Visit the Museum on Friday afternoon to enjoy lunch in the Mariners’ Park Café and stimulating Civil War discussion with renowned historian, John Quarstein. There is no charge to participate. Lunch will be available for purchase at the café!

Also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest day in American history with nearly 23,000 casualties. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of Maryland was blocked by Union General George McClellan along Antietam Creek. Although McClellan failed to use his superior numbers to destroy Lee’s army, the Battle of Antietam was a strategic victory for the Union, enabling President Abraham Lincoln to announce his Emancipation Proclamation just five days after the battle.