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Established by Act of Congress on August 30, 1890, this Civil War site
marks the end of General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North in
September 1862. The battle claimed more than 23,000 men killed, wounded,
and missing in one single day, September 17,1862, and led to Lincoln's issuance
of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The battlefield at Antietam is known among Civil War historians as the site
that saw the most American bloodshed in a single day: On September 17,1862,
more than 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. Six Brigadier and
Major Generals were killed or mortally wounded during the battle - three
from the Union army, three from the Confederates - and a number of generals
from each side were seriously injured.
Just 18 days after the Confederate victory at Second Manassas in Virginia,
General Lee had decided to invade the North, prompting the first major
Civil War engagement on northern soil. Lee moved his army into the western
Maryland countryside so his hungry soldiers could get food and purchase
clothing and shoes from stores in Frederick. The move also allowed southern
farmers to harvest their crops without Union armies getting in the way,
which meant the Confederate army would eat well in the winter months.
Lee also believed that a strong showing on Northern soil might persuade
European nations that the Confederacy was a legitimate force, thus prompting
them to come to his aid.
But Lee was outmanned. His forces numbered approximately 40,000-50,000.
Although his adversary, Major General George McClellan, had 90,000 men
at his service, he believed that Lee had 100,000 men. The South saw some
success in the early going, as hundreds of Union soldiers perished in
an area that would henceforth be known as Bloody Lane. But the Confederates
soon took their own losses and might have been routed if reinforcements
had not arrived. Lee had the time and the manpower to recover, but he
soon ordered a retreat; had the Union's leaders been bold enough to pursue
the Confederates, they quite possibly could have brought a quicker end
to the war.
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