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The Maryland Campaign, or the '''Antietam Campaign''', took place during September 1862 and is widely accepted as one of the major Turning Points of the American Civil War . Confederate General Robert E. Lee 's first invasion of the North was repulsed by Major General George B. McClellan and the Army Of The Potomac , who moved to intercept Lee and his Army Of Northern Virginia and eventually attacked it near Sharpsburg, Maryland . The resulting Battle Of Antietam caused the single bloodiest day in all of American history. BACKGROUND AND INITIAL MOVEMENTS ]] The year of 1862 started out well for Union forces in the Eastern Theater. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac had invaded the Virginia Peninsula during the Peninsula Campaign and, by June, stood only a few miles outside the Confederate capital at Richmond . But, when Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1 , 1862 , fortunes reversed. Lee fought McClellan aggressively in the Seven Days Battles , as "Little Mac" lost his nerve and his army retreated down the Peninsula. In the meantime, Lee conducted the Northern Virginia Campaign , in which he outmaneuvered and defeated John Pope and his Army Of Virginia , most significantly at the Second Battle Of Bull Run . Lee's Maryland Campaign can be considered the concluding part of a logically connected, three-campaign, summer offensive blitz against Federal forces in the Eastern Theater. The Confederates had suffered significant manpower losses in the wake of the summer campaigns. Nevertheless, Lee decided his army was ready for a great challenge: an invasion of the North. His goal was to reach the major Northern states of Maryland and Pennsylvania , and cut off the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad line that supplied Washington. Several motives led to Lee's decision to launch an invasion. First, he needed to supply his army and knew the farms of the North had been untouched by war, unlike those in Virginia. Moving the war northward would relieve pressure on Virginia. Second was the issue of Northern morale. Lee knew the Confederacy did not have to win the war by defeating the North militarily; it merely needed to make the Northern populace and government unwilling to continue the fight. With the Congressional elections of 1862 approaching in November, Lee believed that an invading army playing havoc inside the North could tip the balance of Congress to the Democratic Party , which might force Abraham Lincoln to negotiate an end to the war. Lee might also be able to incite an uprising in Maryland, especially given that it was a slave-holding state and a number of its citizens held a sympathetic stance toward the South. Confederate politicians, including Jefferson Davis , believed the prospect of foreign recognition for the Confederacy would be made stronger by a military victory on Northern soil, but there is evidence that Lee thought the South should not base its military plans on this possibility. On September 4 , just three days after the Battle Of Chantilly , advance elements of the Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River near Leesburg, Virginia . The main body of the army advanced into Frederick, Maryland , on September 7 . Lee's specific goals were thought to be an advance towards Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , cutting the east-west railroad links to the Northeast, followed by operations against one of the major eastern cities, such as Philadelphia . News of the invasion caused panic in the North, and Lincoln was forced to take quick action. George B. McClellan had been in military limbo since returning from the Peninsula, but Lincoln restored him to command of all forces around Washington and directed him to deal with Lee. Lee divided his army. James Longstreet was sent to Boonsboro, Maryland , and then to Hagerstown , while Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was ordered to seize the Union arsenal at Harpers Ferry . The reason Lee chose this risky strategy of splitting his army to capture Harpers Ferry is lost to history. One possibility is that he felt it commanded his supply lines through the Shenandoah Valley ; another is that it was a tempting target, virtually indefensible. McClellan requested permission from Washington to evacuate Harpers Ferry and attach its garrison to his army, but his request was refused. Lee's invasion was fraught with difficulties from the beginning. The Confederate army's numerical strength suffered in the wake of straggling and desertion. Some troops refused to cross the Potomac River because an invasion of Union territory was against their individual ideology. Countless others became ill after eating unripe "green corn" in the Maryland fields or fell out because their shoeless feet were bloodied on hard-surfaced Northern roads. And it was no morale boost when barely 200 Marylanders flocked to the Confederate colors and joined Lee's invasion column. McClellan moved out of Washington with his 87,000-man army in a slow pursuit, reaching Frederick on , the