Battle of Antietam
Maryland's deadliest dawn
The Battle of Antietam was a Civil War engagement fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
It remains the bloodiest single day in American military history, with roughly 23,000 casualties.
The battle halted Confederate General Robert E.
Lee's first invasion of the North and gave President Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in Southern accounts.
- Union ArmyNorthern military in 1860s
- flanking maneuverAttack from the side
- artilleryLarge-caliber battlefield weapons
- Confederate ArmySecession states' military
- abolitionismMovement to end oppression
Potomac River · Civil War · Robert E. Lee · emancipation · infantry charge · war casualties · Abraham Lincoln · Harper's Ferry · wartime journalism · defensive line · troop movements · public morale · border state · 1862 · retreat · battlefield tours · hallowed ground · reconnaissance
- 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, transcontinental railroad, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
- AntietamRobert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Clara Barton, North Woods, Army of the Potomac
- Maryland HistoryAnnapolis, Baltimore, Chesapeake Bay, Fort McHenry, Harriet Tubman
Battle of Antietampeace negotiations
Diplomatic talks ending conflict
armistice · Emancipation Proclamation · diplomatic resolution