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This Day In Civil War History September 17th, 1863 Battle of Antietam
http://www.nps.gov/archive/anti/battle.htm ^

Posted on 09/17/2008 6:08:42 AM PDT by mainepatsfan

GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE'S first invasion of the North culminated with the Battle of Antietam, in Maryland (or Sharpsburg, as the South called it). The battle took place on Wednesday, September 17, 1862, just 18 days after the Confederate victory at Second Manassas, 40 miles to the southeast in Virginia.

Not only was this the first major Civil War engagement on Northern soil, it was also the bloodiest single day battle in American history.

To view the magnitude of the losses, consider that Antietam resulted in nine times as many Americans killed or wounded (23,000 soldiers) as took place on June 6, 1944--D-day, the so-called "longest day" of World War II.* Also consider that more soldiers were killed and wounded at the Battle of Antietam than the deaths of all Americans in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Spanish-American War combined.

The loss of human life at Antietam shocked both sides doing battle that day. And it nearly resulted in Lee's entire army, with its back to the Potomac River, being cut off from retreat across the Potomac (through Shepherdstown) and being captured by the stronger Union forces.

The battle also became a turning point, an engagement that changed the entire course of the Civil War. Antietam not only halted Lee's bold invasion of the North (see Why Lee Invaded Maryland) but thwarted his efforts to force Lincoln to sue for peace. It also provided Lincoln with the victory he needed to announce the abolition of slavery in the South. And with that proclamation of Emancipation, Lincoln was able to broaden the base of the war and may have prevented England and France from lending support to a country that engaged in human bondage. The battle sealed the fate of the Confederacy.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: civilwar; dixie; history; militaryhistory
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To: mainepatsfan

Rumor has it at night, people have seen the ghosts of soldiers in the area.


61 posted on 09/17/2008 9:29:53 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: mainepatsfan

“The new visitors center is spectacular.”

So I’ve heard. We’ll be stopping there.


62 posted on 09/17/2008 9:32:08 AM PDT by gracesdad
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Can’t wait to visit Spotsylvania.


63 posted on 09/17/2008 9:32:39 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: mainepatsfan
Ok here's something to throw out there for any comments, to hopefully revive this dieing thread.

All though Antietam was the worst single day as far as casualties in losses, there was several other battles that were worst in total Casualties.

If you go to this web site you can get a list of the top ten battles based on casualties.

The Ten costliest Battles of the Civil War(Data).

Also I've created a photoblog of sorts on the Bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Bloodiest Battles of the Civil War

Let me know what you think, I would like to add information on the bloodiest battle on the Eastern front, the bloodiest battle on the Western front, the bloodiest battle of the Naval warfare or the most important battle of Naval warfare. I would like to add greatest lost among armies and Divisions among both the North and South. Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

64 posted on 09/17/2008 9:47:31 AM PDT by ReformedBeckite
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To: jonascord; Virginia Ridgerunner; MissMagnolia; super7man; lovesdogs
I toured some of the Civil War battlefields a few years ago. The two places that touched me in a way I can still feel today were Burnside's Bridge at Antietam and Bloody Angle. It was dusk when I reached Bloody Angle, I had the place to myself. There was a bird singing a two note song over and over. I sat down and just let the place speak to me. The contrast between the bloody history of the place and the current beauty and calmness still touches me today.

I will also second the Custer Battlefield as a place where you can feel history around you. There are two parts to the Custer Battlefield, the area where Custer's men died, and the hill where the Reno and Benteen and their men dug in to survive. I don't know which is more haunting. Custer's men were initially buried where they fell and small white crosses mark those positions. They died in small groups scattered along the hillside. Sometimes, when you walk along the trails marked 'Watch out for Rattlesnakes', you see a lone cross, where only one man died and you wonder what he was thinking? Did he know he was going to die? Was he charging or fleeing? It is a haunting place.
65 posted on 09/17/2008 9:47:52 AM PDT by goldfinch
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Stuart profitted at Hazel Grove due to Hooker’s orders to Sickles to abandon the position. So Stuart really caught them betwixt and between. The fight was sharp but not overwhelmingly so. The Confederates were able to press forward afterwards. What really made the Hazel Grove position so valuable was the clear lines of fire it provided and the fact that Porter Alexander had scouted the position the night before. He had batteries ready to emplace on Hazel Grove the minute it was taken by the Southerners. It would be one of the few times during the war where Confederate artillery really pounded their Federal counterparts.

