January 03, 2014

**Antietam Friday**

Antietam is without doubt a beautiful place. One of the spots where this is most evident is the lookout platform located at the Visitor Center. When I took these photos, I didn’t have much time to stop and smell the gunpowder, so to speak, but I did get a good idea of the amazing countryside and all it has to offer. The first two photos were taken in the direction of the observation tower and Sunken Road / Bloody Lane. In fact, the first photo shows a small portion of the road.

The last photo is a generic shot of the valleys and mountains that help make Antietam National Battlefield so picturesque. It showcases the similarities between Gettysburg and Antietam countryside: save for the monument and perhaps some roads, the scene has barely changed since the clash of the blue and gray.

**HONORED TODAY**

PVT. JOHN D. NOBLE

Co. K, 27^TH Indiana Infantry

Born about 1844--- Died July 03, 1863 at age 19

It seems highly likely that the death of his comrades in battle would have been the first real tragedy Pvt. Noble had seen at nineteen, but his first brush with heartache came in 1849 at the age of five, when his father died of cholera. His mother followed two days later. Pvt. Noble enlisted in the Union army in August 1861 and fought bravely until being wounded at Gettysburg during the fatal charge across Spangler Meadow. He was buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery.


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