What state was the Battle of Antietam fought in?

The Battle of Antietam or Sharpsburg, fought on 17th September 1862 and considered to be a Federal victory, bringing the Confederate 1862 invasion of Maryland to an end and giving President Lincoln and the Federal authorities considered that General McClellan had been insufficiently decisive in failing to take advantage of his considerable advantage over General Lee in numbers of infantry and guns and in failing to exploit his limited victory.  In due course they relieved General McClellan of his command of the Federal Army of the Potomac and replaced him by General Burnside.

Over the course of the first three hours of the fight, the two sides struggled over possession of a twenty four acre cornfield. The Union I Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, and later the XII Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Mansfield, ran head long into Confederate troops led by Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. No fewer than six times did the Cornfield change hands as each side attacked, fell back and rallied, only to attack again. By 8:45 a.m., neither side held a distinct advantage.

At approximately 9:00 a.m, a lull provided both sides an opportunity to catch their breaths, but within a few short minutes, a third major Federal assault was unfolding. Over 5,000 troops of the II Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Edwin Sumner, marched towards the West Woods in an attempt to eventually sweep south, driving the Confederates from the field. Shortly after moving into the woods, a Confederate attack struck the flank of the Union soldiers and in twenty minutes, 2,200 out of 5,300 men had fallen killed or wounded.

Following the struggle in the West Woods, by 10:00 a.m., the heavy action on the north end of the field subsided. Close to 10,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded during those first four hours of fighting.

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Due to confusion on the side of the Union and the fact there were no infantry men to push into the battle at this point, the attack sputtered out. By 1:00 p.m., the Federal forces had fallen back through the sunken road, known also as the Bloody Lane, and returned to the fields where their attacks originated from. 5500 more Union and Confederates had been killed or wounded during these three hours of combat in and around the Bloody Lane.

While the fight for the Sunken Road was unfolding, a little over one mile to the south, the Union IX Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, was struggling to cross the Antietam Creek. Burnside and his men were tasked with crossing the Antietam and then attacking the right flank of the Confederate line. 500 men from Georgia and a few from South Carolina put up a strong defense and kept Burnside at bay for close to three hours. Around 1:00 p.m., Union forces finally carried the bridge, as the Confederates fell back towards the high ground, just south of Sharpsburg.

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At approximately 3:30 p.m., Burnside started his attack on the south end of Lee's line. 8000 men started the assault, 4000 men made it to a half way point, and only 2000 troops pushed up to the end of the Confederate line because of mounting causalities and the difficult terrain.
Just as the Federals reached the end of Lee's line, Confederate infantry, led by Gen. A.P. Hill, arrived on the field. These troops had been involved in the capture of Harpers Ferry, on September 15, and had marched approximately fifteen miles on the day of the battle to arrive on the flank of the Union line. They smashed into the Federals, causing the line to fall back toward Antietam Creek.

After twelve hours of combat, the roar of battle started to fade away. 23,000 men had been killed, wounded, or listed as missing, the single bloodiest day in the history of the United States. R.E. Lee's first invasion of the North ended as he retreated back into Virginia on the night of September 18. Most importantly, Union victory at Antietam provided President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity he had wanted to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, making the Battle of Antietam one of the key turning points of the American Civil War.

The Battle of Antietam was a battle during the Civil War. It was the climax of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion of the North, the states that remained part of the Union.

Following the Second Battle of Bull Run, General Robert E. Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia's commander, took his force into the North. He hoped to win a decisive victory and Confederate independence.

The Battle of Antietam occurred near the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. On September 16, 1862 Lee positioned his army on a ridge of hills on the outskirts of town. At this point, Lee commanded thirty thousand men. A significant portion of his army, under General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, was at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Confederate forces had seized the city the day before. On the evening of September 16, the Union Army of the Potomac, under General George McClellan's command, arrived on the field. McClellan had twice as many men as his opponent.

