23,000 Candles Set Antietam Battlefield Aglow
SHARPSBURG, Md. (AP) -- Volunteers are lighting more than 23,000 candles across the rolling landscape of the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg.
The annual illumination Saturday night is a drive-through event to honor those killed, wounded or declared missing on the bloodiest day of the Civil War.
Thousands of vehicles line up once a year to take the five-mile tour and reflect on the battle.
The clash near Sharpsburg on Sept. 17, 1862, lasted from dawn to dusk with no clear winner.
President Abraham Lincoln regarded the Confederate retreat a day later as divine approval for abolishing slavery. He issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later.
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