Presidential Visits to Antietam Battlefield-- Part 5: William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt

Continued from June 3.

President McKinley returned to Antietam Battlefield  on May 30, 1900, Memorial Day, to deliver  an address at the unveiling of the Maryland State Monument.  Interestingly, among McKinley's guests of honor  were Mr. and Mrs James Longstreet.

The next president to visit was  McKinley's successor, the old Rough Rider himself, Theodore Roosevelt.  Born in 1858, he was obviously too young to serve in the Civil War, but he did vividly remember watching the Lincoln funeral procession making its way through the streets of New York from his parents' bedroom window in April 1865.

Roosevelt visited Antietam Battlefield on September 17, 1903, to deliver a speech at the dedication of New Jersey's state monument.

--Old Secesh