America's Bloodiest Day: Antietam | Animated History
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Sources:
Cannan, J., (1994). The Antietam Campaign; August - September 1862; Revised and Expanded Edition. Combined Publishing
Gottfried, B., (2012). The Maps of Antietam; The Movement to and the Battle of Antietatm September 14-18, 1862. Savis Beatie.
Martin, J., (2018). A Fierce Glory; Antietam - the Desperate Battle that Saved Lincoln and Doomed Slavery. Da Capo Press
Stevens, N., (1994). Antietam 1862; the Civil War’s Bloodiest Day. Osprey Publishing.
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Finally a good video about Antietam!
can you please do a video on the rise and fall of the Mongol empire as its popular and awesome
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The rarest words ever spoken: “McClellan decides to attack.”
Right up there with "Burnside, in a stunning act of competence"
McClellan attacked in the peninsular campaign. Out of the whole war only two Union generals would make it to Richmond, which is Grant and McClellan
Thank God General Meade eventually got put on charge of the Army of The Potomac I had 2 3rd great grandpas serve in it one in the Bucktail Brigade and another in the Iron Brigade they're lucky Mcclean didn't get them both killed.
@@rc59191
Not to downplay your ancestors' experience (I also had relatives in the AoP), but not getting his men killed may have been one of McClellan's major failing as a commander, since he was cautious to the point of inactivity at times.
@@rc59191 a
4 years going, and The Armchair Historian is still better than the History Channel.
Or as it call it know The Misinformation Channel
@@kyleshiflet9952 History Channel’s ‘Network Decay’ started when their reality tv shows kicked off.
But when the history channel tells this story they don’t leave out the aliens. Lol
@@imsomewhatcertain1024 agreed
The History Channel hasn't been about history in nearly 20 years. Once they realized shows about bigfoot, aliens, and mythical treasure only loosely based on any credible history pulled in greater numbers, that was it for history on TV.
Despite this being the bloodiest single-day battle in American history with 21,000+ casualties in the span of 12 hours, I hardly hear of people talk about it in recent years. I’m glad you’ve given your take on this battle, Griffin.
I think its because it was tactical stalemate and while it was strategic disaster for the Confederacy it wasn't the definitive nail in the coffin for Confederate offensive capability that Gettysburg was. After Gettsyburg there was no hope to March on Washington even on paper, none that dream was dead.
I'm from the area but for a really bloody day, what was the result? Lots of teenaged boys dead? Sure. Other than that? Not much. There's a cool campsite but I mean, it happened nearly 130 years ago and much more interesting things happened, in comparison to trench warfare in WWI 21k people isn't as interesting.
Meanwhile: the Battle of Malplaquet with 35,000+ casualties in one day
@@Terminalsanity Most of the discussion about Antietam focuses on the effects of this conflict outside of the battlefield. Lincoln held off the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation until after Antietam. Confederate prospects of European intervention lessened because of Antietam. It's not THE turning point of the war, but the effects definitely lessened Confederate chances of victory and mobilized the Union to focus on ending slavery.
Not many Harry Turtledove fans here, I take it?
A stunning display of competence seems like the highest praise most civil war generals could hope for.
In 1861 Burnside was a colonel in the Rhode Island militia, having resigned from the regular army in the 1850s and having only served as an engineer. Less than two years later he led a corps of over 10,000 men, 99% of whom had never been soldiers before the war. Competence was paid for over time and in blood.
Unfortunately for the Union soldiers, Burnside would not be very competent at Fredricksburg.
Competence was one of the best qualities of a CW general. They did their job well and nothing more.
Most of the over the top commanders with high rep lead the most disastrous attacks and campaigns in the war.
@@ronandanne1 Burnside problems at Fredericksburg were mostly army incompetence and logistical competence that were outside his hands. It was a good plan....if the boats showed when he outnumbered the CSA 5:1.
@@zoanth4 Yes. If Old Brains hadn't botched things, assuming he didn't sabotage things intentionally that time, it might have ended Lee.
