Hill 876 & Showman Farm (top left) Elk Ridge (lower right) |
The
signal station image that I discussed in my last post was made famous by Civil
War photographer Alexander Gardner. The image is titled Signal Tower. Elk Mountain, Overlooking Battlefield of Antietam,
Maryland. The problem is that this
particular station is NOT on Elk Mountain or more commonly known Elk
Ridge.
I
unintentionally perpetuated this mistake in my last post about our visit to
this signal station site.
What
is known as Elk Ridge begins its rise from the ground just south of Dogstreet
Road. The ridge runs generally
south south west for a distance of 9.4 miles to the Potomac River. At its
southern terminus overlooking the Potomac at Harpers Ferry it is known as
Maryland Heights. At its highest
elevation, Elk Ridge towers at some points over 1,500 feet above sea level.
Most
people don’t realize that there is another ridge to the west and assume that
the Elk Ridge is a solid mass of rock that rises up just west of
Keedysville. That was the error that
Gardner made when he titled the signal station image.
This
other ridge also rises south of Dogstreet Road but is about one mile west of Elk
Ridge. It is bisected about three
miles to the south by Sharman’s Run, a tributary of the Antietam. The northern half of the ridge is Red
Hill. It is about three miles in
length. Porterstown Road crosses the hill at its midsection. At its highest elevation Red Hill is
about 900 feet above sea level.
"Showmans Knoll" site of the signal station |
The
southern half of this ridge is really a series of hills identified on the
topographical map only by their elevation. Burnside Bridge Road and Sharman Run
form the northern boundary of this ridge. Mills Road is the western boundary. Just south of Sharmans Run on Mills Road is the Showman
Farm. Sharman in fact is a
corruption of Showman. This was
the site of McClellan’s headquarters for several weeks after the battle and one
of the locations that Lincoln visited. The signal station is behind the house on one of the hills of
that unnamed ridge.
After
I incorrectly referred to the signal station as being located on Elk Ridge, I
had several e-mail conversations with Tom Clemens and Dennis Frye about the
precise location of the signal station.
Dennis who has done a great deal of research and hiking in this area
identifies Hill 876 as the location. While not an official designation, Dennis
refers to the site as Showman’s Knoll. The next time you view the Gardner image
of the signal station, consider again the importance of being precise when it
comes to identifying geographical features and locations.
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