Tuesday, September 20, 2011

American Civil War Battle of Antietam, Sept 17th, 1862

The Battle of Antietam, 149 years ago: Wikipedia summary:
Referred to in the South as the Battle of Sharpsburg, since they named battles after the closest town. The northerners named the battles after the closest river.
Antietam battle maps
The Battle of Antietam "...also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South), fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties."
Civil War Trust  Click on the slide show at this page for pictures, then and now.
The Maryland campaign of 1862
"The American Civil War Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) put an end to General Lee's 1862 incursion into the North, gave President Lincoln the victory he needed to issue the crucial Emancipation Proclamation, and probably doomed the Confederacy's hopes for European recognition and support." More here. 
Historian Bruce Catton's essay on the Emancipation Proclamation.


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