battle of antietam

Battle of Antietam 1

THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM

The Battle of Antietam

p Elizabeth Miller

p Battle of Antietam 2

Abstract

The Battle of Antietam is an infamously significant military operation of the Civil War in a political and strategic sense . The entire campaign takes place over the course of a single day , yet bears a higher death toll than multiple wars combined . The Confederate Army was greatly out-manned , but extraordinarily resilient . However , the greatest advantages of the battle were held by the Union . Their arguable victory in

Sharpsburg propelled President Lincoln 's bold announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation and rallied the morale of Northern soldiers and civilians to preserve the Union and abolish slavery

Battle of Antietam 3

The Battle of Antietam

A terrible reality of war is bloodshed . But neither the North nor the South anticipated the decimation of Antietam , the bloodiest battle of the Civil War . On September 17 , 1862 war waged and ravaged the small town of Sharpsburg , Maryland resulting in unprecedented casualties More lives were lost in a single day 's battle than in all the wars fought in this country during the nineteenth century combined (McPherson , 2004 ,

. 3 ) No other day in American history is saddled with greater loss

Although , the battle ended somewhat inconclusively with heavy death tolls on both sides , its affect on the War was decisive . Strategically it was the first Confederate campaign on northern soil and it set an intimidating precedent . General Lee 's astounding resilience , even...