The Battle Of Antietam By Robert E. Lee

Albert Sidney Johnson was a Troop Commander in this battle. Johnston was born in Kentucky and obtained his education at West Point. He graduated in 1826. Johnston's first taste of active service came in 1832 during the Black Hawk Indian War. He resigned his commission afterwards only to return to active duty in 1836. He fought against the United States Indians on the River Neches and served in the Mexican War with Major General Zachary Taylor. Taylor made Johnston a paymaster during Taylor's presidency. He continued his rise in the ranks by becoming a colonel in the 2nd Calvary, a brevet brigadier general commanding the Utah military district and in 1861 the commander of the Pacific Coast.

In life we all want to see things as black and white, cut and dry, and easy to understand. This is not the case with Robert E. Lee. He was smart, loyal and above all, complicated. We like to make him out as some old general guy who fought for the South in the Civil War. Eventually lost at Gettysburg and because it was the turning point of the Civil War; he became famous for losing. He is a lot more than just that. He was an actual person who, from his birth up to his death, dealt with real life situations.

As the bloodiest single-day in American history, the battle of Antietam shifted Union confidence sufficiently enough to serve as an early turning point in the Civil War while simultaneously discouraging international support towards the Confederacy. On September 17, 1862, Major General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac met General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Antietam Creek in what would become one of the most significant early battles of the Civil War.

In 1800s, there was a war that happened that caused many people to die in the war, which was Civil War. The Civil War was a war that was fought between the Union and Confederate parts of United States. The Union was in the North, and the Confederates were in the South. There were many reasons why the battles were fought. During the Civil War, the president was Abraham Lincoln. There were many reasons why the war was fought, but the main reason was to keep the country together. Before the war, the North and South had some conflicts. During the Civil War, the slavery was one issue why the war was fought too. There were many battles that were fought between the North and the South. Most of the battles were fought in the South. Among the battles of the Civil War, there was an important battle called the Battle of Antietam. This battle was also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg. The battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862. This battle was fought at Antietam Creek that was close to the village of Sharpsburg, Maryland. The South was led by a general named Robert E. Lee. He was one of the greatest general on the Confederate side.

Hurrying was not a trait that McClellan was known for. McClellan took his time and began to draw out on paper how this battle would be won. He then began moving troops around, combining armies from all regions. As McClellan was doing this President Lincoln became inpatient and ordered McClellan to move.

McClellan's first military action was in the Mexican-American war. He frequently complained that he was too late to join in on the American victory. While in Mexico, he received many medals and awards for his services as a brave engineer. He received much experience on the battlefield and it helped his military performance. After the war, he performed 'peacetime service,' training young cadets at West Point, working on the construction of a fort, and surveying land for the Transcontinental Railroad.

MG James Longstreet graduated from West Point in 1842, ranking 54 out of a class of 56. Longstreet served during the Mexican-American War and throughout several battles during the American Civil War. MG Longstreet commanded the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia and led his wing into the Battle of Antietam on 17 September 1862.

Civil War historians view the Battle of Chancellorsville as General Robert E. Lee’s “greatest and most remarkable” victory (Sears 1). Lee, facing an army twice his size, defies all military doctrine and divides his army multiple times in order to out-maneuver and surprise the Union forces. The daring maneuver succeeds and ultimately forces the Union’s Army of the Potomac to retreat. The victory was another major blow to Union troops, but it came at a huge cost to the Confederacy: the loss of General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. By evaluating the battle through the lens of the mission command activities, one can see how Lee’s daring maneuver was actually very calculated and his only option for victory. Throughout the rest of this paper, I will describe the timeline of the battle and how General Lee used the mission command activities of understand, visualize, assess, and lead to ultimately achieve victory at Chancellorsville.

