Chapter II: Part 2

Seldom had Lee’s army fought a battle so strenuous and so long. “The sun,” a soldier wrote, “seemed almost to go backwards, and it appeared as if night would never come.” From dawn to sunset, the Confederate commander had thrown into battle every organized unit north of the Potomac. Straggling in the days preceding Antietam had reduced Lee’s army from 55,000 to 41,000 men. This small force had sustained five major attacks by McClellan’s 87,000-man army—three in the West Woods and the Miller cornfield, and those at the Sunken Road and the Lower Bridge—each time the outcome hanging in the balance.

In the stillness of the night, Lee called his commanders to his headquarters west of Sharpsburg. Of each in turn he asked the condition of the men, and each, even Jackson, spoke against renewal of battle on the morrow. “Still too weak to assume the offensive,” Lee wrote later, “we waited without apprehension the renewal of the attack.”

Early on the following morning, it became apparent that McClellan was not going to attack, though during the night he had received strong reinforcements, and more were on the way. Still undaunted, Lee returned to his plan of striking the Federal right at Poffenberger Ridge. But after surveying the ground, his officers informed him that Federal batteries completely dominated the narrow strip of land over which the attack must be launched. An attempt against the Federal guns would be suicidal.

Balked in his last hope of a counteroffensive, Lee realized that he could not recall the decision won by McClellan at South Mountain: The campaign was lost. During the afternoon, he announced to his lieutenants his intention of withdrawing that night across the Potomac. At midnight Longstreet led the way across Blackford’s Ford and formed a protective line on the south bank. Steadily through the night and early morning, the Confederate columns crossed over into Virginia.

McClellan did not actively pursue. As the days passed and Lee’s army withdrew into the Shenandoah Valley, President Lincoln became impatient. The time was at hand, he thought, for the decisive blow. Calling upon McClellan on the field of Antietam, October 1, Lincoln urged a vigorous pursuit of the Confederate army. McClellan insisted that his army required reorganization and new equipment. The President, having lost all confidence in McClellan, removed him from command on November 7.

_The Battle and the Campaign_

Tactically, Antietam was a draw. Strategically, however, it was a Northern victory because it halted Lee’s invasion.

Though McClellan failed to destroy Lee’s army, his contribution was in many ways notable. In the 3 weeks after he was chosen for command on September 3, he provided for Washington’s defense, created a new field army, fought two major actions, compelled Lee’s evacuation of Maryland, and established Federal control of the Potomac River from Washington to Williamsport. That he was not a daring commander of Lee’s stripe cannot detract from these solid achievements.

Lee, on the other hand, may have been too daring. Because of this he made two major miscalculations. First, his invasion of Maryland imposed a strain that his poorly equipped and exhausted army could not support; heavy straggling was the surest evidence of this. Second, he misjudged the capacity of the enemy to recuperate from the effects of Second Manassas and quickly put a reliable field army on his trail. He did achieve one of his objectives: The delay of the Federal armies in resuming major offensive operations in Virginia until the next winter. But the price was high and the South could not afford the kind of attrition suffered in the campaign.

Casualties were so heavy in the Battle of Antietam that September 17, 1862, is termed the bloodiest day of the Civil War. Of McClellan’s 26,023 killed, wounded, and captured during the Maryland Campaign (including Harpers Ferry), he counted 12,410 at Antietam. Of Lee’s 13,385 casualties during the campaign, 10,700 fell at Antietam.

_The War for the Union Takes on a New Purpose_

After Antietam there was no serious threat of foreign recognition or intervention on behalf of the Confederacy. And the repulse inflicted on Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia gave Abraham Lincoln the opportunity he had sought: On September 22—just 5 days after the battle—the President issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It declared that upon the first day of January next all slaves within any State or district then in rebellion against the United States “... shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

With the formal Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, the war took on new purpose. In the North, and in many foreign lands, the cause of American Union had become one with that of human liberty.

