Ceremony marks Antietam anniversary

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SHARPSBURG, Md., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- National Park Service officials Monday planned to read the names of all the casualties at the Civil War battle of Antietam at the battle cemetery in Maryland.

Monday marked 150 years since the bloodiest day in U.S. history, which left almost 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead, wounded, missing or captured, the service said.

Historians consider the battle a draw, though there were more Union casualties, 12,400, to Confederates, 10,300. However, President Abraham Lincoln declared it a Union victory and in the aftermath issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the Confederate states.

Sunday night, re-enactors marched 4 miles from Sharpsburg, Md., the site of the battle, to Shepherdstown, W.Va., to mark the anniversary, The (Martinsburg, W.Va.) Journal reported.

The newspaper said Kathy Sholl donned period dress for the occasion and participated with her husband, Mike, to pay tribute to her great-grandfather, John Henry Funkhouser, who fought in the Civil War.

"I thought we would come here and walk in memory of him. Mike has family that was on the northern side. I have family on the southern side. It's really wonderful. We went for a little while this afternoon to the national battlefield, and there were so many things to see and do there and to experience," she told the newspaper.