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This was the bloodiest 1-day battle
in all of American History, which took place in September 17th, 1862. There were 3,650 Soldiers which were killed and 17,300
soldiers which were wounded at The Battle of Antietam
Creek. This, of course is the battle where my Great Great
Great Uncle, Capt. Eugene Cornell was killed. This was
also the Major Union Victory which enable Abraham Lincoln to write the Emancipation Proclamation, which would free all of
the slaves.
The Battle started around 5:30 in the morning. Union Officer,
Joseph l Hooker and his men resolved to attack the Confederate Army on a plateau where Dunker Church
was located. As the Union Army emerged from the woods, they spotted confederate bayonets in a cornfield nearby by, and immediately
the northern soldiers ran into the cornfield after the rebel soldiers, and a bloody gunfight began. The second segment
of the Battle of Antietam occurred in the early afternoon just after the stalemate in the cornfield. The focus
of the battle was now at the confederacy front light somewhere in the center, and by the late afternoon, the northern army
pushed their way down to the southern portion of the battlefield. The Union tried to take Burnside's Bridge a couple of times,
and finally succeeded. There were very heavy losses on both sides, but The Battle of Antietam was a Union Victory--the one
which was need for Abraham Lincoln to initiate The Emancipation Proclamation. At 5:30pm, the Battle of Antietam
was over and General Lee withdrew is Southern Troops back across the Potomac to Virginia. Lincoln was disappointed that McClellan
didn't go after Lee and his Confederate Army and cripple them once and for all; for if he had, the Civil War would
have been over.
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