But, Burnside showed a certain amount of tunnel vision. He would make a plan, then was unable to handle the inevitable changes to that plan. He could have put the entire army to work making pontoons out of the woods, and been across in short order. But, he was locked into his plan.
Once across, and engaged in battle, he couldn't get orders out fast enough to his generals to deal with the changing situations. And then, half of those generals seemed to not understand those orders. He failed to make sure that they did as expected. They failed, often by feeding single regiments at a time, when whole brigades or corps were needed.
Going back to the battle of the video, the fight for the stone bridge was another example of that tunnel vision. He couldn't seem to comprehend that the stream was little more that waist deep, less in places. But, instead, he fixated on that bridge, which was held for hours by sharpshooters. He could have simply marched his whole corps across the stream, bulldozed the one enemy unit, and been in Lee's flank and rear.
Don't get me started about the Battle of the Crater. I'm already late for bed.
Abraham Lincoln: "So you're telling me you had the Army of Northern Virginia's entire battleplan practically giftwrapped and handed to you, and the best you could achieve was a tactical draw?"
George B. McClellan: "Er... Um... Yes sir."
Abraham Lincoln: "I'm surrounded by idiots... but I can still use this."
It wouldn't be long until Abraham Lincoln found Ulysses S. Grant, the best general of the war.
@@chaosXP3RT finally, someone who isnt a Leeaboo
@@aidanhunt6872 Lost Cause Myths are a plague unfortunately
Special Order 191 wasn't the ANV's entire battleplan. And the battle wasn't a tactical draw.
@@aidanhunt6872 winning against the odds>winning with the odds
‘Leeaboo’ isn’t real
I remember learning only about this battle through statistics of most bloody days in American history. So glad that you guys made a video on the Entire battle!
And then it was surpassed by a single day of COVID LMAO
Incredible to think that 3,675 killed, i.e the deadliest day in American military History, wouldn't make it to the top 20 or 30 deadliest days in the military History of many nations.
@@Forgeries
We can't say the average age of the victims of Antietam and the victims of Covid is the same though.
The casualties at Antietam really shows that even though the US was involved in several wars after the American Civil War, they pale in comparison to the losses at Antietam in a single day!
That comes to show how brutal the American Civil War was to the US!
I am German and had heard about this battle by the series "The Civil War" (9 episodes documentary by Ken Burns). Burns "spends" about 30 Minutes to Antietam. Also look for Ken Burns' documentaries about WWII and Vietnam! All three documentaries might shock you because they haven't been "white washed" by Republicans but show the truth. Every American should know these three (large) documentaries about his/her history. German free TV provides us with these documentaries...
Funny thing is I just watched a brilliant presentation given at Gettysburg about Burnside and how McClellan had unwittingly given him the hardest job. Even modern generals are astounded that Burnside carried the Antietam bridge at all.
Burnside is objectively one of the most competent commanders in the entire civil war and they treat him like a doormat here. Shameful.
@@dadbot8480 He was an excellent administrator and was almost universally well liked as well as an advocate for repeating weaponry. He should have been made head of the Ordnance Department.
I'm surprised considering only 500 rebels opposed his entire corps at that bridge
@@zoanth4 At 3 rounds a minute, that's 1,500 mini balls coming your way and all you have is a narrow bridge to get across. The real debacle came at finding a ford, which even the Confederates had trouble with.
I was going to comment this! Burnside and McClellan were actually friends since West Point and the fact that he had been demoted from wing commander was only because his other corps, Hooker's, had ended up on the other end of the battlefield, so he took control of his old IX Corps. Plus it was only way after the battle that McClellan altered his report to make Burnside seem as part of the overall assault rather than a diversion, detracting potential blame from himself to put onto Burnside, especially after Fredericksburg and the Mud March.
This battle demonstrates how revolutionary radio was to military engagements. Half of the reason Napoleon was so successful was because he prioritized communication between units and his generals knew him really well. It could also be argue the Wehrmacht's early success in ww2 was only because of radio.
