Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam was a major Civil War battle fought in Maryland on September 17, 1862. Union forces halted Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North, though neither army won a decisive tactical victory.

Cornfield at Antietam: A cornfield on the northern part of the Antietam battlefield where Union and Confederate troops fought repeatedly on September 17, 1862. Its shifting control made the morning fighting exceptionally deadly and fragmented.
Maryland Campaign: The 1862 Confederate invasion of Maryland and the Union operations that culminated at Antietam. Antietam was the campaign’s decisive battle and ended Lee’s advance north.
Emancipation Proclamation: An 1863 executive order declaring enslaved people free in areas then in rebellion against the United States. Lincoln announced it after the battle, presenting the Union’s war aims as including emancipation.
Dunker Church: A small German Baptist Brethren church beside the northern part of the Antietam battlefield. Fighting around the church became one of the battle’s most recognizable scenes.
Sunken Road: A farm lane on the Antietam battlefield that became a defensive trench during the battle. Confederate troops held it for hours before a Union assault overwhelmed the position.
Second Battle of Bull Run: An 1862 Confederate victory in Virginia that drove Union forces back toward Washington. Lee’s success there encouraged him to carry the war into Maryland.
Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation: Abraham Lincoln’s September 1862 announcement that enslaved people in rebellious areas would be declared free on January 1, 1863. Lincoln waited for a Union success before issuing this wartime policy announcement.
Alexander Gardner: A Scottish-born photographer who documented the American Civil War, including its battlefields and soldiers. His photographs of Antietam’s dead brought the battle’s aftermath before Northern audiences.
Burnside Bridge: A stone bridge across Antietam Creek on the southern battlefield, named for Union general Ambrose Burnside. Its delayed capture postponed the Union attack on Lee’s right flank.
Army of Northern Virginia: The principal Confederate field army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It conducted the invasion that brought Lee’s army to Antietam.

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