The battle of Antietam (or Battle of Sharpsburg, as it's still called in the American South) was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history: More than 4,000 killed and 23,000 total casualties. The first major battle of the Civil War fought on Northern soil, the day ended with Confederate General Robert E. Lee withdrawing his troops back across the Potomac, to Virgina -- a move that, while strategically correct, effectively ended Lee's first real push into Union territory.
Photo: Time Life Pictures./Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
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