Abraham Lincoln

Jefferson Davis

The American Civil War was fought between The North  ( United States ) and the South  ( Confederate States ) of America. It lasted 4 years. 

The main protagonists were  General Ulysses Simpson Grant of the US and  General Robert Edward Lee of the CSA.

U. S. Grant 1822 - 1885

R. E. Lee 1807 - 1870

623,026 men perished in this bloody conflict, more that any other war in American History, including Vietnam and the First and Second World Wars together.  Between 1861 and 1865 hundreds of battles were fought in this conflict, too many to be listed on my page which is only a brief history of the war.  One of the most savage battles however was fought in a place called Antietam.  This particular battle has been covered further down the page.

Shiloh.                          6th - 7th April 1862.                             Casualties     23,741.

Second Manassas.        28th - 30th August 1862.                      Casualties     23,569.

Antietam.                      17th September 1862                           Casualties     22,720.

The Confederacy sought to establish itself as a separate nation and withdrew eleven of its States from Central Government. This was called Secession.  After this break-away, the Confederacy set up  Jefferson Davis as its President. 

The Civil War is also known as 'The War for Southern Independence' and was also called 'The war against northern aggression'.

The war grew out of deep-seated differences between the social structure and economy of North and South, most notably over slavery, generations of political maneuvers had been unable to overcome these differences. The secession of the Southern states began in late 1860, after Abraham Lincoln was elected President.  The Confederacy was formed in early 1861. The fighting began with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April  1861, Most of the battles took place in the South, but one extremely crucial  Conflict, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought in the North.  The war ended with the surrender of General Lee to General Grant at Appomattox Court House April 9 1865.

Antietam

17th September 1862.

The Civil Wars most bloodiest battle was fought at Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland.  It has been called the bloodiest battle because it was fought in one single day at a cost of 22,000 lives !

The Confederate Commanders At Antietam.

General Robert. E. Lee Commander Army of Northern Virginia.

Major General Thomas Stonewall Jackson. Commander Army of Northern Virginia 2nd Corps who defended General Lees left flank at Antietam.

Brigadier General Jubal Early, Commander of ' Early's Brigade. consisting of 13th, 25th, 31st, 44th, 49th, 52nd and the 58th Virginian Army.

Major General George B McCellan. General in command of the Army of the Potomac.

Major General Joseph Hooker. 1st Corp Army of the Potomac.

Brigadier General Ambrose. E. Burnside. 9th Corp Army of the Potomac.

The Battle of Antietam was a battle fought with 41,000 Confederate soldiers under the direct command of General Robert E. Lee and 87,000 Union soldiers commanded by General George B. McClellan. The battle for Antietam was set when General Lee undertook the invasion of Maryland in Summer 1862.

The battle started with a dawn artillery barrage on the Confederates from Union General Joseph Hooker's position on Stonewall Jackson's troops in the Miller cornfield just north of town. The barrage was so fierce that the corn field was destroyed in its entirety and the confederate soldiers within that area were slain where they stood, in there neat rows.

By seven 'o' clock in the morning Stonewall Jackson received much needed reinforcements and Hookers Union troops were held off and pushed back from their initial attack. But soon after the Union troops re- organized and counter-attacked to regain lost ground. They came under very heavy fire at Dunkers Church and a huge battle ensued. At about the same time Union troops engaged Confederates at Sunken Lane and a four hour battle ensued there which turned out to be one of the bloodiest.

Whilst this was happening Union General Burnsides battled to cross the Antietam Creek which was hoped would cut of Generals Lee's retreat but was unable to hold the bridge that was situated there and after a battle that lasted the rest of the day with huge casualties Burnside retreated. General Lee safely withdrew his forces the next day and crossed the Potomac River.

This is a photo that was taken after one of the battles. It has been noted as the battle of  Bloody Lane. The bodies of over 2,000 soldiers lay along the entire length of a what was then called Sunken Lane in Sharpsburg, after 4 hours of savage fighting. There was a total of 5,000 casualties.

The above image was taken by Civil War photographer Alexander Gardener of  what is believed to be the bodies of Confederate troops lying near Dunker Church. Both armies fought to occupy the Dunker Church structure and the surrounding high ground. The Union forces were beaten back.

General Lee's troops held and defended the Antietam crossing known as  ' Burnsides Bridge ' for over three hours whilst Union General Ambrose Burnsides troops engaged then in a series of savage attacks in attempt to overrun this structure.  At about One Pm the Confederate troops who were being attacked on all sides began to retreat, the fact that their ammunition and supplies were also nearly exhausted made this decision all the more evident.  The Union troops then stormed the bridge and finally managed to cross over into Antietam creek.

The Union troops themselves needed to re-supply and this helped General Lee to re-organize his forces and deliver his reserve against Burnsides troops and fought back halting Burnsides further advance.

Union Army General McCellen could have thrown 20,000 men of 5th and 6th Corps into the struggle to help Burnsides but instead he held them in reserve. Subsequently at 5:30 pm the battle of Antietam was over. This lost opportunity to defeat the entire Confederate Army let General Lee's army escape. The next day on the 18th September the Union and Confederate leaders held an informal truce so that they could tend to their wounded, dead and dying troops and in the evening still under the truce, General Lee totally withdrew all of his forces back over the Potomac river.

The fighting at Antietam was so fierce that September 17th  is recognized to have been the bloodiest single day of the entire American Civil War with some 22,000 dead and critically wounded. The amount of those who died was almost even between the both sides. The Union army won the conflict at Antietam but it was victory only in the sense that Lee's invasion was stopped and not annihilated.

The Union army should have persisted with the battle and continued to destroy the enemy and this it is said would have brought the war to an early conclusion. To this degree the Union General, George. B. McClellan had been blamed whole heartedly for not pursuing Lee with his better equipped and much superior forces when he had the advantage. If he had continued the deaths would have been much higher, maybe an estimated 40,000. But the victory over the price of blood would have been decisive.

 The scene of the battle of Antietam has been set aside as a national battlefield site (est. 1890).

Antietam Battlefield, Maryland is located on the far western side of the state, about four miles from the West Virginia border. It is about a one hour drive from Baltimore and a short distance away from Frederick, Maryland

"...but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive,
and the other would accept war rather than let it perish,
and the war came."

Abraham Lincoln, 4 March 1865

Lincoln Assassinated

On April 14 1865 Five days after the end of the US Civil War  President Lincoln was assassinated as he watched  a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.  He was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth, who was an actor from Maryland. He was totally obsessed with avenging the Confederate defeat. Lincoln died the next morning from his wounds. 

Booth broke his leg when he jumped onto the stage from the balcony from where he shot the President but still  got away and fled to Virginia. On April 25, Eleven days after the assassination he was tracked down and cornered  by Union soldiers in a tobacco warehouse, Booth was  shot in the neck and fatally wounded in the facade by a 'trigger happy' Union soldier, Sergeant  Boston Corbett, and Booth died soon afterwards.

Rare Images

John Wilkes Booth

Boston Corbett Who killed Booth

Nine other conspirators were involved in the assassination and these  were later caught; four were hanged, four imprisoned, and one was acquitted.

Below is a photo of The actual Pistol that Booth used to kill Lincoln.

It is a Derringer  percussion pistol of .44 caliber and in similar fashion to the guns of the day it was loaded via putting a charge of powder down the barrel  followed by  the ball shot then it was rammed down, a percussion cap was placed on the nipple below the hammer and it was cocked by the thumb making it ready to fire.  It is a close range pistol and loses accuracy over a distance of about 12 feet.

These guns were made in Philadelphia, they were designed as large caliber compact pocket pistols and they were favoured by gamblers.