On September 17, 1862, Generals Robert E. Lee and George McClellan faced
off near Antietam
creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the the first
battle of the American Civil War to be fought on northern soil. Though
McClellan failed to utlilize his numerical superiority to crush
Lee's army, he was able to check the Confederate advance into the north.
After a string of Union defeats, this tactical victory provided Abraham
Lincoln the political cover he needed to issue his Emancipation
Proclamation. Though the result of the battle was inconclusive,
it remains the bloodiest single day in American history, with more than
22,000 casualties.
