The Battle of Antietam

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The Battle of Antietam September 17, 1862 The
Bloodiest Day in American History
The Battle
The Aftermath
The Armies
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The Armies
The Union Army Army of the Potomac
The Confederate Army Army of Northern Virginia
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The Union Army
The Army of the Potomac was under the command of
General George B. McClellan.

• Other Union Generals at Antietam
• General Joe Hooker
• General Edwin Sumner
• General Joseph Mansfield
• General Ambrose Burnside

The Army of the Potomac consisted of 87,000 men.
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The Confederate Army
The Army of Northern Virginia was under the
command of General Robert E. Lee.

• Other Confederate Generals at Antietam
• General Thomas Stonewall Jackson
• General John B. Gordon
• General D.H. Hill
• General A.P. Hill

The Army of Northern Virginia consisted of 40,000
men.
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The Battle of Antietam
Morning Phase
Midday Phase
Afternoon Phase
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The Battle of Antietam Morning Phase

• Union General Joe Hooker launched the
• attach with artillery fire on Confederate
• General Stonewall Jacksons men in
• Millers cornfield. The battlelines moved
• back and forth for three hours.
• The battle then focused around the Dunker
• Church in order to hold the high ground.

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The Battle of Antietam Midday Phase

• Union troops under Generals French and
• Richardson crossed the fields on their way
• to meet the Confederates under General
• D.H. Hills command, who were waiting
• at the Sunken Road.
• For nearly 4 hours, Union and Confederate
• infantry fought over this sunken country
• road, resulting in over 5,000 casualties.
• Thus the name Bloody Lane.

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The Battle of Antietam The Afternoon Phase

• Union Gen.Ambrose Burnsides troops had been
• trying to cross a bridge over Antietam Creek
• since 930 A.M. but had been driven back by
• some 400 Georgians each time.
• At 100 P.M. the Union troops finally crossed
• over the bridge and nearly drove the
  Georgians
• back to town.
• The battle ended when Confederate General
• A.P. Hill arrived to throw the Union troops
  back
• to the bridge.

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The Battle of Antietam The Aftermath

• More men were killed or wounded at Antietam
• than on any other single day of the Civil War.
• Union losses - 12,410 killed or wounded
• Confederate losses - 10, 700 killed or wounded

• Lincoln, seen here with McClellan after the
• battle, issued the Emancipation Proclamation
• on January 1, 1863.

• Despite the horrific losses suffered by both
• sides, the war was to rage on for 3 more years
• at places like Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.