The Battle of Antienam

A detailed Summary of The Battle of Antienam

On September 16, Major General George B. McClellan confronted Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Sharpsburg, Maryland. Lee's force was inferior to McClellan's and Lee was facing battle with the river at his rear, and with the danger of losing all of his force if defeated. Lee had planned for a victorious invasion of the North, however he now realised these hazards and drew up a plan to withdraw over the Potomac River into Virginia. At dawn September 17, Hooker's corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee's left flank; beginning the single bloodiest day in American military history.

Hooker's men bore down, his three divisions in line, driving the confederate pickets southward onto the high ground. Hooker's men then entered the woods, the east and west wood on either side of them. The losses were heavy and one survivor described the fighting as "Men, I cannot say fell; they were knocked out of ranks by the dozen". As the union soldiers saw Dunker Church, confederate soldiers emerged from the woods beyond the Church, yelling as they ran. At very close range the confederate soldiers pulled up, shot a volley of bullets at the union ranks and then charge

By this time Hooker was among the 7000 casualties which the union had suffered on end of the field. Williams' and Sumner's men fled northward and reformed. In a few hours six divisions containing 31000 men had been crushed and repelled. Jackson's losses had been in excess of 5000 men, which was a larger percentage of casualties than he had inflicted.

On the right side of the battlefield the fighting had been going on since dawn that day. But all that had come from it was the maiming of a few hundred soldiers, most of them union soldiers. Burnside had been ordered by McClellan to cross the bride over Antietam Creek, no matter what costs were incurred. Ironically it turns out that the soldiers could have waded across the creek as it was not deep; but Burnside did not know this and he thought that the bridge and a rumoured ford to the right were the only options available for the crossing of Antietam Creek. Lee had during the battle been stripping men from the right of his line to reinforce his centre and left line. This left a skeleton of an army on his right line and allowed Burnside to cross the bridge.

a fence and was shot in the stomach. Mansfield was picked up by three of his soldiers who took him to an aid station where he died.

It was now half past four and A. P. Hill had arrived to reinforce the confederates. Hill had received an order from Lee that morning to come to Sharpsburg. On the way he had heard the firing of guns and had sped up his men, leaving behind 2000 men who could not keep up, arriving with 3000 confederate soldiers. Some of Hills men were wearing blue uniforms (union uniforms) and when they encountered a brigade of 900 union soldiers they charged them. The union soldiers were confused because they were new soldiers who had just fought their first battle that same day. They were easily overrun by Hill and his men. Hill continued on routing three more union regiments and spreading panic amongst others. Burnside's line became unpinned and they began to retreat. Toombs' and Longstreet's troops chased the union soldiers back to the heights which they had spent all morning trying to capture.

This major battle settled absolutely nothing, though it could have if George B. McClellan pressed the attack. McClellan later explained that "the national cause could afford no risks of defeat", this was his excuse for miserable tactics and leadership. McClellan was also thought by many that he did not want to crush the enemy. Abraham Lincoln heard these comments as to his general's reluctance to hurt his enemy.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Williams' Sumner's, Robert Toombs, Dunker Church, East Wood, Toombs' Longstreet's, River Virginia, Church Church, George McClellan, McClellan's Lee, Franklin Sumner, union soldiers, confederate soldiers, dunker church, george mcclellan, soldiers charged, line confederates, line broken, crested hill, east wood, longstreet's troops,

Approximate Word count = 1802
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History