Maryland

My uncle is wealthy. When I was 11 years old, we visited him on the East Coast. That was the first time I realized how much money my immediate family did not have.

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Some people are bitter towards the super-rich; I am not. Good for them. They either have the gift of inheritance or work for it. My uncle had both. He worked in Washington, D.C., and currently in retirement owns a mansion in northern Virginia, a beach house in Delaware, and hobby farm in the Appalachian Mountains.

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On a hot summer day, we attended a Baltimore Orioles baseball game at Camden Yards. No, we did not sit in the seats with the commoners…we watched from the air-conditioned company suite. Everything that it came with was free. I ate too many hot dogs.

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Even at such a young age, I remember the focus of the individuals in the suite being less on the game and more about business socialization. I recall being the only one watching the game. The “Big Hurt” Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox demolished the home team as he effortlessly smashed baseballs out of the park.

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The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single day in the American Civil War. Moreover, with over 22,000 casualties, it was greatest one-day loss of life in American history. The two opposing American armies continually forced their soldiers into the field of battle, only to be destroyed.

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Previous to Antietam National Battlefield in 2016, I had visited many Civil War battle sites. However, it was at Antietam where I felt the most unnerving feeling of the spirits who still remained on the battlefield.

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Maybe it was the fact that the battlefield is small compared to other large battles; the killing occurred in a confined area. I observed the near entirety of the battlefield from the observation tower.

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The rolling fields of grain shined before me, surrounded by the deep green colors of the distant tree-covered hills.

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With countless bodies strewn all over the fields, the fresh soldiers had difficulty walking into the battle.

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After the battle, the field no longer existed; it became flattened and red.

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Even with many visitors to the battlefield that day, it was silent.

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I wonder if the ghosts of the soldiers who remain know that after all of the killing…the battle ended in a draw.

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