Antietam (Sharpsburg)

 On September 7th, 1862, the single bloodiest day in the U.S. history broke out. Set in Sharpsburg, Maryland, General Robert E. Lee (confederate) and George B. McClellan (union) led their troops onto the battlefield. It was the first time that a battle took place on Union territory.

 General E. Lee had it all planned out. He took the offensive route by marching into the Union territory. He decided to lead his forces into Maryland, where he thought he would gain support from the local people, whom he thought were against President Abraham Lincoln’s reforms. 

 However, the plan didn't go as planned. Words slipped and information traveled. It's unknown to who or what spilled the plan, but McClellan got his hands on Lee's plan. It would have been an easy victory for the Union. They had a larger army and they found a flaw in Lee's plan that could secure a victory. 

 McClellan made a huge tactical mistake. He didn't tell his officers of his overall plan. Instead, he only informed the officers of what was expected from their own troops. That meant each section was unable to see what was happening in other areas, and communication between McClellan’s command post and the three separate offensive locations were very poor. And instead of launching his three offensives at the same time, McClellan launched the first attack in the morning, the second during the middle of the day, and the third later in the afternoon. This poor strategy gave Lee the opportunity to concentrate his forces at the focus of each attack, and cancelled out the Union army’s advantage and superiority.

 On September 18, a truce was declared to allow recovery of dead and wounded soldiers, and the battle came to an end. Lee used this opportunity to begin withdrawing over the Potomac to Virginia.