Antietam

=THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM "THE BLOODIEST DAY OF BATTLE" =

The battle of Antietam started on September 17, 1862. Confederate soldiers invaded the Union territory. They were under the rule of Robert E. Lee. On the night of September 16 both armies prepared for battle. The next day both the armies fought near Antietam Creek, not far from Sharpsburg, Maryland. It was the first major battle of the civil war fought on Union soil. The Confederate troops were on the west of Antietam Creek, and Union troops to the east. the battle started in the fog at dawn. the armies attacked again and again and the fighting ended after 12 hours. No one clearly won the battle but the Confederates withdrew to Virgina. the Confederate invasion was stopped and in 5 days Lincoln wrote the draft for the Emancipation Proclamation. He couldn't free enslaved Africans because the Constitution didn't grant him the power. As president he was commander in chief of armed forces and if they took over land slaves were considered property. Over 50,000 shells were fired in the battle of Antietam.



__//The battle of Antietam, dead confederate troops in the sunken road//__
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam/history/mcclellan-at-antietam.html http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1862/october/atietam-battle-map.htm [] __[]__ __[]__ __The 10 most defining moments of the civil war era__ by Myra Junyk

Before the Emancipation Proclamation there were but few African Union soldiers. After the Emancipation Proclamation there were more than 180,000 African American soldiers in uniform. They were usually led by white officers. They were paid $10 per month $3 were taken off for expenses. Whites were paid $13 a month with no expenses. Some of the African American soldiers chose to fight with no pay. They didn't want to take lower pay than whites.