The Bowie List is a valuable resource that records the burial locations of Confederate soldiers who fought and died in Maryland during the Battles of Antietam, South Mountain, and Monocacy during the American Civil War.

The Battle of Antietam was the deadliest one-day battle in American history. It became a mass casualty event, with 22,000 Union and Confederate soldiers killed, wounded, or missing and captured. Both sides were overwhelmed with tending to the injured and hastily burying the dead. Makeshift grave markers marked burial locations for many soldiers. In 1864, a charter by the Maryland legislature allowed the purchase of property for the Antietam National Cemetery. In 1867, a year after the war ended, Union soldiers were reinterred at the new cemetery. Confederate soldiers, however, remained buried on the battlefield. In some cases, their graves had been disturbed by animals or plows.

In 1869, three years after the war ended, Oden Bowie, the governor of Maryland, asked that the Confederate graves in Washington and Frederick counties be documented and, if possible, the soldiers identified. Aaron Good and Moses Poffinberger, residents of Sharpsburg, were very familiar with the battlefields and set about the task.

The result of their efforts is the Bowie List. Though Good and Poffinberger made every effort to honor the dead, the list contains some inaccuracies. Later, many of the Confederate dead were reinterred in Washington Confederate Cemetery in Hagerstown, Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, and Elmwood Cemetery in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

If you have Confederate ancestors who died while fighting in Maryland, the Bowie List may provide details about where they fell and where they were initially buried. Explore this collection today on Fold3®.