Army of the Potomac moved toward South Mountain , with Ambrose Burnside 's corps directed to Turner's Gap, and William B. Franklin 's to Crampton's Gap. Lee, seeing McClellan's uncharacteristic aggression, and learning through a Confederate sympathizer that his order had been compromised, frantically moved to concentrate his army. He chose not to abandon his invasion and return to Virginia yet, because Jackson had not completed the capture of Harpers Ferry. Instead, he chose to make a stand at the little western Maryland town of Sharpsburg. In the meantime, elements of the Army of Northern Virginia waited in defense of the passes of South Mountain. BATTLES The battles fought during the Maryland Campaign were: ; Battle Of Harpers Ferry ( September 12 – 15 , 1862 ) : Learning that the garrison at Harpers Ferry had not retreated after his incursion into Maryland, Lee decided to surround the force and capture it. He divided his army into four columns, three of which, under Jackson's command, converged upon and invested Harpers Ferry. On September 15 , after Confederate artillery was placed on the heights overlooking the town, Union commander Colonel Dixon S. Miles surrendered the garrison of more than 12,000 men. Miles was mortally wounded by one of the last salvos fired from a battery on Loudoun Heights. Jackson took possession of Harpers Ferry, then led most of his soldiers to join Lee at Sharpsburg, leaving A.P. Hill 's division to complete the occupation of the town. ; Battle Of South Mountain ( September 14 , 1862 ) : Pitched battles were fought for possession of the South Mountain passes: Crampton's, Turner's, and Fox's Gaps. D.H. Hill and Longstreet defended Turner's against Burnside. To the south, Lafayette McLaws defended Crampton's against Franklin. By dusk, the Confederate defenders were driven back by the numerically superior Union forces, and McClellan was in a position to destroy Lee's army before it could concentrate. McClellan's limited activity on September 15 after his victory at South Mountain, however, condemned the garrison at Harpers Ferry to capture and gave Lee time to unite his scattered divisions at Sharpsburg. Union Major General Jesse L. Reno and Confederate Brigadier General Samuel Garland, Jr. , were both killed at South Mountain. ; Battle Of Antietam ( September 17 , 1862 ) : On September 16 , McClellan confronted Lee near Sharpsburg, defending a line to the west of Antietam Creek. At dawn on September 17 , Joseph Hooker 's 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. Union assaults against the Sunken Road ("Bloody Lane") eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not pressed. In the afternoon, Burnside's 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 less than three quarters of his army. This enabled Lee to shift brigades and concentrate on each individual Union assault. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling casualties, 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. ; Battle Of Shepherdstown ( September 19 – 20 , 1862 ) : On September 19 , a detachment of Fitz-John Porter 's V Corps pushed across the river at Boteler's Ford, attacked the Confederate rearguard commanded by Brigadier General William N. Pendleton , and captured four guns. Early on September 20 , Porter pushed elements of two divisions across the Potomac to establish a bridgehead. A.P. Hill's division counterattacked while many of the Federals were crossing and nearly annihilated the 118th Pennsylvania (the "Corn Exchange" Regiment), inflicting 269 casualties. This rearguard action discouraged further Federal pursuit. AFTERMATH AND DIPLOMATIC IMPLICATIONS Lee successfully withdrew across the Potomac, ending the Maryland Campaign and summer campaigning altogether. On November 7 , President Lincoln relieved McClellan of command because of his failure to pursue and defeat Lee's retreating army. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside rose to command the Army Of The Potomac . The Eastern Theater was relatively quiet until December, when the Lee faced Burnside at the Battle Of Fredericksburg . Although a tactical draw, the Battle of Antietam was a Union strategic victory. It forced the end of Lee's invasion of the North and gave Abraham Lincoln the victory he was awaiting before announcing the Emancipation Proclamation , which was to take effect on January 1 , 1863 . Although Lincoln had intended to do so earlier, he was advised by his Cabinet to make this announcement after a Union victory to avoid the perception that it was issued out of desperation. The Confederate reversal at Antietam also dissuaded the governments of France and Great Britain from Recognizing the Confederacy. And, with the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, it became less likely that future battlefield victories would induce foreign recognition. Lincoln had effectively highlighted Slavery as a tenet of the Confederate States of America, and the abhorrence of slavery in France and Great Britain would not allow for intervention on behalf of the South. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |