Battle of Antietam

After pursuing Robert E. Lee’s divided army through Maryland, George B. McClellan attacked Confederate positions near Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. Fighting moved from the Cornfield and West Woods to the Sunken Road and the crossings over Antietam Creek.

Ambrose Burnside’s late advance threatened the Confederate right before A. P. Hill’s division arrived from Harpers Ferry and counterattacked. Lee withdrew across the Potomac after holding the field, while McClellan failed to renew the battle despite his numerical advantage.

The battle ended Lee’s first invasion of the North and gave Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to announce the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It is the culminating historical event of The Bloody Ground, where Starbuck leads men through the campaign’s extreme violence and confusion.