Apr. 7, 1963 - President Kennedy toured Antietam battlefield in Sharpsburg, Md. today. For the second Sunday in a row, Mr. Kennedy visited a historical civil war battlefield. He went to Gettysburg in Southern Pennsylvania last week. He flew by helicopter from Camp David, where he is spending the weekend, and spent an hour inspecting markers and monuments. Robert L. Lagemann, superintendent of the Antietam National Battlefield site, acted as the President’s guide on the motor tour of the battlefield and reported that Mr. Kennedy “knew quite a bit” about the bloody battle of Sept. 17, 1862. It remains the bloodiest day in American history, with a combined tally of 22,727 dead, wounded, or missing. Although the Union army suffered heavier casualties than the Confederates, the battle was a major turning point in the Union's favor. President Kennedy was accompanied on the tour by his brother, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and the Senator’s wife, Joan, and others.
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