[BATTLE OF ANTIETAM]
After Pope's disastrous defeat at Second Bull Run he begged to be relieved of the command of the army. He gave as one of the causes of his defeat that General Fitz John Porter had disobeyed orders. General Porter's explanation to the Court Marshal failed to convince it and he was dismissed from the service.
The Army of Virginia and that of the Potomac being united, the command was handed to the "Little Napoleon" of Peninsula fame, George B. McClellan.
The South was overjoyed with its victory at Bull Run—twice it had unfurled its banner in triumph on this battlefield—twice its army had stood on the road that leads to Washington, only by some strange destiny of war to fail to enter it on the wave of victory.
This subject, "The Battle of Antietam," is considered one of the turning points of the war, for it was after this battle that President Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation, although it is said that he had it prepared for some time but on account of the continued defeat of his armies in Virginia he could not see his way clear to declare it until after the battle of Antietam.
Lee's army, 50,000 strong, crossed the Potomac and concentrated around Frederick, Md., only about forty miles from Washington. When it became known that Lee was advancing into Maryland and was threatening Washington, McClellan pushed his forces forward to encounter the invaders. The people of the vicinity, and even at Harrisburg, Baltimore and Philadelphia, were filled with consternation. Their fear was intensified by the memory of Second Bull Run, a few weeks before, and by the fact that at this time General Bragg was marching northward across Kentucky with a great army, threatening Louisville and Cincinnati.
Lee sent Jackson against the Union forces at Harper's Ferry, which is at the junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, at which place there were stored valuable stores and munitions of war. This place was made famous by John Brown's raid a few years before.
Jackson reached the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry on the morning of the 13th, and captured the town with but little opposition on the morning of the 15th. There were turned over to him 11,500 prisoners, seventy-three guns, 13,000 small arms, 200 wagons, and a large store of supplies. In this enterprise Lee had achieved an important and valuable success.
Longstreet, who had advanced to Hagerstown, probably with the intention of invading Pennsylvania, was hastily recalled and sent to reënforce D. H. Hill, who was being severely pushed at Boonsborough Gap by McClellan. The defense of this path had been very necessary to Lee, but, after a desperate conflict, the Union army succeeded in forcing its way through, this being the first set-back to Lee's invasion, and he conceived at once that a great battle was at hand and began to concentrate his forces.
Jackson was marching with all haste to Sharpsburg, near by Antietam Creek, having left A. P. Hill to receive the surrender at Harper's Ferry, and on the morning of the 16th the whole army, with the exception of the force of A. P. Hill, left at Harper's Ferry, was concentrated behind Antietam Creek.