The Maryland Campaign was launched 150 years ago on Sep 4, 1862Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, in an effort to relieve pressureOn the Virginia countryside, marched North in a largely improvised invasion ofThe North. Lee’s goals were to supply the Army of Northern Virginia from largelyUntouched Northern farms, Inflict a damaging blow to morale, and possibly achieveA victory that would influence the Great Powers (Great Britain and France) to Intervene in the Civil War in their favor.

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Antietam (or Sharpsburg)President Lincoln responded to the crisis by reinstating General George McClellan, Who was not his first choice but well regarded by the troops. McClellan reacted swiftly (for him) and assumed command of the Army ofThe Potomac, which was disorganized after the recent disastrous SecondBattle of Bull Run. McClellan was a cautious commander, and did not pursue the Confederates with vigor even when he managed to isolate oneCorps at the Battle of South Mountain. The Confederates, despite the UnionArmy having knowledge of their dispositions, were able to unite their widely scattered army at the little town of Sharpsburg, MD.. near a little stream called Antietam Creek. Thus the stage was set for the bloodiest day in American History.

The BattleOn September 16, McClellan confronted Lee near Sharpsburg, defending a line to the west of Antietam Creek. At dawn on September 17, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's I Corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee's left flank that began the bloody battle. Attacks and counterattacks swept across the Miller Cornfield and the woods near the Dunker Church as Maj. Gen. Joseph K. Mansfield's XII Corps joined to reinforce Hooker. Union assaults against the Sunken Road ("Bloody Lane") by Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner's II Corps eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not pressed. In the afternoon, Burnside's IX Corps crossed a stone bridge over Antietam Creek and rolled up the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, A.P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and counterattacked, driving back Burnside's men and saving Lee's army from destruction. Although outnumbered two to one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in only four of his six available corps. This enabled Lee to shift brigades across the battlefield and counter each individual Union assault

Aftermath. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling casualties—Union 12,401, or 25%; Confederate 10,316, or 31%—Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout September 18, while transporting his wounded men south of the Potomac. McClellan did not renew the offensive.

After dark, Lee ordered the battered Army of Northern Virginia to withdraw across the Potomac into the Shenandoah Valley.

ConsequencesLee successfully withdrew across the Potomac, ending the Maryland Campaign and summer campaigning altogether. President Lincoln was disappointed in McClellan's performance and replaced him with (if it was at all possible), and even worse Commanding General, Ambrose Burnside.

Nevertheless, the North regarded Antietam as its first strategic victory, and Used the pretext of the victory to release the Emancipation Proclamation, eventually freeing the slaves.

Great Britain and France, never enthusiastic about the idea, never considered intervening in the Civil War after Antietam.

The real consequences were inthe casualty numbers. AntietamWas the bloodiest single day inAmerican History.

Approximate Numbers Union Confederate Total

Killed 2,100 1,550 3,650Wounded 9,550 7,750 17,300Missing/Captured 750 1,020 1,770

Total 12,400 10,320 22,720

“Of all the days on all the fields where American soldiers have fought, the most terrible by almost any measure was September 17, 1862. The battle waged on that date, close by Antietam Creek at Sharpsburg in western Maryland, took a human toll never exceeded on any other single day in the nation's history. So intense and sustained was the violence, a man recalled, that for a moment in his mind's eye the very landscape around him turned red. “

-- Stephen Sears