Essay On The Battle Of Antietam

Known as the single bloodiest day in American history, the Battle of Antietam was just that. It was the battle that has the most lives lost. It was the battle that suffered the most casualties. It was the worst day of the entire Civil War. This battle was different because it was one of the first battles to be fought in the North. On this bloody day, two sides went head to head, force on force, to achieve a victory. A victory in which, if you look at it, no one really won. Although it was a stalemate, it considered a victory for the Union even though both sides suffered catastrophic casualties. Over 23,000 men were either killed, wounded, or missing after this bloody twelve hour fight. The Battle of Antietam was caused by General Robert E.
This battle was a Union victory, and it forced Lee and the Confederates to reconsider their campaign. Soon, the Confederates would regroup and fall back to the sleepy farming town of Sharpsburg, where they would form a defensive line. A few days later, the Battle of Antietam was fought. On September 16, 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and his Union Army of the Potomac confronted Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Sharpsburg, Maryland. At dawn on September 17, Maj. General Joseph Hooker’s Union corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee’s left flank that began the Battle of Antietam, and the single bloodiest day in American military history. Repeated Union attacks, and equally vicious Confederate counterattacks, swept back and forth across Miller’s cornfield and the West Woods. Despite the great Union numerical advantage, Stonewall Jackson’s forces near the Dunker Church would hold their ground this bloody morning. Meanwhile, towards the center of the battlefield, Union assaults against the Sunken Road would pierce the Confederate center after a terrible struggle for this key defensive position. Unfortunately for the Union army this temporal advantage in the center was not followed up with further