memorial Day) in 1900 where he stressed he unification of the North and South after the bloody Civil War.  This was in my Civil War II blog.  Sadly, events today where certain groups are trying to erase any and all things Confederate, was not that way back 120 years ago.  The word was reunification and let bygones be bygones.

From the National Park Service:  Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland, "Presidential Visits to Antietam."

There is a strong presidential connection to Antietam battlefield ranging from  future president William McKinley being there during the battle and no less than eight sitting presidents have visited the site.

**  The first, of course, was Abraham Lincoln, who spent four days traveling over the battlefield in October 1862, just two weeks after the battle.  He met with his general, McClellan and tried to prod him to action.  While there, the president met with other generals and thousands of wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.

His trip is well documented with many photographs, including that one in the tent conversing with McClellan.  Until recently, I had not noticed the Confederate flag on the ground behind Lincoln until someone in Civil War Talk pointed it out.

--Old Abe to Little Mac.  --Old Secesh