The battle of Antietam also known as "The Battle of Sharpsburg" was a one-day battle on September 17th, 1862. This battle was a Confederate attempt to invade northern territories.
The Confederates were aggravated when Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation was an ultimatum that stated that all slaves in the south would be freed as long as they returned back to the union peacefully by the new year. This resulted in a more motivated confederate army because they felt like their way of life was being violated. This lead to them having more motivation and drive to fight.
Emancipation Proclamation
Confederate General Robert E. Lee
Lets go men, let's invade the North!
This Union that the southern army was trying to invade was at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg in Maryland. One advantage that the Union had was that the confederate army were starving and worn-out. One advantage that the Confederates had was that although they were outnumbered, their forces were much larger.
Union General George McClellan
The next day, Lee began the job of retreating his forces back to Virginia. General McClellan surprisingly did nothing. He felt as though he achieved his goal of preventing a Confederate win on Union soil. However, President Lincoln wasn't pleased with McClellan's decision not to attack the confederates while they were down and potentially end the war once and for all. Therefore Lincoln removed McClellan from command on November 5th, 1862. This had 23,000 casualties and left 3,650 dead.
This battle remains to this day the deadliest one-day battle in all of American military history. France and Great Britain watched along as they thought about legitimizing the confederacy. In conclusion, the battle's outcome would be vital to America's future and success.
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