Learn how the Battle of Antietam became the deadliest one-day battle during the American Civil War
Learn how the Battle of Antietam became the deadliest one-day battle during the American Civil War
Overview of the Battle of Antietam (1862) during the American Civil War.
© Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
In June of 1862, new Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, whipped, demoralized, and pushed away from Richmond the Union host under George McClellan. After that, Lee moves northward. He wins at Cedar Mountain, wins at Second Manassas, and then decides to invade the North. Pushes into Maryland, crosses the Potomac River, hoping maybe to get people to flock to his cause. His army will swell inside Maryland.
While the Union host, now under George McClellan, will pursue after Robert E. Lee, the Union gets a lucky stroke. While in Frederick, Maryland, about 20 miles away from here, the Union finds an order, a lost order. Lost Order 191, which detailed that Robert E. Lee's army was split up into several pieces, so little respect did he have for the audacity of his opponent, George McClellan.
Armed with information about Robert E. Lee's plan, George McClellan moves with uncharacteristic speed, pushing westward against the passes at South Mountain. And Crompton's Gap, Fox's Gap, Turner's Gap will all fall to the Union late on September 14, 1862. Robert E Lee doesn't know what's happening. But he knows he needs to concentrate his army, and he's bringing the various elements together. And eventually, they're going to concentrate outside of Sharpsburg, Maryland, where we stand along the banks of Antietam Creek.
In coming to the Battle of Antietam or the Battle of Sharpsburg, depending on which side you're on, the Union Army has about 80,000 soldiers and the Confederates only have about 40,000 soldiers. Lee is at a numerical disadvantage. He's got a big, swollen river to his back, the Potomac River. But yet, he stands his ground.
The Battle of Antietam, all fought on one calendar day, will devolve into four phases. They're going to fight behind me in the cornfield and in the environs around there. Later in the morning, they're going to fight around the West Woods, off to my right. Later that morning and into the early afternoon, they're going to fight for a sunken road now known as the Bloody Lane. And overlapping with that and into the afternoon, they're going to fight at and around the Burnside Bridge.
Let me go into each of those phases. The fighting starts early in the morning, where the Union men, Hooker's men, the First Corps, followed by the Union 12th Corps, 20,000 soldiers, are going to push through and around the cornfield. While Stonewall Jackson's men are going to push back with artillery, with infantry. And Jackson is taxed to every last bit of strength he has. They are pulling Confederates from the right over to the left to bolster Jackson.
Ultimately, Jackson's line will hold, just barely hold, right as the next phase starts, where the Union's 2nd Corps arrives. And that Union 2nd Corps will split so that some of the men fight in the West Woods. Some of the men fight over toward the Bloody Lane. The Unionists that went to the West Woods met disaster behind the Dunker Church at the hands of a powerful Confederate counterattack. The Unionists who attacked the Bloody Lane found that the Confederates were not particularly strong there in that otherwise strong position.
Ultimately, the Union was able to flank the Bloody Lane, get around it. And the Confederates fell back from there. And in a bloody, bloody fighting, the Union captured that position.
In the meantime, the Union is struggling, the 9th Corps under Ambrose Burnside, struggling to capture or get around Burnside Bridge. Which ultimately they do after several unsuccessful attempts at 10:00 in the morning, at noon. And finally at 1:00 in the afternoon, the Union crosses Burnside Bridge, pushes the Confederates away. And disaster is imminent for the South.
After capturing the Burnside Bridge, the Union pushed on. They are about to cut off the only route of retreat for Robert E Lee's army. It is all but certain disaster for the Confederates. They're starting to fall back en masse.
Just as the Union began to advance, however, with raw recruits on their far left flank, on that flank arrives A.P. Hill's light division just arriving from Harpers Ferry, just when and just where they were needed. They hit the union flank with a fury. The Union flank will crumble. That will force the rest of the 9th Corps back.
And ultimately, the Union movement just stalls. The Battle of Antietam ends there. It is the bloodiest single day in all of American history. 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured, or missing.
The next day, both sides were so worn out that there was no fighting on the 18th. But the Union does pursue. They pursue the Confederates as they're trying to get back into Virginia, now West Virginia.
There's a fight at the Battle of Shepherdstown. But the Southern invasion is done. They have been repelled. And this is enough for Abraham Lincoln to take the bold stroke of issuing his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which will suddenly change the war.
