Dunker Church - 1852
On Sunday, September 14, 1862, three days before the Battle of Antietam, members of the German Baptist Brethren attending services in the Dunker Church could hear the ominous thunder of artillery from the Battle of South Mountain seven miles to the east. The congregation, known as Dunkers because they practiced immersion baptism, were a quiet, pacifist people, but their church was to become a focal point in the bloodiest battle in United States history. The church was damaged by both Union and Confederate artillery and musket fire, but remained standing until 1921, when a storm flattened the neglected building. In 1962, the church was reconstructed on its original foundation using much of the original material.
Two days after the Battle of Antietam, Alexander Gardner recorded Confederate dead in front of Dunker Church. After the battle the church was used as a field hospital.
On the Sunday before the battle, congregants must have glanced uneasily to the east through this window as distant artillery sounded over the reading of the Bible.
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