Antietam
Sharpsburg, MD
“He had Jackson at Sharpsburg, and that was even more blundering than Gettysburg.”
-Gen. James Longstreet
The Battle of Antietam was fought on September 18, 1862. Hoping to capitalize on their victory at the Second Battle of Manassas, Lee decided to take his army on an invasion of the North.
Lee believed that it was time to take the war out of Virginia. It was a vain hope that bloody Northern fields would end the war. There was also no great outpouring of volunteers to his army.
Lee used the cover of darkness to move his forces back across the Potomac and into Virginia. McClellan, relying largely on intelligence from Pinkterton, believed Lee was preparing his 140, 000 man army for a massive assault. Acting on this belief, he prepared his own forces to receive another assault (Foote).
