The 150th Anniversary of the Bloodiest Day in American History
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history.
In early September, 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, in an effort to capitalize upon his victory in the Second Battle of Bull Run, at the end of August, decided to launch an invasion of the North, with several objectives in mind, including being able to resupply his army from farms and supply depots in Maryland and Pennsylvania, encouraging pro-Confederate elements in Maryland to rise up in rebellion, creating enough panic and fear in the Union that the upcoming elections would be tipped towards those who favored peace with the Confederacy, and the hopes that if he was to win a major engagement against Union forces in their own territory, that it could lead to the Confederacy receiving recognition and support from Britain and France.
Although the Confederate invasion caused a good deal of panic in the North, it was bogged down by disease and desertion, while the population of Maryland was at best cool towards the invaders. Meanwhile, the Union Army of Potomac under the command of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan had set out in pursuit of Lee, and on September 13, the Union had an incredible stroke of luck when 2 soldiers stumbled across a copy of Lee's battle plan, and the information made its way to McClellan. Armed with the information, including the fact that Lee's army had been divided into several parts, McClellan moved to intercept Lee in the hopes of overwhelming and destroying the largest part of his army, making contact on the 15th near Antietam Creek, just outside the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland.
However, the notoriously overcautious McClellan did not launch an attack until the 17th, incorrectly believing that Lee's army was much bigger than it really was, giving Lee crucial time to consolidate his forces and dig in, even though an attack on the 16th would most likely have shattered Lee's army.
With the two armies occupying a line that ran roughly from northwest to southeast, with the Confederates to the west, McClellan launched 3 separate attacks, but in addition to being badly coordinated, McClellan's plan suffered from poor execution, which was compounded by McClellan holding a third of his army out of the battle out of fears of non-existent Confederate reinforcements.
The first attack was launched in the morning at the northern end of the Confederate line, but quickly devolved into savage, bloody, and ultimately inconclusive fighting centering around a cornfield and the Dunker Church. The second was towards the Confederate center, where the Confederates were dug in along a sunken road that became known as 'Bloody Lane.' After several costly assaults in the late morning and early afternoon, the Union forces finally penetrated the Confederate position, but McClellan refused to commit any of his reserves to exploit the breakthrough, and threw away the opportunity to split Lee's army in half. The third was an attempt to cross Antietam Creek over a stone bridge at the southern end at the Confederate line, intended to act as a diversion for the northern attack, but didn't get underway late in the afternoon due to communications delays, giving the Confederates time to prepare for the attack. Three separate assaults against the bridge were repulsed, while a subsequent attempt to outflank the Confederates was halted by reinforcements and driven back with heavy losses in a counterattack in the late afternoon.
Although the Army of Northern Virginia had been stretched to the breaking point, McClellan refused to launch another attack the next day, or to pursue the Confederates as they retreated, claiming that his army was exhausted and overstretched, even though a third of it was still fresh and uncommitted, causing the battle to end in a tactical draw. McClellan's over-cautious approach, mishandling of the battle, and refusal to pursue Lee led to President Lincoln relieving McClellan of command of the Army of the Potomac on November 7, 1862.
However, the battle was a strategic victory for the Union, as the Confederate invasion was repulsed, and Northern morale got a much-needed boost. Furthermore, Lincoln used the results of the battle as a political high-note to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, so that it would appear to be coming from a position of strength rather than an act of desperation, which changed the character of the war, making so it was officially about slavery and turning British and French opinion in favor of the Union.
The two armies suffered nearly combined 23,000 casualties, making it the bloodiest single day in American history.
Three warships of the US Navy have been named in honor of the battle, the most recent being a Ticonderoga-class missile cruiser currently on active service with the Pacific Fleet.
(Picture is a lithograph depcting the attack on the stone bridge by Kurz & Allison)
