17 sept 1862 año - Battle of Antietam

Descripción:

The Battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 17 as the fog lifted. Longstreet’s and Hill’s units formed the Confederate right and center flanks to the west of Antietam Creek, while Jackson’s and Brigadier General John G. Walker’s units formed the Confederate left flank.

All of Lee’s troops were worn-out and hungry, and many were sick. They watched and waited as McClellan’s army assembled along the creek’s east side. Union forces outnumbered Confederates by two to one, although McClellan thought Lee’s forces were much larger.

Troops from both sides faced-off across a 30-acre cornfield owned by David Miller. Union troops fired first at the Confederate’s left flank and the carnage began. Confederate troops ferociously fought off offensive after offensive to prevent being overrun, turning the cornfield into a massive killing field. Just eight hours in, there were over 15,000 casualties.

Bloody Lane:

Near the center of the battlefield, another site of slaughter was a farm lane known as the “Sunken Road,” where Hill’s division of approximately 2,600 men had piled fence rails along the road’s embankment to fortify their position against Union Major General William H. French’s 5,500 approaching troops.

When French’s troops arrived, fighting ensued at close range. Three hours later, Union troops had pushed the Confederates back and over 5,000 men were either dead or injured. The fighting was so gory Sunken Road earned a new name: Bloody Lane.

For more than three hours, fewer than 500 Confederate soldiers held Lower Bridge against multiple assaults by Union General Ambrose Burnside’s Ninth Corps. After Burnside’s troops finally took the bridge and had the Confederate right flank in sight, Confederate reinforcements arrived and pushed them back.

Battle of Antietam Ends:

As night fell, thousands of bodies littered the sprawling Antietam battlefield and both sides regrouped and claimed their dead and wounded. Just twelve hours of intense and often close-range fighting with muskets and cannons had resulted in around 23,000 casualties, including an estimated 3,650 dead.

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