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How The Battle Of Antietam Changed America

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Cannonballs flew left and right and bullets soared through the air in the deadliest and most important battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam. The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day in the Civil War, but it was a very important turning point in the Civil War. The Civil War changed America., and America would have been a completely different place if it weren’t for the one most important battle in the Civil War, The Battle of Antietam. The Battle of Antietam gave the Union a moral victory which resulted in Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, allowing slaves to be freed and the union to win the war. The Battle of Antietam was the only battle in the Civil War fought in the North, and was the single bloodiest …show more content…

One of these reasons is that Britain and France would have allied with the South if it weren’t for the Battle of Antietam. Britain and France were suffering shortages of the cotton from the South, and they were close to joining the South to help them split. The South had had many victories recently, and it looked like they could have won, but after the Battle of Antietam, the European nations stayed neutral. Another reason that this battle changed the war is that it helped Lincoln win the midterm election. Before the Battle of Antietam, Democrats had been campaigning on the failing war effort, and it was looking like they would control the Senate. If the Democrats had taken control of the Senate, they would likely have voted to end the war and let the South split from the north. However, after the Battle of Antietam, the Republicans gained more support and gained even more seats in the Senate. The Battle of Antietam also helped Lincoln to see the weakness in his general and replace McClellan. Lincoln had ordered McClellan to destroy the Army of North Virginia if possible, but “McClellan, with twice the manpower and the enemy pinned against the Potomac, had many opportunities to do so but held back” (Klein). McClellan didn’t destroy the Army of North Virginia despite having the perfect opportunity to do so, and doing this could have ended the war much earlier. Despite having the Confederate battle plans and twice the manpower, McClellan was still unable to win the battle, and it ended in a draw. This showed Lincoln that McClellan was incapable of leading the army, and he replaced McClellan with Ambrose Burnside as

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