Morale in the Union was low. Besides in the West, the Union had no victories. People were growing concerned.
Robert E. Lee knew the North was in poor spirits and realized he had a chance to really make the North look bad. He wrote a letter to Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, telling him that now was the time to invade the north, Davis agreed.
September 1862, Lee's army crossed the Potomac River into western Maryland with McClellan following. Finally, something went right for the North...
A Union soldier had found Lee's marching orders, McClellan was super excited.
McClellan informed Lincoln and Lincoln told him to destroy the Rebels.
The two armies met in Sharpsburg, Maryland. 70,000 Union soldiers and 40,000 Confederates.
Even though the Union over powered the Confederates by 30,000, McClellan delayed...again.
16 hours later, September 17, 1862, the battle began, this was the Battle of Antietam.
The Union kept charging the Confederates.
Fighting in the Civil War was harsh. Just imagine, standing in a straight line, starring at another straight line, there are cannons, everyone has guns with bayonets attached, running at each other.
This happened over and over and over again. There were dead and wounded everywhere. In all, over 23,000 casualties were recorded. Antietam was the single bloodiest day of Battle to ever occur on United States soil.
Lee lost almost a third of his army and McClellan still had 25,000 soldiers in reserve, but he didn't use them.
The next day, McClellan had the best opportunity to do what Lincoln said, destroy the Rebel Army, but of course, he didn't.
Lee and his men started a slow retreat back to Virginia. Lincoln even ordered McClellan to go go after them.
McClellan didn't move. Lincoln had enough, McClellan got the boot.
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