The bloodiest day of combat in US history the Battle of Antietam it ended in a tactical draw, albeit a strategic victory for the Union, by thwarting the Confederate invasion of the north. The Emancipation Proclamation transformed the American civil war into a crusade for human rights. It was a battle within the American Civil War.
Data of the battle of Antietam
- Who: The 55,000-strong Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) faced General George B. McClellan (1826-1885) and the larger Union Army of the Potomac to 85,000.
- How: From dawn to dusk, Union and Confederate troops fought to a tactical stalemate in a three-stage battle that ran north and south from a cornfield to a low road and a stone bridge.
- Where: In western Maryland near the town of Sharpsburg and along the banks of Antietam Creek.
- When: September 17, 1862.
- Why: The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia invaded Maryland, bringing the American Civil War to the Northern Territory.
- Result: Lee abandoned the offensive, and Lincoln changed the character of the war by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation
Background
The summer of 1862 was frustrating in Washington, D.C. Sixteen months after the first shot of the American Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter , the Union had not yet achieved any major victory in the eastern theater. The Peninsula campaign, targeting the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, had been repulsed during the Seven Days Battles in June and July. At the end of August a humiliating defeat followed in Second Manassas (Bull Run). To restore order and morale among the discouraged troops, President Abraham Lincoln restored General George B. McClellan to supreme command. McClellan, a superb organizer, was the architect of the Army of the Potomac, though he, too, was cautious and lacking in initiative on the battlefield. On the other hand, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia exhibited the drive and fearlessness that only victory could confer. His commander, General Robert E. Lee, had demonstrated his tactical brilliance and had defeated the enemy almost every time. Only a week after Second Manassas, he crossed the Potomac River and invaded the North.
Lee's bold bet
Lee calculated that an expedition to Maryland and Pennsylvania would accomplish much, both military and political, for the beleaguered South. It was believed that southern sympathizers in Maryland would sympathize with the rebel army, providing it with food, supplies, and new recruits. The Confederates could also live off the rich farmland of southern Pennsylvania, destroy the railroad bridge over the Susquehanna River, and threaten the state capital of Harrisburg. A victory in Northland would allow Lee to threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Perhaps most important of all, such a victory could win formal recognition and aid from Britain and France. Lee further realized that the Union's ability to wage war was virtually limitless. The Confederacy had taken the initiative. Now he had to use this initiative to the fullest.
Following the abortive Peninsula campaign, McClellan had been demoted to the benefit of General John Pope (1822-1892), who had established and probably embellished his reputation as an Indian fighter in the West. During the Second Manassas campaign, Pope might have been willing to fight, but Lee and his subordinates James Longstreet (1821-1904) and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863) made him look like a mere amateur. . Confederate cavalry stormed Pope's headquarters in Manassas, stealing his full dress coat and $350,000 in cash. Longstreet and Jackson then completed the rout at the old battlefield of Bull Run. When Lincoln swallowed his pride and called McClellan back, the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac broke into a cheer. This time, however, McClellan did not march his troops to Virginia. He headed northwest toward Maryland to intercept the invading rebels.
The campaign
As the Confederates advanced on the town of Frederick, Maryland, the federal armory at Harpers Ferry was between Lee and his supply base at Winchester, Virginia. He could also cut his line of communication with Richmond through the Shenandoah Valley.
Disregarding one of the tenets of command, Lee divided his army in the face of a superior enemy and sent Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry.
Lee was counting on McClellan's caution, confident that Jackson could finish his mission and rejoin the main body of the army before Union soldiers arrived in overwhelming numbers. On September 12, the entire army of Northern Virginia could concentrate at Hagerstown, Maryland, and continue on to Pennsylvania.
While Jackson dealt with Harpers Ferry, Longstreet's corps headed for Hagerstown on September 10. Three days later, as the main body of McClellan's army arrived at Frederick, a soldier saw an envelope lying on the ground. Inside were three cigars and a copy of Special Order 191 that Lee had issued on September 9. The order detailed the disposition of the Confederate troops, and was soon in McClellan's possession.
