- Joined
- Feb 5, 2017
This is from "Civil War Ghosts of Sharpsburg" by Mark Brugh and Julia Brugh
"Otto's Swale is a deep ravine that divided the lines of the Union and Confederate armies when they stopped fighting on September 17. It is remembered by some as a place of vicious and unnecessary violence that marked the end of battle.
The ravine was filled with wounded of both sides laying side by side because first the Union forces drove back the Confederates across the ravine, and in the process, many Confederates fell there. After the furious rush by the Union, the reinforced Confederates pushed the Union back through the same ravine. Bodies were scattered everywhere along the depths of the pit for nearly a third of a mile.
As the fighting ended that day, the viciousness of both sides was apparent. Firing down the slopes, both sides took opportunities to take pot shots at the wounded below them. Rescue attempts to reach and retrieve the wounded were ended when the rescuers were killed or wounded by deadly sniper fire.
As darkness fully brought the fighting of the day to an end, Union and Confederate soldiers lay atop each side of the ravine, heads down and faces in the dirt. They spent a night of horror listening to desperate cries for help and water. There was nothing either side could do to help at that point.
Mysterious blue balls of light sometimes are reported hovering low in the ravine, floating below onlookers on the ridges above. Their meaning and possible origins are unknown to us. Some motorists along the Burnside Bridge Road have also reported the curious blue lights of the Otto Swale swiftly passing them on the road and exiting at the lower entrance to the ravine bottom from Burnside Bridge Road."
Calling @Virginia Dave, @Viper21 @Stone in the wall @Rebforever - Do any of you know anything about this or have heard about it? I didn't know or heard about it the last two times I was there.
"Otto's Swale is a deep ravine that divided the lines of the Union and Confederate armies when they stopped fighting on September 17. It is remembered by some as a place of vicious and unnecessary violence that marked the end of battle.
The ravine was filled with wounded of both sides laying side by side because first the Union forces drove back the Confederates across the ravine, and in the process, many Confederates fell there. After the furious rush by the Union, the reinforced Confederates pushed the Union back through the same ravine. Bodies were scattered everywhere along the depths of the pit for nearly a third of a mile.
As the fighting ended that day, the viciousness of both sides was apparent. Firing down the slopes, both sides took opportunities to take pot shots at the wounded below them. Rescue attempts to reach and retrieve the wounded were ended when the rescuers were killed or wounded by deadly sniper fire.
As darkness fully brought the fighting of the day to an end, Union and Confederate soldiers lay atop each side of the ravine, heads down and faces in the dirt. They spent a night of horror listening to desperate cries for help and water. There was nothing either side could do to help at that point.
Mysterious blue balls of light sometimes are reported hovering low in the ravine, floating below onlookers on the ridges above. Their meaning and possible origins are unknown to us. Some motorists along the Burnside Bridge Road have also reported the curious blue lights of the Otto Swale swiftly passing them on the road and exiting at the lower entrance to the ravine bottom from Burnside Bridge Road."
Calling @Virginia Dave, @Viper21 @Stone in the wall @Rebforever - Do any of you know anything about this or have heard about it? I didn't know or heard about it the last two times I was there.