This 1867 battle plan of Antietam, lithographed by Julius Bien & Co., presents an exacting portrait of Sharpsburg and its countryside just two years after the Civil War’s end. Every approach road and farm lane is traced, the Washington County Railroad threads the landscape, and individual homesteads are identified by the residents’ names. Fenced fields, orchards, and woodlots are distinguished with meticulous symbols, while drainage and the bends of Antietam Creek are plotted with surveyorly care. Relief by hachures animates the rolling ground, clarifying the ridges and hollows that shaped the day’s fighting. Landmarks central to the battle—Burnside Bridge, Bloody Lane, Dunker’s Chapel, and the National Cemetery—are fixed within a clear, disciplined layout typical of the finest nineteenth-century military cartography.

Historically, Antietam was the crucible of September 17, 1862—the bloodiest single day in American warfare—where George B. McClellan checked Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North. The map translates that pivotal narrative onto the ground. In the north, the approaches around Dunker’s Chapel and adjacent fields set the stage for the morning assaults. At mid-day the contested Sunken Road—here marked as Bloody Lane—anchors the center. To the south, the tight defile of Burnside Bridge reveals why repeated Union attempts stalled until late afternoon. The inclusion of the Antietam National Cemetery underscores both the scale of loss and the nation’s early steps toward commemoration, while the proximity of the Potomac River hints at the strategic exits and perils that framed the campaign.

Terrain and movement are the language of this sheet. Hachured slopes show commanding crests and dead ground, explaining lines of fire and avenues of approach better than any text. The meanders of Antietam Creek form a natural barrier, with fords and the iconic bridge carefully noted; beyond, the Potomac provides the theater’s ultimate boundary. Roads radiating into Sharpsburg, along with key supply routes, reveal how both armies fed men and munitions into the fight, while the Washington County Railroad stands out as a logistical artery. Notations of troop paths trace the battle’s phases, and the mosaic of fences, hedgerows, and cultivated fields conveys the friction that slowed advances and channeled formations through narrow gaps, often at terrible cost.

Equally compelling is the intimate civilian geography preserved here. Farms and homesteads appear by name, their properties enclosed by fence lines that read like signatures across the countryside. Villages surrounding Sharpsburg are distinguished from the town’s denser blocks, emphasizing the rural–urban divide of Washington County in the 1860s. Vegetation symbols and contrasting land-use tones separate pasture, tilled fields, and woodland, while the drainage network records springs and streams that sustained both households and armies. This layering personalizes the battlefield, revealing a working landscape suddenly overtaken by war. The later presence of the National Cemetery on the same ground points to how the community’s everyday map became, within a few years, a chart of mourning and national memory.

Crafted by the renowned Julius Bien & Co., the map marries documentary precision with restrained elegance. Its disciplined linework, balanced lettering, and structured composition invite close study, rewarding the eye with clarity at every scale—from county thoroughfares to garden plots. The classic nineteenth-century symbology and hachured relief reflect the era’s best military cartographic practice, while subtle contrasts differentiate land uses and settlement patterns. For collectors, historians, and battlefield travelers, this is both an object of beauty and a working key to understanding Antietam’s tactics and terrain. It situates one of the Civil War’s decisive moments within the lived landscape of Maryland, transforming historical reading into a richly spatial experience.

Places on this map

• Sharpsburg, Maryland
• Burnside Bridge
• Bloody Lane
• Dunker's Chapel
• Washington County Railroad
• National Cemetery
• Antietam Creek
• Potomac River
• Various nearby villages
• Significant roads leading into and out of Sharpsburg
• Farms and homesteads
• Fences surrounding properties
• Areas of vegetation
• Historic landmarks related to the Civil War
• Troop encampment areas
• Key supply routes for the armies
• Notable elevations and valleys
• Urban versus rural divisions in the landscape

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Detailed representations of roads and paths
• Designated residential areas and names of residents
• Fenced areas and agricultural lands
• Vegetation marked to signify types of land use
• Drainage patterns showcased
• Hachured relief demonstrating elevation changes
• Key paths taken by troops during the battle
• Color contrasts between land use types, if applicable

Historical and design context

• Date created: 1867, published shortly after the Civil War
• Mapmaker/Publisher: Julius Bien & Co., a prominent 19th-century lithography firm known for high-quality maps and prints
• Topics/Themes: Detailed physical geography and significant events of the Battle of Antietam, highlighting military movements and landscape features
• Countries/Regions: Sharpsburg and surrounding areas in Maryland, USA
• Design/Style: 19th-century military cartography with hachured relief to illustrate topography and a clear

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.