Lee’s army. Union soldier, Joseph E. Hooker, initiated an attack on the Hagerstown Turnpike (Ballard 25). At dawn, Joseph Hooker led approximately 8,600 men to battle. However, Hooker stopped the infantry unit upon noticing that the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia concealed a range of bayonets in a cornfield (Ballard 30). Thus, a fiery battle erupted along the Antietam Creek. Soldiers beat their fellow man with rifle butts and pierced their bodies with bayonets. Additionally, The Dunker Church at Antietam became a bloody remembrance of the battle (Ballard 40). By midday, the town was covered with the carnage of Union and Confederate soldiers. A sunken street, known as Bloody Lane, was emblazoned with the bloodshed of 5,600 casualties. On the evening of September seventeenth, the battle had concluded. According to historians, the Battle of Antietam yielded more casualties than any other day in the history of the nation’s military. Specifically, over twenty thousand casualties were accounted for. However, President Abraham Lincoln expressed disappointment in General George B. McClellan’s military performance during the Battle of Antietam. For example, he stated that a “rationalist mindset” that permeated McClellan’s strategic acts “led him to miss a great chance to destroy Lee’s army” (Lincoln 19). Furthermore, Lincoln grew increasingly disenchanted with McLellan’s militant skills as he declined to attack General Lee along the Potomac River. On November seventh of 1862, President Lincoln dismissed General McClellan from the Army of the Potomac and the Maryland Campaign was dissolved. Consequently, the Battle of Antietam was strategically deemed a Union

After the loss at Manassas, Lincoln looked for another leader to replace McDowell, and some consideration settled on General McClellan. McClellan was at his best when he was organizing armies, not leading them into battle. Lincoln wanted the army to take over eastern Tennessee for political reasons, and McClellan for fairly sound military reasons wanted the same thing. The task was given to General Buell; it did not matter to McClellan that the area was impossible to take from the north, not to mention holding it.

The Battle of Antietam took place on September 16, 1862. Major General George B. McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac confronts Robert E. Lee’s army of Northern Virginia in Sharpsburg Maryland. On the morning of September 17 a Union corps launched a powerful attack on Lee’s left flank thus beginning the Battle of Antietam. This first attack was led by Major General Joseph Hooker’s. This battle was named the single bloodiest day in American history. Both the Union and Confederates led extremely violent attacks towards each other in Miller’s cornfield and also the West Woods. Despite the Unions advantage in numbers Stonewall Jackson’s army held their ground that morning near the Dunker Church. In the meantime in the center of the battlefield

The battle of Antietam was about 12 hours long. The battle of Antietam lasted about 12 hours.The battle of Antietam was also named the battle of Sharpsburg. The location of the battle was Sharpsburg, Washington County in Maryland. The battle of Antietam happened on September 17,1862. The union general was George B. McClellan and the confederate general was Robert E. Lee. Lee had about 16,000 horses. The union army of the Potomac was 75,300. The Confederate army had 52,000. The

GEN McClellan may not have been a great war time General but he excelled at training Soldiers, getting his men ready to fight and raising the morale of the Armies he

The Confederate invasion of the North in September of 1862 was an attempt by Robert E. Lee to swing the war in favor of the South. The main reason for the Confederate invasion was that the British were on the verge of recognizing the Confederacy if they could show it could hold its own, and Lee was anxious to provide a cornerstone for the Confederacy to build upon. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history and was a major blow to the Army of Northern Virginia and the morale of the south. This is the tableau against which our story unfolds.

This complicated war full of bloodshed and death started merely by an assault of a Confederate left flank. Deemed the single most deadly day in American military history, the Union (who had more men) swept many attacks towards the Confederate army. Even though the South had more spirit and useful tactics the sheer numbers of the Union made this battle one to remember. They fought for many hours in Miller's cornfield to then make a last stand at Antietam Creek. With the only sign of cover being trees and the stone bridge which was worn by bullets and bodies you could tell this fight was going to be bad. The Union captured the bridge and with a final push and counter attack from another Union division the Union were victorious and were another