The battle began on September 17. The Union began an artillery barrage on the center of the Confederates' position. Union soldiers then advanced towards the Confederates' left flank. As the Union soldiers crossed a cornfield, Confederate infantry rose up and surprised them. McClellan ordered his infantry to withdraw and directed the Union artillery to fire on the cornfield. The Union infantry advanced again, but the attack was repulsed. "Stonewall" Jackson had arrived on the battlefield but a significant number of his men had not. The struggle for the cornfield continued for the rest of the morning. Accounts vary, but in all likelihood, control of this area changed at least a dozen times in the course of the morning. While the struggle for the cornfield was occurring, Union General John Sedgwick led his division against the Confederate left flank. The Confederates launched a counterattack. Sedgwick's men suffered a fifty percent casualty rate in this assault.

While Sedgwick's division was attempting to turn the Confederate left flank, Union General William French led his division against the center of the Confederate position. Confederates, under the command of General D.H. Hill, had taken a position along a sunken road. Years of use by farmers and their wagons had caused the road to be several feet lower than the surrounding terrain. The Confederates also placed fence rails along one side of the road to provide additional cover from Union fire. Between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Union soldiers attacked this position four times. Each time the Confederates stopped the attack. Shortly before 1 p.m, two Union regiments captured a hill at the end of the sunken road (renamed Bloody Lane by the soldiers). From this position, the Union soldiers were able to fire into the heart of the road. The Confederates quickly withdrew. By the time that the fighting was completed in this part of the battlefield, approximately 5,600 Union and Confederate soldiers lay dead or dying along the sunken road.

The Confederates began to retreat towards Sharpsburg. After the fierce fighting earlier in the day, McClellan did not order his men to pursue the Confederates. Some historians believe that Robert E. Lee might have had to surrender his entire army if McClellan had continued his attack.

Fighting also was raging along the Confederate right flank. General Ambrose Burnside led twelve thousand Union soldiers against this portion of the Confederate line. The Union soldiers had to cross Antietam Creek. A group of 450 Confederates defended the bridge across the creek. Despite having more men, the Union force did not succeed in crossing the bridge until nearly 1 p.m. The Union soldiers then rested for two hours. Around 3 p.m, Burnside ordered his men to pursue the Confederates into Sharpsburg. Confederate General A.P. Hill's division arrived at approximately the same time from Harper's Ferry. With these reinforcements, the Confederates were able to drive Burnside's force back to the bridge. The Battle of Antietam drew to a close.

On September 18, both armies remained on the battlefield. They negotiated a temporary truce, allowing each side to remove its wounded from the battlefield. On the evening of September 18, the Confederates began their retreat. McClellan did not immediately pursue the Army of Northern Virginia.

The Battle of Antietam was a Union victory. The Union lost approximately 12,400 men to the Confederate’s 10,700, but the Union had driven the Confederates from the field and ended the Confederate invasion. The battle was Ohioan George McClellan's greatest success during the American Civil War. Nevertheless, President Abraham Lincoln removed McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac for not pursuing the Confederates immediately.

This Union victory also affected the Union war effort in another important way. Saving the Union had been the initial motivation for pursuing the war with the Confederacy, but on September 22, 1862, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It stated that slavery would end in all states still rebelling against the Union on January 1, 1863. Lincoln and several members of his cabinet were cautious as to the timing of the announcement of the Proclamation. If the president moved to end slavery before a Union victory was won, Europeans, Confederates, and some in the Union might view this action as a desperate attempt to win support for the Union war effort. The Union victory at Antietam allowed the president to link slavery's demise with the preservation of the Union.

The Battle of Antietam and the resulting Emancipation Proclamation caused both anxiety and hope among Ohioans. Many Ohioans worried that Union victory in the war was further off than they hoped with Lee's invasion. Other Ohioans welcomed the Emancipation Proclamation and celebrated that slavery's demise was now a Union war aim. Other Ohioans feared a surge in black migrants to the state if the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced.

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