Civil War Antietam Vacation Photographs - Final Attack at Antietam

The Battle of Antietam, also called the Battle of Sharpsburg was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. The Battle of Antietam was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties, including more than 3,600 killed. While the Union Forces outnumbered the Confederate forces by 75,000 to 38,000, the battle ended up in a tactial draw, with no clear gains for either side. This was due to poor communication and inadequate leadership on the part of the Union generals.

The battle of Antietam took place in three separate phases, although the phases were actually supposed to take place simultaneously. The first phase took place in the north part of the Antietam Battlefield on Miller's Farm in a field now known simply as The Cornfield (or the Bloody Cornfield), and the surrounding wooded areas known as North Woods, East Woods and West Woods. The Union objective was a small church known as Dunker Church.

As the fighting took place in the Bloody Cornfield, it rolled over to the middle of the Antietam Battlefield into the second phase of the Battle of Antietam. Much of the fighting in this phase took place around a small rural road known as Sunken Lane. After the battle, Sunken Lane became known as Bloody Lane in response to the terrible casualties that took place there.

Phase three of the Battle of Antietam was southwest of Bloody Lane and Sharpsburg Maryland. Starting on Antietam Creek Union forces under command of General Burnside fought their way across a small bridge now known as Burnside's Bridge. Some 400 Georgians had driven them back each time. At 1 pm the Federals finally crossed the bridge (now known as Burnside Bridge) and, after a 2-hour delay to reform their lines, advanced up the slope beyond. By late afternoon they had driven the Georgians back almost to Sharpsburg, threatening to cut off the line of retreat for Lee's decimated Confederates. Then about 4 pm they collided with 3,000 Rebel soldiers who were part of General A. P. Hill's Light Division, who arrived on the scene at the last moment, following an exhausting 17 mile march from Harpers Ferry. Burnside's troops were driven back to the heights near the bridge they had earlier taken. The battle of Antietam was over.

Both armies held their positions all through the 18th, and the next day, Lee began withdrawing his army across the Potomac River.

Although the battle of Antietam was tactically inconclusive, it ended Robert E. Lee's Maryland campaign and the Confederate forces were forced to withdraw to Virginia. The Battle of Antietam was also enough of a victory to give President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation changed the dynamics of the Civil War, and discouraged the British and French governments from potential plans for recognition of the Confederacy.