The 150 acre Mumma farm on the Antietam battlefield is about 900 yards northeast of the Visitor Center. (Smoketown Road South tour map) Samuel and Elizabeth (Miller) Mumma lived here with their 10 children, Samuel having inherited it from his father in 1850. It was Samuel who had given some of his land on which to build the Dunker Church.

As the armies began to move into place around Sharpsburg the Mummas were told they should leave. They gathered clothing and packed the family silver in a basket, but left everything behind as artillery fire broke out overhead. The parents and younger children travelled in a two horse cart while the older children walked, escaping to Manor Church, about four miles to the north.

 

It was good that they did. Their home became the site of some of the earliest fighting in the battle, and their buildings the only buildings on the battlefield purposely destroyed in the fighting. The house, barn, and two outbuildings were burned by withdrawing North Carolina troops to keep them from sheltering Union sharpshooters.

The Mummas returned to the loss of everything they owned, which they estimated as worth around eight to ten thousand dollars. Over the winter they lived on the Sherrick farm near the Burnside Bridge, and rebuilt in 1863. The current house was rebuilt on the original foundation. After the war the Federal government refused compensation for the Mummas’ loss because the damage was caused by Confederates, and compensation was only paid for damage caused by Federal troops.