Lee's army was now in great danger. If McClellan moved quickly east across the South Mountain passes, he could put his army between Longstreet at Hagerstown and Jackson at Harpers Ferry. His strength from him could crush these separate items one by one .
Unaware that Special Order 191 had fallen into McClellan's possession, Lee had already begun to worry that the taking of Harpers Ferry was taking too long. He knew that McClellan was in Frederick, and the movement of the Union force was continuing at a worrying rate. Even knowing Lee's predicament, McClellan lost several hours and did not leave for the South Mountain ports until the morning of the 14th.
Events seemed to be moving quickly, and Lee felt that the situation was slipping away from him. he ordered Longstreet to send troops from Hagerstown to defend Turner and Fox Gorges, and Jackson to dispatch a force from Harpers Ferry to guard Crampton Gorge further south. His delaying actions would buy Lee precious time to rally his scattered forces. However, McClellan would fight his way through the defiles, and on the night of the 14th, Lee gave orders to abandon the Harpers Ferry positions in preparation for a general withdrawal to the safety of Virginia.
In the early hours of the next day, as the Union soldiers drew closer, Lee finally received some good news. A message from Jackson stated that Harpers Ferry would fall on the morning of the 15th. Lee canceled his original order and ordered his troops to mass near the town of Sharpsburg. Longstreet moved on, and Jackson quickly departed Harpers Ferry, leaving General A. P. Hill's division to deal with captured loot and nearly 12,000 Union prisoners.
Layouts
Believing that he could still save the campaign from him, Lee decided to plant himself beside a low hill overlooking the Antietam Creek . General J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry protected the left flank of the Confederate line, which was supported by General John Bell Hood's division in a wooded area called the West Woods. General D. H. Hill stationed five brigades in the rebel center off the Boonsborough road. General D. R. Jones's division occupied a mile of the Confederate line, which ended along high ridges on the west side of Antietam Creek, above the lower bridge. By the afternoon of the 16th, most of Jackson's soldiers had arrived from Harpers Ferry and doubled the size of Lee's force to about 36,000 strong.
By noon on the 15th, McClellan had mustered 75,000 troops east of the Antietam. Both sides had placed artillery on the surrounding high ground and there was sporadic cannonade on the 16th as McClellan perfected his plan of attack. Two army corps, under Generals Joseph Hooker and Joseph K. E Mansfield, were positioned to the Union right and ordered to launch the initial assault, with the corps of Generals William B. Franklin and Edwin V. Sumner prepared to exploit any significant advantage. General Fitz-John Porter's corps took up positions in the center of the Union along the Boonsborough Road, and General Ambrose Burnside's corps took up positions on the left by the lower bridge. If Hooker and Mansfield gained significant advantages, Burnside would attack the Confederate right flank and perhaps continue to the town of Sharpsburg. Ultimately, Porter's soldiers would assault the Confederate center in support of either flank's attack. McClellan had missed opportunities to attack the Confederate army during the afternoon of the 15th and again on the 16th. When battle finally broke out on the 17th, Lee was able to use his interior lines. By moving reinforcements into areas of intense combat, he blocked several important Union advances. McClellan failed to coordinate his attack and sent in the reserves piecemeal, nullifying his superior numbers.
The Battle of Antietam
At dawn, Hooker's Federals advanced up the Hagerstown road toward Dunker's church. Artillery fire tore great gaps in the ranks of the defenders, and the center of the savage fighting was concentrated on a 12-hectare field. Relieved overnight by two brigades under General Alexander Lawton, Hood's Texans were preparing breakfast when the fighting broke out. A desperate Lawton called for help, and Hood's shock troops drove Hooker's spearhead back more than a quarter mile. Both sides sent reinforcements, and the dead and wounded began to pile up. Some accounts claim that the bloody cornfield changed hands up to 15 times.
