Snavely Ford Trail at Antietam National Battlefield

Length:  2-mile loop
Time:  1 hour
Difficulty: Moderate due to steep hills at the start and end of the loop

The Snavely Ford Trail starts at the Burnside Bridge stop on the Antietam National Battlefield Tour. It is a loop trail that leads down into a ravine where it then follows Antietam Creek. Getting in and out of the ravine requires hiking up and down fairly steep hills on either end of the loop.

Confederate general Robert E. Lee had moved many of his troops from the southern end of his battle line to north of Sharpsburg in order to join the fighting at The Cornfield and then Bloody Lane during the morning and early afternoon of September 17, 1862. This left only the single division (3,300 men) commanded by General David R. Jones to defend the area south of the town. Most important were the Rohrbach Bridge (now known as the Burnside Bridge) and Snavely Ford, the only two places the Union army could cross Antietam Creek at the southern end of the battlefield. As the crow flies, there is three quarters of a mile between the two.

Only 500 Georgia infantrymen and two artillery batteries under the command of General Robert Toombs defended the Rohrbach Bridge. They were positioned on the high ground on the east side of Antietam Creek (where the Burnside Bridge parking lot is located). On the other side of the creek and trying to get across was the entire Union 9th Corps (11,000 men) commanded by General Ambrose Burnside.

Though the Confederates were highly outnumbered, they held a superior position on a ridge 80 feet above Antietam Creek that had plenty of boulders and trees to use as cover. On the east side of the creek was an open field that Union infantrymen had to cross before even getting to the bridge. With a clear view of everything below, Confederate muskets and artillery could easily lay into anyone attempting to cross.

Burnside knew that capturing the bridge would be costly, so before commencing his attack around 10 AM, he sent General Isaac P. Rodman and his 3,200 men south to Snavely Ford—an area shallow enough to cross on foot. Once across the creek, Rodman could attack the Confederate right flank, which would take the pressure off Burnside’s men trying to capture the bridge. However, the terrain was very difficult to move through, and Rodman didn’t make it to the ford until noon. By this time the Union had made three failed attacks on the bridge.

Burnside launched a fourth attack around 12 PM. However, by this time the situation had changed. Rodman had reached Snavely Ford and began crossing, and Toombs’s Georgians were running low on ammunition. The 51st Pennsylvania and the 51st New York led the attack and were initially held off, but when word of Rodman’s crossing reached Toombs, he began withdrawing his men. When the Union troops advanced to the foot of the bridge around 1 PM, Toombs ordered a full retreat back towards Sharpsburg.

Rohrbach Bridge battle map

The Snavely Ford Trail is a loop that leads from the Burnside Bridge south to the area where Snavely Ford is located, then returns north through the terrain that Rodman’s men had to march through on their way back to the bridge. The entire hike is on the west side of Antietam Creek. Rodman started south on the other side of the creek, so the hike to Snavely Ford is not in his footsteps. The ford itself is now on private property. There is nothing along the trail that points it out, so most likely you will walk right on by it without even knowing.

Snavely Ford Trail Map (click to enlarge)

Being a loop, there are trailheads in two locations near the Burnside Bridge parking lot. The easiest and most obvious one to find is located partway down the paved walkway that leads to the bridge. On the way down is an exit ramp with a sign posted that points the way to the Snavely Ford Trail and another stop along the way, the Georgians Overlook. Starting here sets you off hiking around the loop in the clockwise direction. The other trailhead is over by the large monument to President William McKinley and is not as obvious, so to keep things simple, just head down the walkway from the parking lot as I did. Beside, hiking around in the clockwise direction is the way Rodman’s troops marched during the battle.