_Clara Barton at Antietam_

At Antietam, also, was Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. On this field of desolation, long after the guns had ceased, Miss Barton was still busily rendering care to the wounded and dying. Having arrived early in the day in the northern area of battle, she witnessed the wounded men of Sedgwick’s depleted ranks streaming to the cover of North and East Woods. By midmorning her wagonload of supplies, donated by the citizens of Washington, had arrived. She worked tirelessly with army surgeons at the field hospital on the Joseph Poffenberger farm. Her supply of bandages, linens, anesthetics, and oil lanterns replenished the surgeons’ urgent need of dressings and provided light to carry on through the night. So outstanding were her services on the field of battle that she later received official recognition by the United States Army Medical Corps. Her work here and later would become basic to the establishment of the American Red Cross.

_Antietam National Battlefield and Cemetery_

The Antietam National Battlefield was established August 30, 1890, to commemorate the significant events of September 17, 1862, and to preserve the important features of the battlefield. Administered by the War Department until 1933, the site was transferred that year to the U.S. Department of the Interior to be administered by the National Park Service.

The Battle of Antietam was fought over an area of 12 square miles. The site today consists of 810 acres containing approximately 8½ miles of tour roads. Located along the battlefield avenues to mark battle positions of infantry, artillery, and cavalry are many monuments, markers, and narrative tablets. Similar markers describe the actions at Turner’s Gap, Harpers Ferry, and Blackford’s Ford.

Key artillery positions on the field of Antietam are marked by cannon. And 10 large-scale field exhibits at important points on the field indicate troop positions and battle action.

The War Correspondents’ Memorial Arch and the 1st New Jersey Regimental Monument are located at Crampton’s Gap, and at Fox’s Gap is the memorial to Maj. Gen. Jesse Reno, who was killed while leading the Federal attack there.

Outstanding in the observance of battle anniversaries at Antietam was the occasion of the 75th anniversary on September 17, 1937. Thirty-five thousand persons, including 50 veterans who fought at Antietam, joined in the observance held on the battleground near the Sunken Road.

The Robert E. Lee Memorial tablet, located in a plot at the western limits of Sharpsburg, marks the headquarters of General Lee. General McClellan’s headquarters were in the Philip Pry house, 2 miles east of Sharpsburg near the Boonsboro Pike.

The National Cemetery, located at the eastern limits of Sharpsburg, is the burial place of Federal dead from the Battles of Antietam, South Mountain, and minor engagements. The cemetery was established by an act of the Maryland legislature in March 1865; the dedication took place September 17, 1867, the fifth anniversary of the battle. The cemetery plot of 11 acres was deeded by the State of Maryland to the United States Government on March 13, 1878. Of 4,776 Civil War burials, 1,836 are listed as unidentified. The total number of burials, including nearly 300 from recent wars, is more than 5,000.

_Administration_

The Antietam National Battlefield is a part of the National Park System, owned by the people of the United States and administered for them by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Communications should be addressed to the Superintendent, Antietam National Battlefield, P.O. Box 158, Sharpsburg, Maryland 21782.

_Suggested Readings_

Bradford, Ned, editor, _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War_.
Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1956.

These selections from the original four volume 1887-88 edition are
excellent for on-the-spot impressions of participants. Should be used
with caution concerning historical accuracy.

Catton, Bruce, _Mr. Lincoln’s Army_. Doubleday & Company, Garden City,
1951.

Popular well-written interpretive study with colorful battle accounts.
Descriptions of camplife are very good.

Commager, Henry S., editor, _The Blue and the Gray_. Bobbs-Merrill
Company, Inc., New York, 1950.

Fine selection of readings from the pens of participants. Again, as
with _Battles and Leaders_, these accounts suffer from immediacy and
should be used with caution.

Freeman, D. S., _R. E. Lee_, Vol. II. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York,
1934.

