HAGERSTOWN, Md. Sept. 5 ? And now, the slaughter at Bloody Lane, brought to you by F&M Bank.
Corporate sponsors and 13,000 Civil War buffs will come together next week to re-enact the bloodiest day on U.S. soil, the Battle of Antietam.
For the first time at such an event, three of the nearly 40 participating companies are exclusive sponsors of specific skirmishes.
In addition to the fighting at Bloody Lane, where 5,500 men were killed or wounded, spectators can watch the daybreak clash in the Cornfield, sponsored by Antietam Cable, and the afternoon arrival of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill's men presented through the courtesy of Hagerstown Trust.
The sponsors also include the investment bank Salomon Smith Barney, PepsiCo and Allegheny Energy, a Fortune 500 company headquartered near the re-enactment site, 1,000 privately owned acres about 70 miles north of Washington and 10 miles from the real battlefield.
Never have so many corporations been part of a Civil War re-enactment, and never so visibly, though their
representatives will be stationed in a sponsors' tent near the entrance gate, and logos will not be allowed on the battlefield.
Event organizers say sponsors' dollars and in-kind donations, totaling more than $140,000, will help them stage more realistic clashes and raise more money for battlefield preservation.
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