Battle of Antietam
Do you actually know what happened???
The Battle of Antietam
It was the most vicious and bloody single-day battle of the Civil War. It was probably the most dangerous of all of U.S. History. There were more deaths in this one battle then there were in the whole American Revolution and the Mexican War combined(whoaaa). Just in case you didn't know, THAT'S A LOT!!!!!!!! The Union suffered 12,000 casualties/deaths while the Confederates suffered 13,000 casualties. It was considered the most important victory to the Union army, George McClellan had Lee lose many of his troops, which stopped his northward advance.(source 1, the US History book)
Even though there had been many deaths during the battle, it ultimately ended in a draw/tie, but Abraham Lincoln saw it as a victory since the Confederates retreated. This was a "victory" he needed to pass the Emancipation Proclamation, which states that all slaves held within rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Over the course of the battle, there were many vicious attacks and counterattacks crossing Miller's cornfield. The Union assautled the Sunken Road, but there were no other advances by the Union army, so they we just there. They were skirmishing again on the 18th while removing his wounded soldiers to Potamac.(source 2, civilwar.org)
THE MAP
You can see here that it was located in the northwestern region, and see how far everyone traveled.
Look at That
This was only a fraction of the size of the full Battle of Antietam. Imagine how large this battle actually was.
The Aftermath
There are many more people that died in this battle, this was only one section of the battle, one trench that was nearly completely wiped out.
What did he do??
George McClellan from the Union Army was a general that fought in a single battle, from start to finish. There were many problems with his plans and strategies, but his biggest mistake was when he overestimated the Confederate numbers. Every single time he ordered for an attack, he feared that there would be a very dangerous counter-attack, and he let that fear rule him for the entire battle. Another mistake he made was not having faith in all of his generals. He only believed in 2 of his 6, which is something you do not want to do while leading an army, because then doubt is created. When Sumner got furious at McClellan's actions(delayed attacks), he led John Sedgwick's division right into an ambush, which resulted in many deaths. 40% of Sedgwick's men died within 15 minutes.(source 2, civilwar.org)