Battle Of Antietam Essay

The Battle of Antietam had great significance to both sides due to its record high number of deaths in a single-day battle. It marked the end of Lee’s first attempt at invading the Northern states. And, it was considered a victory by the Union giving President Lincoln cover to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The heavy losses on both sides were due to a lack of Confederate soldiers and poor planning on the Union general’s part. On September 17, 1862, at around 5 A.M., Confederate troops led by General Robert E. Lee and Union troops led by General George McClellan. General Lee created a complex plan that spread his troops out far too thin and a copy of his battle plans even got into the hands of General McClellan. McClellan, however failed

Lee chose a spot very well suited for defense, but risky, as the Potomac River was directly behind them which would drastically slow down any retreat. McClellan’s plan was to hit Lee along his left flank and then his right repeatedly until one of them was met with success and then break in through the center, but he failed to exercise control over his troops and fighting broke out into skirmishes along the front line. McClellan’s lack of control over his forces led to the high death rate even though he outnumbered the Confederate troops two-to-one. His entire center or more than a third of his army never even fired a shot drastically reducing his effectiveness on the battlefield. The battle had four main attack phases. The first attack phase took place in the first four hours of the war, fought along farmer David Miller’s thirty acre cornfield, in which neither side gained any land or a real strategic advantage. Some experts say that the cornfield changed hands more than 15 times during the course of the battle. Around seven o’ clock am, Confederate reinforcements arrived stopping Union troops, under the command of Union corps commander Joseph Hooker, from cutting through General Jackson’s, who was a Confederate corps commander in this battle, defensive