BATTLE OF ANTIETAM

1. BATTLE OF ANTIETAM By: Dalton Dickson, Kaleb Points, Taylor Hamilton, JordynZymbroy

2. Dates: September 16-18, 1862, duration of battle. At dawn September 17, Major Joseph Hooker’s union corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee’s left flank that begun the Battle of Antietam, and the single bloodiest day in American Military history. For 3 hours, the battle lines swept back and forth across the land. By mid- morning, General Robert E. Lee’s federal troops were crouched behind the high banks of a county lane. They fired upon advancing union troops, but the union General George B. McClellan, held a strategic advantage- a scout had discovered a copy of the Confederate army’s battle plan. • Key Players: • -Major General George B McClellan- Union Army • Robert E. Lee – Confederacy • Major General Joseph Hooker- Union Army

3. Interesting Fact: The Union had 12,401 casualties with 2,108 dead and the Confederate casualties were 10.318 with 1,546 dead. Effects of this battle: 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after 12 hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of the Northern Virginia’s first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.