Outstanding as biography and as military history. Detailed analysis of
Lee’s actions as commander with vivid battle descriptions. Excellent
footnotes for further reference.

Hassler, Warren W., Jr., _General George B. McClellan, Shield of the
Union_. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1957.

Interesting interpretation of McClellan’s actions as Federal
commander. His difficulties with subordinates, especially Burnside,
are used to explain Federal failure to take advantage of opportunities
at Antietam.

Henderson, G. F. R., _Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War_.
Longmans, Green and Company, London, 1955 reprint.

This is a modern reprint of Henderson’s classic military biography,
first printed in 1898; it is still a standard work on the legendary
Jackson.

Longstreet, James, _From Manassas to Appomattox_. J. B. Lippincott and
Company, Philadelphia, 1896.

Written many years after the war, this account by a leading
participant emphasizes his own point of view.

APPENDIX
_The Emancipation Proclamation_

On August 22, 1862, just one month before Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, he wrote a letter to Horace Greeley, abolitionist editor of the New York Tribune. The letter read in part:

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the
Constitution. The sooner the National authority can be restored, the
nearer the Union will be “the Union as it was.” If there be those who
would not save the Union unless they could at the same time _save_
Slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not
save the Union unless they could at the same time _destroy_ Slavery, I
do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle _is_ to
save the Union, and is _not_ either to save or destroy Slavery.... I
have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty, and
I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all
men everywhere could be free....

For some months before the Battle of Antietam, as his letter to Greeley indicates, Lincoln had been wrestling with the problem of slavery and its connection with the war. He became convinced that a new spiritual and moral force—emancipation of the slaves—must be injected into the Union cause, else the travail of war might dampen the fighting spirit of the North. If this loss of vitality should come to pass, the paramount political objective of restoring the Union might never be attained.

Another compelling factor in Lincoln’s thinking was the need to veer European opinion away from its sympathy for the South. A war to free the slaves would enlist the support of Europe in a way that a war for purely political objectives could not.

Thus, slowly and with much soul searching, Lincoln’s official view of his duty came to correspond with his personal wish for human freedom. The outcome of these deliberations was the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Federal victory at Antietam gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the proclamation—a dramatic step toward eliminating slavery in the United States.

By this act, Lincoln stretched the Constitution to the limit of its meaning. His interpretation of presidential war powers was revolutionary. It would become a precedent for other Presidents who would similarly find constitutional authority for emergency action in time of war.

More important, the proclamation was to inaugurate a revolution in human relationships. Although Congress had previously enacted laws concerning the slaves that went substantially as far as the Emancipation Proclamation, the laws had lacked the dramatic and symbolic import of Lincoln’s words. Dating from the proclamation, the war became a crusade and the vital force of abolition sentiment was captured for the Union cause, both at home and abroad—especially in England.

The immediate practical effects of the Emancipation Proclamation were negligible, applying as it did only to those areas “in rebellion” where it could not be enforced. But its message became a symbol and a goal which opened the way for universal emancipation in the future. Thus the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution are direct progeny of Lincoln’s proclamation.

Any document with the long-term importance of the Emancipation Proclamation deserves to be read by those who experience its effects. Following is the text of the formal Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863:

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.

Whereas on the 22d day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation was
issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other
things, the following, to wit:

“That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves
within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof
shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the
United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,
will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no
act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts
they may make for their actual freedom.

“That the executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in
which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion
against the United States; and the fact that any State or the people
thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress
of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a
majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have
participated shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony,
be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof
are not then in rebellion against the United States.”

