Antietam Sharpsburg Battle of The Battle of Antietam fought at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg Maryland on September 17 1862 was the climax to Confederate General Robert E Lee’s first invasion of the North It was the bloodiest single day of the Civil War By the end of August 1862 the Army of Northern Virginia was positioned along the Potomac River and had defeated two separate Union armies General Robert E Lee wanted to keep the forward momentum of the army going and saw the chance to take the war into the Union states He could not attack Washington D C because its defenses were too strong but he could invade neighboring Maryland On September 4 the Army of Northern Virginia began crossing the Potomac at Leesburg Moving north into Maryland Lee intended to cross South Mountain and advance on the towns of Boonsboro and Hagerstown However this would leave the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry in a dangerous position behind him On September 9 Lee divided his army sending over half of it under his trusted General Stonewall Jackson west to capture Harpers Ferry General George B McClellan and the Army of the Potomac were by this time advancing north and on September 13 a copy of Lee’s orders fell into Union hands McClellan now knew exactly where the Army of Northern Virginia was and how divided Lee’s position was On the 14th he attacked the Confederates at South Mountain Lee realized that McClellan was advancing between the two halves of his army On the 15th he ordered Jackson back from Harpers Ferry and pulled his own forces toward the Potomac The Confederates would concentrate near Sharpsburg between the Potomac and Antietam Creek Garrison A unit of soldiers guarding a town or other stronghold South Mountain The battle is described on page 89 8 Battles and Campaigns
Lee’s position on September 16 was not promising He had only 18,000 men stretched along a 3-mile 5-km long line on high ground above Sharpsburg with his back to a bend of the Potomac River The far left of the line lay along the Hagerstown Pike about 2 miles 3 2 km north of the village of Sharpsburg at an area called the West East and North Woods His far right lay barely a mile south of the village on the Harpers Ferry road The center was split by the Boonsboro Pike It was an exposed position mostly running through cornfields and fruit orchards with little natural cover Antietam Creek might have offered some defense but it was crossed by three bridges and a number of fords Lee’s only line of retreat was over a single ford across the Potomac Facing Lee was McClellan’s army of more than 75,000 men advancing from the north and east Union attack Fighting began at dusk on September 16 when Joseph Hooker’s Union I Corps began attacking from the north down the Hagerstown Pike toward the North Woods Stonewall Jackson and the first of his units had begun to arrive and by nightfall the Confederates had repulsed Hooker’s advance The following morning at 6 00 A M McClellan began the battle in earnest with an artillery bombardment Hooker’s corps attacked again Ten brigades hit the Confederate left and pushed their line back to the West Woods Jackson counterattacked at 7 00 A M and threw the Union forces back but Hooker received reinforcements from Mansfield’s XII Corps The battle now centered on the struggle for the possession of the Dunker Church which stood in the West Woods Three divisions of Sumner’s II Corps came forward from the Union right to help Mansfield Attacking into the West Woods one of the divisions advanced straight into a line of Confederates and suffered more than Curriculum Context It might be interesting to summarize the strengths and weaknesses of Lee’s position Brigade A military unit consisting of between two and six regiments the brigade was the most common tactical unit of the Civil War Antietam Sharpsburg Battle of 9
This map shows the respective Union and Confederate front lines early in the day at Sharpsburg and the line to which the Confederates fell back in the afternoon Battle Details 1 Union commander McClellan planned to attack both Confederate flanks at once Union forces launched a dawn attack from the north on the Confederate left flank and there was fierce fighting in the North East and West Woods and around the Dunker Church 2 The battle shifted south to the center of the Confederate line At the sunken road later called Bloody Lane Confederates held off repeated Union attacks for nearly 4 hours They were forced to retreat at about 1 00 P M 3 Ordered to attack the Confederate right flank at 8 00 A M Union commander Burnside crossed the creek and started his attack at 3 00 P M pushing the Confederates back toward Sharpsburg The arrival of Confederate reinforcements forced the Union troops to retreat and ended the battle in a bloody draw 10 Battles and Campaigns
2,500 men killed or wounded in 20 minutes including General John Sedgwick the division commander Falling back nearly a mile the Union troops took up defensive positions The fighting for the West Woods was at a stalemate Bloody Lane Meanwhile another of Sumner’s divisions lost its way and marched toward the Confederate center At 9 30 A M it attacked brigades holding the sunken road that ran between the Boonsboro and Hagerstown Pikes later called Bloody Lane Fighting continued here for nearly four hours as first one Union division and then a second made repeated charges At about the same time on the right of the Union line IX Corps under Ambrose E Burnside began attacking across the creek at the Rohrbach Bridge later renamed Burnside Bridge Burnside sent in brigade after brigade but was held off by a Confederate force of just 400 Georgians They held the bridge until 1 00 P M when one of Burnside’s division commanders had the good sense to use a nearby ford and flank the Confederate position By early afternoon the Confederate line was on the verge of collapse Reinforcements had been arriving from Harpers Ferry all day But Lee only had one division in reserve and by noon he had committed most of that to help defend the sunken road At 1 00 P M the sunken road fell to the Union and the Confederates fell back toward Sharpsburg By now most of Burnside’s forces had crossed Antietam Creek At 3 00 P M they started to advance McClellan hesitates McClellan still had two army corps in reserve If he had sent them forward he would have won the battle but instead he hesitated His timidity cost the Union what Stalemate A deadlock in which neither side can gain an advantage Curriculum Context Burnside was one of the more significant Union commanders of the war Curriculum Context McClellan was often criticized for being too cautious eventually his caution cost him his job Antietam Sharpsburg Battle of 11
