Candles are lit in remembrance of those who died in the battle of Antietam

December 5, 1999
Web posted at: 9:57 p.m. EST (0257 GMT)

SHARPSBURG, Maryland (CNN) -- A memorial honoring 23,110 men and boys who died at the Civil War battle of Antietam is both spectacular and fleeting.

For 11 years volunteers have been returning to the battle site to painstakingly transform thousands of candles and paper bags into a flickering monument to the bloodiest day in U.S. history.

"We're basically are taking people on a journey back to 1862," said memorial founder Georgine Charles.

The battle took place on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Union army named the battle after Antietam Creek. Confederate soldiers called it the battle of Sharpsburg.

More than 23,000 men and boys died in the battle, the bloodiest in American history

Among the 1,100 volunteers who gathered Saturday for the candlelight memorial were young boys, old colonels and even visitors from other countries.

Participants made sure the lines of candles were as straight as columns of soldiers by using string to create guidelines and lay down markers along the rolling countryside.

Volunteers then placed candles inside brown paper bags, lighting them one-by-one after sundown, transforming fields where so much blood had been spilled into a glowing remembrance.

Although the ceremony is relatively young, it has already created its own myths.

"They say every once in a while when you light a candle and one of the bags catches fire, they call them 'flamers," said one volunteer. "They say that's a soul giving thanks for remembering them."

Correspondent Jonathan Aiken contributed to this story.

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