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against
the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and
necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st
day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do,
publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the
first day above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts
of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in
rebellion against the United States the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
Paquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans,
including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the
forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the
counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northhampton, Elizabeth City, York,
Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and
Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left
precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order
and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated
States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and
that the Executive Government of the United States, including the
military and naval authorities thereof will recognize and maintain the
freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain
from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend
to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for
reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable
condition will be received into the armed service of the United States
to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the
considerate judgement of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty
God.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1986 0 - 157-109: QL 3

Antietam
National Battlefield
Maryland
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior

The Bloodiest Day of the Civil War

The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) on September 17, 1862, climaxed the first of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s two attempts to carry the war into the North. About 40,000 Southerners were pitted against the 87,000-man Federal Army of the Potomac under Gen. George B. McClellan. And when the fighting ended, the course of the American Civil War had been greatly altered.

After his great victory at Manassas in August, Lee had marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, hoping to find vitally needed men and supplies. McClellan followed, first to Frederick (where through rare good fortune a copy of the Confederate battle plan, Lee’s Special Order No. 191, fell into his hands), then westward 12 miles to the passes of South Mountain. There on September 14, at Turner’s, Fox’s, and Crampton’s gaps, Lee tried to block the Federals. But because he had split his army to send troops under Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry, Lee could only hope to delay the Northerners. McClellan forced his way through, and by the afternoon September 15 both armies had established new battlelines west and east of Antietam Creek near the town of Sharpsburg. When Jackson’s troops reached Sharpsburg on the 16th, Harpers Ferry having surrendered the day before, Lee consolidated his position along the low ridge that runs north and south of the town.

Clara Barton, who tended the wounded at Antietam during and after
the battle.]

The battle opened at dawn on the 17th when Union Gen. Joseph Hooker’s artillery began a murderous fire on Jackson’s men in the Miller cornfield north of town. “In the time I am writing,” Hooker reported, “every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before.” Hooker’s troops advanced, driving the Confederates before them, and Jackson reported that his men were “exposed for near an hour to a terrific storm of shell, canister, and musketry.”

About 7 a.m. Jackson was reenforced and succeeded in driving the Federals back. An hour later Union troops under Gen. Joseph Mansfield counterattacked and by 9 o’clock had regained some of the lost ground. Then, in an effort to extricate some of Mansfield’s men from their isolated position near the Dunker Church, Gen. John Sedgwick’s division of Edwin V. Sumner’s corps advanced into the West Woods. There Confederate troops struck Sedgwick’s men on both flanks, inflicting appalling casualties.

Robert E. Lee]

Meanwhile, Gen. William H. French’s division of Sumner’s corps moved up to support Sedgwick but veered south into Confederates under Gen. D. H. Hill posted along an old sunken road separating the Roulette and Piper farms. For nearly 4 hours, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., bitter fighting raged along this road (afterwards known as Bloody Lane) as French, supported by Gen. Israel B. Richardson’s division, also of Sumner’s corps, sought to drive the southerners back. Confusion and sheer exhaustion finally ended the battle here and in the northern part of the field generally.

Southeast of town, Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s troops had been trying to cross a bridge over Antietam Creek since 9:30 a.m. Some 400 Georgians had driven them back each time. At 1 p.m. the Federals finally crossed the bridge (now known as Burnside Bridge) and, after a 2-hour delay to reform their lines, advanced up the slope beyond. By late afternoon they had driven the Georgians back almost to Sharpsburg, threatening to cut off the line of retreat for Lee’s decimated Confederates. Then about 4 p.m. Gen. A. P. Hill’s division, left behind by Jackson at Harpers Ferry to salvage the captured Federal property, arrived on the field and immediately entered the fight. Burnside’s troops were driven back to the heights near the bridge they had earlier taken. The Battle of Antietam was over. The next day Lee began withdrawing his army across the Potomac River.

George B. McClellan]

More men were killed or wounded at Antietam on September 17, 1862, than on any other single day of the Civil War. Federal losses were 12,410, Confederate losses 10,700. Although neither side gained a decisive victory, Lee’s failure to carry the war effort effectively into the North caused Great Britain to postpone recognition of the Confederate government. The battle also gave President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which, on January 1, 1863, declared free all slaves in States still in rebellion against the United States. Now the war had a dual purpose: to preserve the Union and end slavery.

