The Union Prevails at Antietam

The Union Prevails at Antietam

On September 17, 1862 the Union clashed with the Confederates at Antietam Creek just outside Sharpsburg. 23,000 men died in what is the most bloodiest battle to date. The battle begun when Union troops under the command of George B. McClellan attacked the Confederates near the Dunker Church. It would later spread to the Sunken Road and a bridge over Antietam Creek. In a meadow near Frederick where the Confederates had camped, a Union corporal found three cigars wrapped in a piece of paper. It turned out to be a copy of Lee’s special orders. The Union commander knew Lee was dividing his army. After he knew this information he did nothing for 16 hours. On September 15 Lee and the 18,000 Confederates with him took up positions along the crest of a three-mile ridge just east of the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. McClellan soon met Lee with 95,000 of his own. The Sunken Road, remembered as Bloody Lane, rapidly filled with bodies two and three deep. After bloody fighting, the Confederates center had splintered. One more push might have broken it apart, but McClellan decided, “It would