After Lee's major victory at the second battle of Bull Run,
he decided to invade the north and get another big victory. If he got this huge
victory, Brittan and France would've recognized the Confederacy as its own country.
And if this happened, than the countries could send extra troops, supplies, and
more to help the south. It would also send a crushing blow to the North’s
morale and war efforts. Unfortunately for him, one of his commanders dropped
Lee's battle plan, and it got picked up by McClellan. He found out that Lee
split his forces and wanted to invade the north. This gave them a huge
advantage. The 2 forces met at Sharpsburg, Maryland in the bloodiest single day
of combat in the entire war. Over 22,000 were either killed or wounded. The confederate
forces were repelled, and McClellan didn't pounce on the rebels to gain ground.
Although it was a tie, it hugely boosted the union soldiers. After this draw,
Lincoln thought it was time to free the slaves. He wanted to wait for the right
time to free them because he was scared that he might lose the Border States,
upset the constitutional rights of the people, and other less important
reasons. He ended up freeing the slaves with his famous Emancipation Proclamation.
He only freed the slaves in the rebelling states to keep the Border States on
his side. It was a momentous decision and it ended up helping the north because
of all the freed slaves that signed up for the north.
| http://thecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com/post/39389925382/150th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-antietam |
No comments:
Post a Comment