More than 90 minutes after Hooker's initial attacks, Mansfield assaulted the Confederates on the same ground. As his right wing was torn apart by Confederate artillery, Mansfield was mortally wounded . A Union division under General George Greene managed to reach the rocky ground in front of Dunker's church, but no other units appeared to take advantage, and Greene's men were cut off and pinned down.
Around 9:00, Sumner led two divisions from near the West Woods, a little more than half a mile from the ragged Confederate line. In response, Jackson deployed reserves, some fresh from the march from Harpers Ferry and others transferred from the rebel right wing near the stone bridge, to lay a trap along the edge of the West Woods. During the march, the 2nd Union Division, under the command of William French, lost contact with Sumner and went off course. A single division of 5,000 men, under General John Sedgwick, continued, stumbling into a trap set by Jackson. Crossfire from nearly 10,000 muskets cut down half of Sedgwick's forces in just 20 minutes. Jackson counterattacked but was repulsed by Sedgwick's artillery. The third Union attack that morning had accomplished nothing, and there were dozens of dead and wounded scattered on the ground around the cornfield, the Hagerstown road, and Dunker's church. By 10:00 AM the Confederate left wing had held on, battered but undefeated.
The fighting now shifted to the south, where D. H. Hill had taken advantage of a lower level road, which had been eroded by years of cart traffic and now offered a natural defensive position. As French's division moved away from Sedgwick, he engaged soldiers from three brigades of Hill's division, who had withdrawn from the fighting around Dunker's church. A fierce battle broke out to the left of the low road. The famous Irish Brigade assaulted the Confederates on the low road at about 10:30 a.m., suffering 540 dead and wounded before withdrawing. Regardless, the Union attacks continued. Exhausted, the Confederates began to falter when a pair of New York regiments managed to flank the low road and direct deadly fire along the trench, and a misunderstood order caused an entire rebel brigade to abandon their positions.
The bodies of the Confederates were piled up on the low road, which history called the "Bloody Road." Once again, the Union army was on the verge of a decisive victory. A piecemeal defense delayed the Union advance, which had reached as much as 500 meters beyond the low road. One more push with fresh troops from his ample reserve might win the day for McClellan; however, the commander hesitated and then ordered his soldiers to hold his positions.
From morning to mid-afternoon, Union troops farther south had tried to take the lower bridge over Antietam Creek. While part of his soldiers searched for places where the creek could be easily forded, the commander of the corps, General Ambrose Burnside, was determined to take the bridge that would finally bear his name. It was defended by only 400 Confederate riflemen. After four hours of unsuccessful attempts to capture the bridge, federal troops from New York and Pennsylvania charged it and gained the western shore.
All morning, Lee had stripped his right wing of soldiers to back up the downtrodden areas to his left and center. Now, despite his slow progress, Burnside was in a position to sweep aside the woefully insufficient Confederate defenders, capture Sharpsburg, and cut off the entire rebel army's path of retreat. Nevertheless, he waited two precious hours, consolidating his occupation of the west side of the creek. When Burnside finally got going around 3:00 PM, he made slow progress. An hour later, he was alone 800 meters from the village. Just when it was needed most, A. P. Hill and his light division appeared in a cloud of dust, racing down Harpers Ferry Road. His exhausted soldiers had covered the 17 miles to the scene of the fighting in seven hours, and many had broken ranks from exhaustion. The charge of the light division stopped Burnside's advance dead in its tracks, and he withdrew towards the creek. At 18:00 in the afternoon the battle of Antietam was over . Lee was too battered to take the offensive.
Casualties on America's bloodiest day were appalling. The Army of the Potomac counted 12,410 killed, wounded, or missing, while the Army of Northern Virginia had lost 10,700 personnel. Throughout the day of September 18, Lee held his ground. McClellan refused to renew the fight and did not pursue the Confederate columns as they retreated across the Potomac.
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, President Lincoln became convinced that the result was enough of a victory to issue the Emancipation Proclamation , which freed slaves in territories then in rebellion against the US The document transmuted the war from an effort to save the Union into one of liberation and the perpetuation of freedom. European governments, which had themselves abolished slavery, were dissuaded from supporting the Confederate cause.