Bloody Lane


The afternoon of September 17, 1862 allowed no let up in the hellish
 melee that was part of the Battle of Antietam. The horrid and deadly
 battle site where there were so many dead and wounded troops that
the old sunken wagon path would become known as “Bloody Lane!”

This twisty cow path that was the border of the Roulette and Piper
farms was the area that for several hours during the mid-day
fighting would in fact become hell on earth for the men that fought
and died there on that fateful day.

The tale in essence goes somewhat like this; the outnumbered Reb
forces under Confederate Brigadier General D.H. Hill were able to
drive back numerous full Yankee anterior assaults against the Rebs
that had the cover of the sunken road. Roughly speaking about
1 p.m., the southern end of the Reb’s line in the lane misguidedly
withdrew which allowed the Yank soldiers to achieve a superior
 position, which allowed the Rebs to become overrun, which
allowed the Yankee troops to fire down the sunken lane, killing and wounding innumerable men. It was like shooting fish in a barrel!
The melee that came to be known as the sunken Bloody Lane of
Antietam claimed about 5,500 troops!

Here is an account in part from Confederate Brigadier General
Daniel Henry Hill’s report of the fray:

"Affairs were now very serious on our left. A division of Yankees was advancing in handsome style against Rodes. I had every possible gun turned upon the Yankee columns, but, owing to the steepness of the acclivity and the bad handling of the guns, but little harm was done
to the "restorers of the Union." Rodes handled his little brigade in a
most admirable and gallant manner, fighting, for hours, vastly superior odds, and maintaining the key-points of the position until darkness rendered a further advance of the Yankees impossible. Had he fought
with less obstinacy, a practicable artillery road to the rear would have
 been gained on our left and the line of retreat cut off.