USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Just twelve hours of intense and often close-range fighting with muskets and cannons had resulted in around 23, 000 casualties, including an estimated 3, 650 dead. The next day, as Lee began the painstaking job of moving his ravaged troops back to Virginia, McClellan, surprisingly, did nothing.

Detailed explanation-2: -In McClellan’s defense, it should be noted that his soldiers were extremely fatigued after the Battle of Antietam, which was the bloodiest day of the war. It would be difficult to rally them for another attack; but certainly not impossible. Instead, Lee was allowed to escape with his command intact.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Battle of Antietam remains the bloodiest single day in American history. The battle left 23, 000 men killed or wounded in the fields, woods and dirt roads, and it changed the course of the Civil War.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day of combat in the Civil War, and while it was presented as a Union victory in the Northern press, it was in effect a tactical draw. Frustrated that McClellan had again failed to destroy Lee’s army, Lincoln officially removed him from command in November 1862.

Detailed explanation-5: -Why was Antietam so deadly? Advanced technology, unwise tactics, and terrible decision-making. The combination of new rifles that could be shot with great accuracy from far away and old-fashioned battle lines led to unprecedented deaths in the Battle of Antietam (and in the Civil War in general).