Best Regards,


66 posted on 09/17/2008 10:03:36 AM PDT by Crapgame (There's no place I'd rather be than right here, with my FRedneck, white socks and Blue Ribbon Beer)
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To: jonascord

Speaking of Montana, the Bears Paw battlefield south of Chinook is worth visiting, although out of the way. It’s where Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians made their last stand before surrendering in 1877. Chief Joseph’s statement of why he had decided to surrender is very moving and often quoted. It’s a desolate and evocative place.


67 posted on 09/17/2008 10:04:15 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: ReformedBeckite

The 145th anniversry of bloodiest battle #2, Chickamauga, is coming up in a couple of days.


68 posted on 09/17/2008 10:15:29 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: jonascord
Custer Hill at the Little Big Horn should be included as well.

Oh, yeah. I was there for the first time last autumn after reading about it all my life. That place is genuinely weird and I'm not especially sensitive to that sort of thing. A lot of the locals will tell you the same.

Different feeling at Gettysburg altogether, a sort of sadness and grandeur where Pickett's men fell. At Sharpsburg, though, Burnside's Bridge - that's what the signs call it these days - did carry that sort of eerie feeling, but more to the point it's still obvious that it funneled infantry into a narrow kill zone dominated by high ground on the other side. Like the Custer hill it's hard to describe but easy to imagine when you're actually onsite. The Rebs must have thought it fish in a barrel. I did think that fording the river looked a little more difficult to my amateur eye than the books have related but it's been a century and a half. It sure would have beat trying to cross that bridge under fire.

Comparing the Sunken Road to the old pictures was another case in point of you have to be there. It seems a little more open these days - well-tended, and for good reason. Throw a little more growth on either side and you can see why the battle was drawn there. These guys were shooting field artillery at massed troops at a range of 30 yards. Good God.

I haven't visited Cold Harbor yet but someone above mentioned it as haunted ground. Maybe next summer...

69 posted on 09/17/2008 10:28:51 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

I’m glad you told me about that, I basically forgot about it, Will try to make it this weekend.


70 posted on 09/17/2008 10:45:23 AM PDT by ReformedBeckite
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To: Billthedrill
Comparing the Sunken Road to the old pictures was another case in point of you have to be there.

My wife and I visited Antietam in 2000...at mid-September (the 13th, as I recall).

Thus, we got to see the battlefield under comparable lighting and weather conditions (a gorgeous Indian Summer day).

It's one of the most moving experiences I've ever had. My wife actually sat down and started bawling for the Mississippians in the Sunken Road.

The bridge, the cornfield and the gully also had an eerie feeling about them -- as if you were in the presence of the dead.

71 posted on 09/17/2008 10:50:00 AM PDT by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
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To: All

Another creepy battlefield is the railroad cut on the Second Manassas battlefield. Especally strange is the place called “the dump”.

Out by Leesburg VA off US Rt 15 is a place called Balls Bluff. In recient years the area has been developed but 25 years ago it took a real determined visitor to find this place. Dead soldiers from the battle floated down the Potomic to Wash DC.

Appomattox Court House. There is a site by the creek where Lee crossed the river to meet Grant. It is easy to determine the exact site where Lee crossed the stream. This site is a historical “2 fer” as it is the home of a man named Joel Sweeney. Joel invented the 5 string banjo and his grave is right there. A few miles up the road are the last trenches dug by the Confederates (Longstreet)April 9, 1965, the morning Lee surrendered. If you walk into the woods you can clearly see the remains of the works snaking through the trees.


72 posted on 09/17/2008 12:24:08 PM PDT by fatboy
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To: fatboy

April 9 1865 wrong century.


73 posted on 09/17/2008 12:29:41 PM PDT by fatboy
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

I was at the 145th Gettysburg reenactment and they were advertising heavily for the Chickamauga one there. Wish I could make it down for that one as well.


74 posted on 09/17/2008 2:10:34 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: fatboy

I visited Ball’s Bluff a few weeks ago. Man that was a nasty drop down to the river.


75 posted on 09/17/2008 2:11:57 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: mainepatsfan; Abundy; Albion Wilde; AlwaysFree; AnnaSASsyFR; bayliving; BFM; ...

My Dad is a Civil War buff. I remember him taking me to Antietam and telling me about the Bloody Cornfield. IIRC, he told me that the battle was so ferocious that all the corn was basically razed to the ground.

Maryland “Freak State” PING!


76 posted on 09/18/2008 5:44:50 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Drill Here! Drill Now! Pay Less! Sign the petition at http://www.americansolutions.com/)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Interesting take on the war. John Bell Hood was as brave as a lion, but of all the Confederacy he was probably the worst general.


77 posted on 09/19/2008 3:28:33 AM PDT by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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