150th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam

[syscom3]

Sept 17th 1862. The bloodiest day in US History.

Of the 23,000 casualties, 3600 were dead. And we all know that back in that era, a significant number of the wounded would linger on for weeks or months till they too died.

General McClellan's handling of the battle was horrible. He could have won the battle early on (and wiped out General Lee while doing it) just by handling some basic staff work prior to the fight.

 

[Ferdinand Foch]

Good post, Syscom. There were a lot of things McClellan could have done to end the war quickly. Personally, I think that was one of the few times where the
president has a better strategic picture of the war than does the general in charge. If we had a president other than Lincoln, I can't imagine the Union emerging
victoriously at the end of this.