A $1.1 Million Civil War Trail Underway

SHARPSBURG, Md. (AP) â€” History buffs will soon be able to retrace the path of the Confederate Army that Gen. Robert E. Lee led to the bloodiest day of the Civil War. <br><br>A 70-mile trail set for completion

Thursday, October 12th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SHARPSBURG, Md. (AP) â€” History buffs will soon be able to retrace the path of the Confederate Army that Gen. Robert E. Lee led to the bloodiest day of the Civil War.

A 70-mile trail set for completion in 2002 will lead visitors from White's Ferry in Montgomery County to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg.

``We'll put in unified interpretive markers that talk about actual events in the order they happened,'' said Marci Ross of the Maryland Office of Tourism Development.

Travelers can take up to three or four days to complete the tour, learning about sites such as Best Grove, where a Union soldier found Lee's written combat strategy wrapped around three cigars.

Markers adorned with red bugles will be set up in Poolesville, Beallsville, Sugarloaf Mountain, Monocacy National Battlefield, Crampton's Gap and Boonsboro.

The trail, called ``Antietam Campaign: Lee Invades Maryland,'' will cost about $1.1 million, including a $689,530 federal grant announced Tuesday, Ross said.

Organizers plan to have the trail ready by Sept. 17, 2002, the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, which ended Lee's first invasion of the North. Nearly 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded, making it the bloodiest single day of the war between the states.

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On the Net:

Maryland Office of Tourism Development: http://www.mdisfun.org