| What makes it historical? |
After intercepting Special Orders No. 191 at Monocacy, the Union Army now had possession of the Confederate movement plans! Emboldened by victory at Manassas, the Confederate Army was now on their way deeper into Maryland, when the Union Army intercepted them in the fields of the Mumma family.
The first shots fired from a cornfield at dawn on September 17, 1862, and over the course of twelve hours, 22,720 soldiers had been killed! The Union Army pushed the Confederates back over Antietam Creek to Sharpsburg, then left them there! General George McClellan, ever cautious, decided not to pursue, and the Confederate Army limped back to Virginia, not to return north until the following year! Technically, despite all the bloodshed, this battle was a draw, but it did inspire President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and discourage foreign governments from siding with the Confederacy! |