Starting on January 1st, 1863, the war will no longer be just about saving and preserving the Union, but rather about freeing the slaves. The Battle of Antietam, also with that move, kept European powers out. It is, therefore, one of the most important days in American history.
While the Union host, now under George McClellan, will pursue after Robert E. Lee, the Union gets a lucky stroke. While in Frederick, Maryland, about 20 miles away from here, the Union finds an order, a lost order. Lost Order 191, which detailed that Robert E. Lee's army was split up into several pieces, so little respect did he have for the audacity of his opponent, George McClellan.
Armed with information about Robert E. Lee's plan, George McClellan moves with uncharacteristic speed, pushing westward against the passes at South Mountain. And Crompton's Gap, Fox's Gap, Turner's Gap will all fall to the Union late on September 14, 1862. Robert E Lee doesn't know what's happening. But he knows he needs to concentrate his army, and he's bringing the various elements together. And eventually, they're going to concentrate outside of Sharpsburg, Maryland, where we stand along the banks of Antietam Creek.
In coming to the Battle of Antietam or the Battle of Sharpsburg, depending on which side you're on, the Union Army has about 80,000 soldiers and the Confederates only have about 40,000 soldiers. Lee is at a numerical disadvantage. He's got a big, swollen river to his back, the Potomac River. But yet, he stands his ground.
The Battle of Antietam, all fought on one calendar day, will devolve into four phases. They're going to fight behind me in the cornfield and in the environs around there. Later in the morning, they're going to fight around the West Woods, off to my right. Later that morning and into the early afternoon, they're going to fight for a sunken road now known as the Bloody Lane. And overlapping with that and into the afternoon, they're going to fight at and around the Burnside Bridge.
Let me go into each of those phases. The fighting starts early in the morning, where the Union men, Hooker's men, the First Corps, followed by the Union 12th Corps, 20,000 soldiers, are going to push through and around the cornfield. While Stonewall Jackson's men are going to push back with artillery, with infantry. And Jackson is taxed to every last bit of strength he has. They are pulling Confederates from the right over to the left to bolster Jackson.
Ultimately, Jackson's line will hold, just barely hold, right as the next phase starts, where the Union's 2nd Corps arrives. And that Union 2nd Corps will split so that some of the men fight in the West Woods. Some of the men fight over toward the Bloody Lane. The Unionists that went to the West Woods met disaster behind the Dunker Church at the hands of a powerful Confederate counterattack. The Unionists who attacked the Bloody Lane found that the Confederates were not particularly strong there in that otherwise strong position.
Ultimately, the Union was able to flank the Bloody Lane, get around it. And the Confederates fell back from there. And in a bloody, bloody fighting, the Union captured that position.
In the meantime, the Union is struggling, the 9th Corps under Ambrose Burnside, struggling to capture or get around Burnside Bridge. Which ultimately they do after several unsuccessful attempts at 10:00 in the morning, at noon. And finally at 1:00 in the afternoon, the Union crosses Burnside Bridge, pushes the Confederates away. And disaster is imminent for the South.
After capturing the Burnside Bridge, the Union pushed on. They are about to cut off the only route of retreat for Robert E Lee's army. It is all but certain disaster for the Confederates. They're starting to fall back en masse.
Just as the Union began to advance, however, with raw recruits on their far left flank, on that flank arrives A.P. Hill's light division just arriving from Harpers Ferry, just when and just where they were needed. They hit the union flank with a fury. The Union flank will crumble. That will force the rest of the 9th Corps back.
And ultimately, the Union movement just stalls. The Battle of Antietam ends there. It is the bloodiest single day in all of American history. 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured, or missing.
The next day, both sides were so worn out that there was no fighting on the 18th. But the Union does pursue. They pursue the Confederates as they're trying to get back into Virginia, now West Virginia.
There's a fight at the Battle of Shepherdstown. But the Southern invasion is done. They have been repelled. And this is enough for Abraham Lincoln to take the bold stroke of issuing his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which will suddenly change the war.
Starting on January 1st, 1863, the war will no longer be just about saving and preserving the Union, but rather about freeing the slaves. The Battle of Antietam, also with that move, kept European powers out. It is, therefore, one of the most important days in American history.