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... r. Also, if you think about it, Lee brought his troops across a river hindering reinforcements and then splitting his forces. Its like when you think of Ben Franklin and his arrows. One is weak, but 4 or so will last longer. Once McClellan got Special Order 191, which was the name for General Lees plan, he was excited.
McClellan wrote President Lincoln and informed him of the situation and was very confident of success. General Jackson moved with great haste to Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry. On the dawn of the 13 th, Jacksons army had forced the surrender of Harpers Ferry from Commander D. H.
Miles. Miles surrendered 11, 500 men, 73 guns, 13, 000 small arms, 200 wagons, and camping equipment; which would do the confederates more good than anything. As I mentioned earlier, McClellan obtained a copy of Lees orders, so McClellan urged the removal of the garrison in Harpers Ferry, but his orders never got there, neither did the. Also, later on that same day in the afternoon, Jacksons army captured Martinsburg and the two high places overlooking Harpers Ferry.
Jackson was very swift in his actions, and didnt waste anytime. He received the official surrender, wrote Lee a quick note and on the 15 th in the morning he was underway back north to regroup with Lee in Hagerstown. Stonewall Jackson was left behind to defend the newly captured Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg with an army larger than that of Cornwallis during the Revolutionary War. Jackson and Lee met in Sharpsburg on the morning of the 16 th. Lee said to his officers, We will make our stand on these hills. (The hills being the low ridge that runs North and South of the town. ) Lee had placed cannons overlooking the lower bridge (Today known as Burnside Bridge), the high point to his left, and the ridge just east of Sharpsburg. Of course his men were scattered about these areas like bloody lane and Burnside Bridge.
Unfortunately Lees 30, 000 men were no match for 60, 000 well trained and equipped Union Troops. Lee even broke down and demanded reinforcements of 25, 000 men; it was unusual for Lee to do this. A brilliant idea of Lees was the small battle at South Mountain. When Lee discovered McClellan was closing in on him with a great number of troops, and his forces were scattered, he needed time; time to regroup his forces. Lee positioned Jacob D. Cox's division at the pass to slow down and delay Mcclellan's arrival across the mountains into the Sharpsburg area.
Cox's men fought and retired promptly, since it was only a delaying action. McClellan boasted that he had already defeated part of Lees army and thought they were retreating in panic. Little did he know, it was just a ploy to delay his arrival into the Sharpsburg area. McClellan had been going north from Washington since he received word of Lees entry into Maryland; and quickly reorganizing the position his forces along the way.
Such as leaving General Banks in command of the Washington garrison and concentrating his forces towards Sharpsburg. On the cold, damp morning of the 17 th of September, Union cannons began to fire on the Confederate lines. McClellan sent his forces north to Millers Cornfield. Lees men acted like snipers and picked them off one by one, as many as possible.
The Union forces retreated and cannon fire replaced them. One account from General Hooker states Every stock of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely have been done with a knife. The men in the field were like those corn stalks, cut down like with a knife. For the next hour the two forces exchanged fire until the Confederates were reinforced and the Union driven back. A big mistake and bad strategy in my opinion is when the confederates were positioned in the sunken lane, or Bloody Lane. The Union came from the north and the confederates stacked wooded fence rails to defend them selves.
For 3 and a half hours there was a Stalemate between the two forces. The confederates gave way and fell back to their lines. But the cost was a staggering 5, 600 men lying in the sunken lane. The term bloody lane is derived from the thousands of men whose blood soaked the ground that day.
The mistake I meant to point out was with the confederates down lower than the Union, and on top of that, placing wooden fence posts across to trap them in a little tighter. The Union just needed to look and shoot down. The battle at the lower bridge was another key point in the battle as well. The confederates were unable to hold off the Union troops. They did for about 4 hours until 8, 000 Union troops pushed their way across. The confederates jammed the streets of Sharpsburg in retreat.
But just as they were doing so, like in a movie, General Jackson comes in with 3, 000 more soldiers. With the combined forces of the two armies, they manage to push the Union troops back to the heights that were taken earlier. This attack resulted in 3, 470 casualties, more Union than Confederate. Its been said that McClellan could have destroyed the rebellion by sending his reserve troops, and number of 20, 000, in to wipe out Lees forces.
At 5: 30 pm the Battle was over and done. The next day the leaders struck a formal truce to recover the dead and wounded. Lee accepted defeat and began to take his forces back into confederate territory to Virginia. As a general, how would you feel? Youve sent thousands of men into battle, in which 23, 110 were killed.
What would go through your mind? I would imagine that these men had been trained and disciplined to deal with a situation like this. But to this magnitude? 23, 110 men is a lot of people. Its roughly 2 times the size of my home town of Loomis. Gone, all gone.
Its absolutely unimaginable. Now these Generals did what they thought was in the best interest of their cause. What could they have done different? Im not a military minded person so I really couldnt say without deep analysis. I can say that some of these moves by General Lee were not of the best tactical and strategic interest. He did make a good choice with the battle at South Mountain.
Perhaps he could have kept all his forces together for strength, or been more aggressive and attacked the Union going downhill from South Mountain. My sources were good. I didnt realize it till I started to research the paper, but they were all geared towards the Union and gave more detail there than with the confederacy. I used my internet sources to gain more information about the Confederacy. The books were a little negative towards General Lee and his leadership decisions.
The Battle of Antietam is known in history as the bloodiest day ever fought; not week or month. From when the battle started at 7: 00 am till it ended at 5: 30 pm, an average of 38 men were shot and killed per minute. Almost one every second. Hard to imagine!
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Research essay sample on Harpers Ferry Union Troops
