The Newcomer House

Joshua Newcomer owned this farmhouse during the mid-1800s, and it witnessed the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. Originally built in 1780, it was part of a complex of buildings that included the barn across the street, a grist mill, plaster mill, and shops. Today, only the house and barn remain of what was once a bustling farmstead. During the battle, Union soldiers crossed the original stone bridge spanning Antietam Creek and advanced across this farm toward Sharpsburg. After winning the Second Battle of Manassas, Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland in early September 1862, while Union General George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac marched northwest from Washington, D.C., toward Frederick. Outside Frederick, Lee split his smaller force, sending part to capture a Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, then used his remaining troops to delay McClellan’s larger army at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14, 1862. Although the Confederates withdrew from the three nearby passes of South Mountain, they gained time for Lee to concentrate his army along Antietam Creek. On September 17, 1862, the two armies fought along Antietam Creek and on the farms around Sharpsburg in the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, and by day’s end more than 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing.

Maryland · United States