About Your Visit

Antietam National Battlefield lies north and east of Sharpsburg, along Md. 34 and 65. Both routes intersect either U.S. 40 or 40A and Int. 70. The visitor center is north of Sharpsburg on Md. 65 and is open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day. All visitor center facilities and most tour route exhibits are wheelchair accessible.

There are interpretive markers at Turner’s, Fox’s, and Crampton’s Gaps on South Mountain (scenes of preliminary fighting) and at the Shepherdstown (W. Va.) Ford where Lee’s army recrossed the Potomac.

While touring the park, stay alert to all traffic. Bicyclists should use caution while descending hills. Please use trails to avoid contact with stinging nettles, ticks, and snakes. Do not climb on cannons, monuments, fences, or trees. Don’t spoil your visit with an accident. Note: Relic hunting is prohibited.

Antietam National Battlefield and Cemetery are administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. A superintendent, whose address is Box 158, Sharpsburg, MD 21782, is in charge. Phone: (301) 432-5124.

Touring Antietam Battlefield

Before starting your tour, stop at the visitor center where exhibits and audio-visual programs provide an introduction to the battle and the Maryland Campaign. The numbered tour stops below are arranged according to the sequence of the battle.

Morning Phase (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.)

1 Dunker Church This was the focal point of repeated clashes as both
armies sought to occupy and hold the high ground around it.
Leveled by a storm in 1921, the church was rebuilt in 1962.

2 North Woods General Hooker launched the initial Union attack from this
point. It was stopped by Jackson’s troops in The Cornfield, ½ mile
south.

3 East Woods Union Gen. Joseph Mansfield was fatally wounded here as he
led his XII Corps into battle.

4 The Cornfield More fighting took place here in the Miller cornfield
than anywhere else at Antietam. The battlelines swept back and
forth across the field for three hours.

5 West Woods Union Gen. John Sedgwick’s division lost more than 2,200
men in less than half an hour in an ill-fated charge into these
woods against Jackson’s troops.

6 Mumma Farm Burned by the Confederates to prevent their use by Union
sharpshooters, the Mumma farm buildings were the only civilian
property purposely destroyed during the battle.

Midday Phase (9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.)

7 Roulette Farm Union troops under French and Richardson crossed these
fields on their way to meet the Confederates posted in the Sunken
Road.

8 Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) For nearly 4 hours, Union and Confederate
infantry contested this sunken country road, resulting in over
5,000 casualties. Thus the name “Bloody Lane”.

Afternoon Phase (1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.)

9 Lower Bridge (Burnside Bridge) The fighting here was a key factor in
McClellan’s failure at Antietam. Called Burnside Bridge after the
Union general whose troops were held off most of the day by a few
hundred Georgia riflemen, it is the battlefield’s best-known
landmark.

10 The Final Attack After taking the Lower Bridge and reforming his
corps, Burnside marched his men across these hills toward
Sharpsburg, threatening to cut off Lee’s line of retreat. Just as
the Federals reached this area, A. P. Hill’s Confederate division
arrived from Harpers Ferry and drove them back.

11 Antietam National Cemetery The remains of 4,776 Federal soldiers,
including 1,836 unknowns, are buried in this hilltop cemetery near
town. Most of the Confederate dead are buried in Hagerstown and
Frederick, Md., Shepherdstown, W. Va., and in local church and
family cemeteries.

The battle of Antietam, fought over an area of 12 square miles,
consisted of the three basic phases—morning, midday, and
afternoon—shown on the maps at right. During the morning phase,
three piecemeal Union attacks drove back Jackson’s line, but did
not break it. The midday phase saw two Union divisions break D. H.
Hill’s line in the sunken road, but McClellan’s failure to follow
it up lost him the advantage that had been gained. In the
afternoon phase, Burnside’s slow pincer movement beyond the lower
bridge was broken by A. P. Hill’s timely arrival.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.