Mercersville, Maryland

Bakersville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Washington County, Maryland, United States. Its population was 30 as of the 2010 census.

The Battle of Antietam ( an-TEE-təm), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. Part of the Maryland Campaign, it was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It remains the bloodiest day in American history, with a combined tally of 22,727 dead, wounded, or missing. Although the Union Army suffered heavier casualties than the Confederates, the battle was a major turning point in the Union's favor. After pursuing Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee into Maryland, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan of the Union Army launched attacks against Lee's army who were in defensive positions behind Antietam Creek. At dawn on September 17, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee's left flank. Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller's Cornfield, and fighting swirled around the Dunker Church. Union assaults against the Sunken Road eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not followed up. In the afternoon, Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's corps entered the action, capturing a stone bridge over Antietam Creek and advancing against the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, Confederate Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and launched a surprise counterattack, driving back Burnside and ending the battle. Although outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout September 18, while removing his battered army south of the Potomac River. McClellan successfully turned Lee's invasion back, making the battle a Union victory, but President Abraham Lincoln, unhappy with McClellan's general pattern of overcaution and his failure to pursue the retreating Lee, relieved McClellan of command in November. From a tactical standpoint, the battle was somewhat inconclusive; the Union Army successfully repelled the Confederate invasion but suffered heavier casualties and failed to defeat Lee's army outright. However, it was a significant turning point in the war in favor of the Union due in large part to its political ramifications: the battle's result gave Lincoln the political confidence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all "persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion," as of the first of the following year, shall be "forever free." This effectively discouraged the British and French governments from recognizing the Confederacy, as neither power wished to give the appearance of supporting slavery.

Antietam National Battlefield is a National Park Service-protected area along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Washington County, northwestern Maryland. It commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Antietam that occurred on September 17, 1862. The area, situated on fields among the Appalachian foothills near the Potomac River, features the battlefield site and visitor center, a national military cemetery, stone arch Burnside's Bridge, and a field hospital museum.

The Jacob Highbarger House was built circa 1832 in Sharpsburg, Maryland, United States. The Greek Revival-influenced house is a late example of limestone construction in the Cumberland Valley of Maryland, with an attached log workshop. The log structure is an unusual example of corner-post log construction with diagonal bracing.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

The Joseph C. Hays House at 103–105 West Main Street in Sharpsburg, Maryland, United States, was originally built in 1823 as a three-bay side hall double-parlor house in the Federal style. It was soon expanded to the east with a two-bay parlor and one commercial bay. The east parlor entered commercial use during the mid-19th century as a dry goods store operated by Benjamin F. Cronise. Circa 1920 a storefront was added and a copper front was applied with BANK lettered under a central pediment, behind a marquee. The property combines early 19th-century Federal architecture with a good example of early 20th-century commercial architectural ornament.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Hoffman Farm is a historic farm complex located at Keedysville, Washington County, Maryland, United States. It consists of an 1840s Greek Revival style two-story brick dwelling, adjacent brick slave quarters, a Federal-style stone house built about 1810 over a spring, a frame wagon shed, a log hog barn, and a frame forebay bank barn. The farm buildings were used as a hospital during the American Civil War in Battle of Antietam from the day of the battle on September 17, 1862, and through the following month. Over 800 men were hospitalized in the barn, house, outbuildings, and grounds. The Hoffman Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

Sharpsburg is a town in Washington County, Maryland. The town is approximately 13 miles (21 km) south of Hagerstown. Its population was 705 at the 2010 census. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Antietam, referred to as the Battle of Sharpsburg by the South, was fought on what is now Antietam National Battlefield, in the vicinity of Antietam Creek.

The William Chapline House in Sharpsburg, Maryland, United States is a large stone house built about 1790. The house has shaped stonework at the front and rubble stonework on the sides with a cast-iron porch added around the turn of the twentieth century. The house was damaged during the Battle of Antietam, when it was hit with canister shot. At that time it was occupied by Dr. Augustin A. Biggs, who treated the wounded from the battle in the house.William Chapline House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The Good-Reilly House is a historic home located at Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, United States. It is located at the northeast corner of the town square and is a 1+1⁄2-story stone house with combined Maryland colonial and Georgian stylistic influence. The house likely dates from the 1780s, and features flush stone chimneys on each gable end.The Good-Reilly House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Sharpsburg Historic District is a national historic district located at Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

The Piper House is a historic home located at the southeast corner of Main and Church Streets in Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, United States. It has a two-story limestone main block, constructed between 1792 and 1804, with a two-story brick wing, added about 1834. The house features a hip-roofed porch that shelters the main central entrance.The Piper House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Boidstones Place, also called Greenbrakes and Fountain Rock, was built in 1766 by Thomas Boydston near Shepherdstown, West Virginia on land he was granted by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. In a dispute with Fairfax and Joist Hite over lands he had acquired along the Terrapin Neck on the Potomac River, Boydston lost most of his lands, which were acquired by Abraham Shepherd. The property formed a portion of the Shepherd's holdings along Shepherd Grade, which were primarily devoted breeding race horses. Some of the property was annexed to the adjoining Wild Goose property, owned by R.D. Shepherd, who had a racetrack there. In 1851 R.D. Shepherd gave Boidstones to his nephew and namesake R. D. Shepherd, Jr. who built the main Greek Revival section of the house. The property was sold out of the Shepherd family in 1886, but was returned to the Shepherds in 1916 for use as a summer place. The original house at Boidstone Place is, with the Peter Burr House, the oldest framed building in West Virginia. The 1850s Greek Revival wing is also of wood-frame construction. Another addition was made in the 1920s, in the Colonial Revival style. Other structures on the farm include a log cabin (c. 1850), a log cottage (c. 1850s, altered in 1938), a tenant house (c. 1890), a springhouse (1850s), a garage (1920s), the main barn (c. 1850), a machine shed (c. 1910), a spray shed (c. 1920) and a bull shed (c. 1910) as well as a cemetery for slaves, active from c. 1776 to 1865. A large spring on the property became known as Stillhouse Spring, where Boydston produced whiskey which was shipped down the river from a dock.