On this day, 157 years ago, at this very hour (7:00am), the cannons begin to roar, and bloody attacks in a Maryland cornfield, surging back and forth, until the midmorning, commence, at the battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg). Over 23,000 men would be killed, wounded or missing by the end of the one day battle. Having been on guard duty all night long, my Civil War ancestor, Daniel Trautman, watched from atop a large hill with his regiment, until they were called to battle in the late afternoon. The regiment walked across a large open field, and were caught in a violent artillery cross fire. The colonel ordered the regiment to lie down, and one private observed that "this was artillery hell".