Historical Name: Antietam
Common Name: Sycamore
Latin Name: Platanus occidentalis
The huge Antietam Sycamore is a living witness to America’s bloodiest day, when 23,000 people were killed or wounded at the Civil War battle of Antietam Creek in Maryland on September 17, 1862. The tree stands at the end of Burnside Bridge, where Union troops forced a crossing against stubborn Confederate resistance. After the battle, a Union soldier said, “No tongue can tell, no mind can see, no pen can portray the horrible sights I witnessed this morning.” Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his soldiers to the Maryland battlefield unaware that a copy of his marching orders had fallen into Union hands. Still, the battle which followed ended in a draw. This tree was grown from a seed taken from the Antietam Sycamore, and was planted into UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove in 1997.
(text adapted from American Forests)