The Battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862, near Antietam creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland. This battle brought about America’s bloodiest day, the product of Confederate bravery and Union command failure. Shortly after routing the Union Army of Virginia under Major General John Pope, General Lee led his own Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac into Maryland. Reasons for this assault included taking strain off the Shenandoah Valley which was referred to as” The Breadbasket of the Confederacy” during the harvest time. Believing the directed Union Army would require necessary time to rebuild after the difficult conflict, Lee took the courageous step of separating his own army and sending portions to capture various objectives.
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The Dunker Church sat in the middle of Hagerstown Road and the West Woods. Hooker’s men came from the North Woods not far from that field with his weapons set up on its border. Persistently Confederate counterattacks would crumple in the close-range canister fired by those guns, but the cannons and those across Antietam Creek poured long-range fire into the Confederate positions. The Battle of Antietam became known as "Artillery Hell." A collective total of 500 guns fired from small rises with many long lines of sight. Rocky cliffs throughout the battlefield however caused bullets from their weapons to ricochet uncontrollably. For a time, the Union troops made progress, but attack and counterattack turned the West Woods and Miller’s cornfield into massacre pens. In Miller’s cornfield, or simply referred to as The Cornfield, the trampled bodies became identical to the dust in which they were laying in. The first unit attack was successfully dull, and Lee shifted troops from the right of his line to meet a new
The Dunker Church sat in the middle of Hagerstown Road and the West Woods. Hooker’s men came from the North Woods not far from that field with his weapons set up on its border. Persistently Confederate counterattacks would crumple in the close-range canister fired by those guns, but the cannons and those across Antietam Creek poured long-range fire into the Confederate positions. The Battle of Antietam became known as "Artillery Hell." A collective total of 500 guns fired from small rises with many long lines of sight. Rocky cliffs throughout the battlefield however caused bullets from their weapons to ricochet uncontrollably. For a time, the Union troops made progress, but attack and counterattack turned the West Woods and Miller’s cornfield into massacre pens. In Miller’s cornfield, or simply referred to as The Cornfield, the trampled bodies became identical to the dust in which they were laying in. The first unit attack was successfully dull, and Lee shifted troops from the right of his line to meet a new