What Happened in the Battle of Antietam?
As part of an overall defensive plan for the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis hoped to see his army commanders move into United States territory – for Robert E. Lee it would be the invasion of Maryland. It was thought that the state of Maryland might break away from the Union and join the Confederacy. Morale was high in the Army of Northern Virginia, and Lee hoped to move away from war-ravaged Virgina. The idea that Europeans governments might recognize the Confederate Government was also strong in their minds. Lee had united his army along the high ground of the town of Sharpsburg, to his front ran the Antietam Creek. McClellan planned to attack Lee’s left by making a diversionary attack on the right, and he opened the attack on Sept. 17th. Five separate attacks, without the use of two of the six corps diluted McClellan’s advantage in numbers (80,000 Union vs 55,000 Confederate). The Union attacks were not coordinated, and rippled from the north to the south of their lines. In the south A
