[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 57 (Thursday, April 19, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H2015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD MEMORIAL ILLUMINATION

  (Mr. BARTLETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT. Mr. Speaker, Baltimore, Maryland, was site of the first 
blood that was shed in our Civil War on April 19, 1861. The next year, 
on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest one-day military battle in 
America's history took place on farms along Antietam Creek near the 
small town of Sharpsburg in Washington County, Maryland.
  The 24th Antietam National Battlefield Memorial Illumination will 
take place on Saturday, December 1, 2012. At twilight, 23,110 
luminaries prepared by 1,400 volunteers will be lit, one for each 
soldier who fell there. Twenty thousand people will personally witness 
23,110 individual lights not divided into camps, one Union, the other 
Confederate, but one unbroken formation across peaceful, rolling 
farmland on a silent winter night.
  The first illumination in 1988 was spearheaded by Georgene Charles, 
the event's founder, who continues each year to coordinate this 
monumental effort. Local Girl and Boy Scouts, the Hagerstown-Washington 
County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and others take pride in 
preparing North America's largest memorial illumination.
  I highly recommend you make time to attend the 24th Antietam National 
Battlefield Memorial Illumination on December 1, 2012. It powerfully 
reminds us of the true costs of war and the sacrifices by generations 
of the members of our military and their families. It is a truly moving 
event. Please come.

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