Today we had a rare opportunity to visit a location
important to Maryland Campaign history. This is a location relatively unknown
to all but the truest Maryland Campaign enthusiasts. It is a location not to difficult to find but one that would
reveal some very important lessons to us on this day.
The Artifact |
That revelation was exciting enough. However the coolest moment of the
entire hike occurred an hour later.
After a rigorous ascent to the top of Elk Ridge we stood at the actual
site of the signal station with the valleys spread below us in all directions.
Googled |
This was private property with a SHAF negotiated historical
easement. We were not on National
Park Service. At that location, Jim Buchanan (author of the Antietam blog Walkingthe West Woods) discovered something. As he listened to Dennis’s discussion,
Jim happened to look down at the base of the tree he was standing next to. Thinly covered with a layer of soil, he
observed what at first appeared to be a very squared off piece of rock to
manmade to be natural. A closer
look and a careful brushing off of the soil revealed an axe blade.
You gotta love technology. (Well no you don’t have to). Jim
googled civil war axe blades on his smart phone. There on remote Elk Ridge in a
matter of seconds he had the exact image of the item he just found. We believe Army of the Potomac pioneers
constructed the signal station or the camp around the station and left the axe.
Dennis Frye and Jim Buchanan |
The series of photos here were taken at the exact moment of
the discovery.
We were absolutely thrilled. High on a ridge that few people have seen, much less know
about, this common axe blade lay for 150 years. It was not special at all when a
Federal soldier, likely an Antietam veteran, some how dropped it. But on a beautiful winter day it
became very special to a passionate group of Maryland Campaign enthusiasts. No longer mundane it was a link to the
past - a discovery that none of us privileged to be there at that moment will
ever forget.
Atop Elk Ridge |
All day, Dennis had challenged us to look past the main
scene of an image. He avowed that
in the margins and the fuzzy hard to distinguish areas were things worth
discovering. He was right. We did just that - on a hilltop
so close and really so far away from the battlefield. It was a terrific moment.
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