Although Antietam stopped the Confederate invasion of the North it is generally considered a tie. The Union did suffer greater casualties.
I do know some of the Confederate officers considered it one of the most masterful performances by Lee who was outnumbered, and found himself in a situation where his opponent had possession of his battle plans including where his men would be, how many were there etc.
McClelland upon getting those plans announced he would destroy Lee’s army the next day and he came close to doing it. Lee somehow managed to block every move McClelland made despite his numerical inferiority.
Lee did figure out pretty quickly that McClelland had his plans.
My great, great (great?) uncle, who was with a Pennsylvania volunteers infantry company, died there. He was a very unlucky guy, as he was his unit’s only KIA.
Totally agree with your post, except the spelling of General George McClellen’s name. Not trying to be a grammar nazi, it’s an easy mistake.
Neither Lee nor any of his officers knew that the battle plans were lost to Union scouts, he merely had the good fortune to be facing the Demwit George McClellen. Even at that time, any other Union general with that information would have destroyed the divided ANV piecemeal, instead of fretting like a debuttante about the engagement.
Lee’s overall idea of leading an invasion in order to bring about a negotiated separation was the only available move with a possibility of success. It probably wouldn’t have worked even if the battle plans had not been lost and Antietam never fought — eventually there had to be an engagement, and the numbers favoring the Union would have improved on a daily basis. Lee also had to keep his eye on the backdoor, to avoid getting cut off from retreat.
After Gettysburg, the Union forces got larger, continuously, and Lee’s longtime approach of going head-to-head ate up supplies and his army, which was definitely not growing. Between Chancellorsville (Stonewall’s masterpiece) and Cold Harbor, Lee had no victories, and the latter was for the most part due to Grant’s mistake.