Laurel Museum Commemorates Battle of Antietam, Unveils Laurel Civil War Sites Map

September 17 marks the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War -- and the Laurel Museum has a small new exhibit that brings this event -- which had more than 20,000 wounded or dead to life.

“….I heard a thug (the noise a bullet makes when it strikes a person) and looking over my right shoulder saw one of my boys James D. Eaton falling shot through the head. I looked more calmly on the field of carnage then I could a few years ago to have seen a sheep killed - The finer feelings of man are stunted at such times and I felt when I saw our boys taking in prisoners that there was a quicker way to dispose of them.… Quoted with permission from the collection of Nicholas P. Picerno

George Nye fought in the Battle of Antietam 15 years before he came to Laurel, Maryland as Mill Superintendent.  September 17, 2012 marks the 150th Anniversary of the Battle.  Beginning Sunday September 9 The Laurel Museum is displaying a letter written by Nye October 1 shortly after the battle, to his wife, Charlotte (Charlie), his war belt and buckle, plus his 1879 diary, which references the battle.  Antietam was the bloodiest single day in American military history with more than 20,000 soldiers killed or wounded. The letter and belt are on loan from the collection of Nicholas P. Picerno, an expert in the Civil War units with which Nye fought.

Nye fought on the Union side in the battle of Antietam with the 10th Maine, which lost 20 men, and had 48 wounded there.  His experiences in the early morning hours of that battle were harrowing, and their memory remained with him throughout his life  In parts of the letter he references other deaths, and talks about having “bad dreams” and wishing his dreams a could be good dreams about his wife.  “…I think if I live to get home that my finer feelings will soon get back into their right channel again…” . In the letter readers will find echoes of modern soldiers’ post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Letter references emancipation

Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation September 22, 1862. Nye clearly has heard of this important event.  He notes “… I don’t believe Davis will ever emancipate the slaves – if he should issue such a proclamation his life would not be worth much in my opinion…”

Sorrows of War and Laurel Civil War Site Map

In addition to the Nye materials, the Laurel Museum is unveiling a Civil War display panel as a prelude to its larger Civil War exhibit opening in February 2012. A panel in the Mill workers house room will show of map of the town in 1862 with Civil War sites, including encampments and Laurel’s Civil War Hospital indicated.  The exhibit panel will also feature quotes from Henrietta Stabler Snowden, and Aunt Becky, the woman who was the Matron (head nurse) at the Laurel Hospital located at 377 Main Street. “Aunt Becky” cites the death of a soldier guarding the rails at Laurel. Snowden, whose husband Nicholas was killed in June, 1862, noted. “I used to think I never knew what trouble was until this war broke out…”Letter by Henrietta Stabler to Her mother, June, 1862. Letter courtesy Montpelier Mansion/MNCPPC, Helen Seymour Archival Collection Acc. #2003.001.01“ The panel , a snapshot of Laurel in 1862, reveals that even as battles were raging at Antietam and other places, the town was beginning to experience the war’s impact.  The LHS also plans to install an historic marker on the site of the hospital, 377 Main Street in the Fall. The exhibit was researched, designed and curated by LHS members Marlene Frazier and Karen Lubieniecki (also this blog's author) with support from a grant from the Anacostia Heritage Trails Area.

The Nye materials and panel will be on display through December, 2012.  They will run concurrently with the Museum’s current exhibit, “True Life:  I am a Laurel Mill Worker.  THe Laurel Museum is open Wed-Friday 10-2, Sunday 1-4.  You can preview the exhibit online at www.laurelhistoricalsociety.org.