Antietam

Antietam

Andrew SanFelippo
Fr. Zeps
U.S. Military History
4/11/11
The Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)

The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg in the south) took place on September 17, 1862 near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. It was the first major battle to take place on northern soil and it would turn out to be the single deadliest day of the civil war. The battle was fought primarily between the forces of the confederate’s General Robert E. Lee and the forces of the union’s General George B. McClellan. Many important decisions and events occurred before the battle between the two generals, and those events played a major role in why and how the battle was fought. The battle itself played out in three phases occurring in the morning, mid-day, and afternoon and the destruction was unprecedented to this point in the war. Lastly, the battle had major effects on the Civil War overall making it an important battle to remember and understand.
Leading up to the battle, General Lee was coming off successive victories over General McClellan and John Pope at the Battle of Second Bull Run (or second Manassas) and he had pushed most of the union presence back out of Virginia. He now wanted to carry the war into northern territory. His first order of business was to send “Stonewall” Jackson to Harpers Ferry to eliminate a potential trouble spot threatening his lines of supply and communication. However on September 13th, McClellan’s men found a copy of Lee’s battle plans, giving McClellan an opportunity to deliver a knockout blow to Lee’s army if he moved quickly. Instead of moving rapidly, the cautious McClellan waited until September 14th before starting to move. By that time, Lee found out McClellan had a copy of the battle plans and he prepared himself for the attack. The battle took place at South Mountain where the Union army was able to occupy Crampton’s Gap. From there the Union army had plans to move forward and Lee contemplated retreat....