Antietam (Sharpsburg), America's bloodiest battle; Sept 16, 1863

" The Battle of Antietam, also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, occurred on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It pitted Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia against Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and was the culmination of Lee’s attempt to invade the north. The battle’s outcome would be vital to shaping America’s future, and it remains the deadliest one-day battle in all of American military history."

The three major phases of the battle:

Antietam - Cornfield - September 17, 1862 - 8am to 8:30am;   The West Woods

Antietam - Sunken Road - September 17, 1862 - 9am to 12pm

Antietam - The Final Assault - September 17, 1862 - 3pm to Dark

The Sunken Lane at Antietam

      Minnesota at the Crossroads: Battle of Antietam - 1862

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM CASUALTIES: SHARPSBURG (SEPTEMBER 17, 1862)

Result of this battle: The Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."   

 "Fact #8: The Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for African-Americans to fight for their freedom.

"Lincoln declared in the Proclamation that African-Americans of “suitable condition, would be received into the armed service of the United States.” Five months after the Proclamation took effect; the War Department of the United States issued General Orders No. 143, establishing the United States Colored Troops (USCT). By the end of the war, over 200,000 African-Americans would serve in the Union army and navy." . . .