Alexander Gardner's Famous image of Sunken Road or Bloody Lane taken days after the battle, September 19, 1862. I visited this site for the first time August 23, 2009 and as a photographer myself I became highly interested where Gardner stood to gather these images. Antietam guide, William Sagle, took us through the battlefield and showed me this image for the first time. Standing at the Roulette Farm Lane intersection with Sunken Road. I could not visualize an interaction between this image and the existing terrain. Something just wasn't right. I thought perhaps the image was printed backwards. It would make more sense with hill contour and what appeared to be an upwards slope to the lane.... After I got home I analyzed the print in detail. The buttons on the the dead mans jacket are on his right meaning the print is correctly printed. So I got hooked on the problem and began further analysis.

Notice the shadow caused by the wood fence rail in the foreground and the shadows caused by the vertical twigs and the man standing by the ditch. I will try to duplicate these shadows at home on the same day and month of Gardners image to determine sun angles so I can better locate this spot. It is difficult to estimate the height of the rail and the distance of the body from the rail. I estimate the middle height of the 4 inch rail is 16 inches off the ground and the middle height of the shadow on the leg is 7 inches of the ground. I also estimate the horizontal middle of the rail is about 4 feet from the body.

I believe this image was taken somewhere along the inclined area of Bloody lane.

See next image.

As an after thought I decided to include in this journal the location where Bill Sagle first showed me the above image. Perhaps you can see my confusion comparing Gardner's image to the slope of the lane and the curvature of the hill. That's what caused me to first believe the image was printed backwards.

But fortunately I pursued the problem I had. Please keep reading.............................

I couldn't access a level but a water bottle is just as good. Placed in the center of the inclined pathway the incline measures 15 degrees from horizontal. (Angle between water and side of bottle.) But I can't be sure that was the angle of the pathway where Gardner stood. Likely it was somewhat less because I think he was higher up the lane where it gets flatter..

This is my attempt to duplicate the shadows in Gardner's image. I set up a box on a date as close to September 19th as possible where we had sun in Rochester, NY. That date was September 21, 2009. Now my concrete pool deck is level so I needed to adjust the data for an inclined plane of < 15 degrees because the east side of the lane rises at that angle. I placed a box where I estimated the leg to be at about four feet from my simulated 4 inch rail . The center of my "rail" is 16 inches off the ground. To accommodate the 15 degrees elevation difference either my rail must be higher or the shadow must be lower by a few inches. Thus when the sun elevation was such as to give a shadow three inches off the ground I measured the sun angle from north. I got 79 degrees on my compass shown in the bottle shadow. I called a family member in Leesburg VA and they measured a sun angle of 82 degrees at the same date and time. Thus the shadows caused by the sun of the twigs and man standing in Gardner's photo were at slightly less than 82 degrees since Antietam is about 45 minutes north of Leesburg. Now a close inspection of those shadows in Gardners image show them to be almost parallel to the ditch. This means the ditch direction where Gardner stood was 82 degrees from north.

On October 20, 2009 I went to the Eastern side of Bloody Lane and measured its direction or its angle from north. About 82 degrees (compass on the ground.).

Here is a map of Bloody Lane courtesy of National Parks Service, "Photography at Antietam - A Battlefield Tour". The left side of the lane is exactly 82 degrees while the right side is about 115 degrees. You can even put a protractor on this chart to confirm it. Therefore the point "E" in this publication is incorrect. Gardner's images must have been taken somewhere between what today is the end of the Lane at Richardson's Avenue and the curve in bloody Lane.

First estimate from a quick comparison to his photograph and the site: X marks the most likely spot for Gardner's tripod. Now here begins the problem. When looking at Gardner's image he is located high enough to see the mountains in the background but there appears to be a difference in the slope of the hill and the height of the left embankment. Something is wrong or different from what this site looks like today versus what it was like in 1862. Or something drastic may have happened to this landscape in the 150 years since his image was recorded. I hope in the following images to answer "What Happened if anything".

Panorama of the Hillside just north of Bloody Lane Antietam. Used to show the mountains in the background. Doesn't look at all like Gardner's image.

Bloody Lane today, October 25,.2009 from a high rise in the path on the East side.

Image of Bloody Lane from the same perspective as the previous image. Image is c. 1880 ANB courtesy "Antietam - Then and Now ".