That's something that Hollywood is terrible at portraying. Whenever you see ancient combat scenes and an entire Army does something in unison I know it's for a cool scene, but I'm just like wait how did everyone know what to do at the same time? Alexander is one of the few movies that you see them giving orders with flags.
@@firingallcylinders2949 True. Alexander is pretty good movie.
@@user-vr8qd4hk6y I thought the movie sucked, but I will concede that the action was accurate to historical warfare.
But their portrayal of Alexander as being a sexually confused lover boy is a massive farce.
Alexander the Great was one of the most arrogant, egotistical, and selfish men you could meet. He wanted to achieve glory at any cost. He cared little for Greece, his people, or even his empire, he just wanted to conquer.
But that doesn’t make for a good, relatable protagonist to modern American audiences.
Another example being Nelson, and how he focused on intent rather than continous control of his whole force
My great great grandfather was a Corporal in the federal army, more specifically, of the 26th Wisconsin regiment. He fought in 17 different engagements, including Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, and the Atlanta campaign.
My great great grandpa was a pvt in company K 10th Louisiana regiment , Stark’s brigade ,under stonewalls command .. he fought in every engagement from the Peninsula campaign to when he was killed in the mine run campaign of dec 1864 ... he captured a New York regiments colors around Winchester during the prelude battles to the Gettysburg campaign
Those southern soldiers weren't so tough after facing off against the Wisconsinites and Minnesotans, were they?
@@FEARbraveheart and look at you now....taking orders from Ilhan Omar and fighting against the 2nd amendment.....Yankees are the laughing stock of America
@@FEARbraveheart that's a pretty cringe and embarrassing response to 2 people talking about their ancestors experiences.
@@FEARbraveheart idk I didn’t know people from 160s years ago ... from what Ik it takes some type of toughness to stand and fight in any war and not run away ... and the history of this battle a it’s bloody legacy, kinda shows that neither side were backing down or turning yellow
McClellen was extremely popular with his troops
He had built the Army from a rag tag group into an actual Army
He likewise loved his Army which was he downfall as he was overly cautious.
Honestly a really good comparison for him is Captain Sobel in Band of Brothers. Great at training, drilling and getting a unit in order, but a complete buffoon tactically. The men of the 101st said they wouldn't have accomplished what they did in Bastogne if not for Sobel making them the best Airborne unit there was. McLellan took a bunch of rag tag volunteers and made them into the Army of the Potomac. He just couldn't move an Army properly. It's weird because he was very high in his class at West Point, he was liaison for the US to observe the Crimean War so he watched the European Armies fight. He was nicknamed "The Young Napoleon", but just couldn't lead an Army. He also had a huge ego, him and Lincoln butted heads all the time, he would run as a Democrat against Lincoln in 1864 and good thing he lost because he wanted nothing to do with freeing the slaves.
@@firingallcylinders2949 Nah, Sobel was neither a tactitian nor a strategist - just a drill sergeant with zero use on the battlefield.
McClellan, on the other hand, was one of the best strategists of the war. The Peninsula Campaign was planned almost perfectly. Just imagine Grant or Sherman (or maybe even Joe Hooker) executing that plan instead of McClellan himself - the war would be ended in 1862.
But McClellan managed to drown himself with over-cautiosness (he also had a very bad recon) and terrible relations with people around him. He was so abrasive Lincoln simply didn't want him anywhere.
And McClellan lost in 1864 mostly because of the horrendous program the Democrats had for him. It was contradictory, vague, and McClellan himself didn't believe in it. And Lincoln was waaaaay too experienced in politics to let McClellan win the Electoral College. With direct voting I'd say McClellan could win - with better program, of course.
But even if McClellan won the outcome of the war would be the same - by March 1865 the war was nearly over. So McClellan would wrap up the war and reconstruct the country - just as Lincoln did.
McClellan wasn't as bad a commander in my mind. He started out overly cautious but he was smart enough to capitalize on the information that lee split his army.
I also argue that this fight showed a couple issues in the union army that not even McClellan could shake.
In the prior peninsular campaign, while he made mistakes, he was constantly getting overly bloated claims on confederate numbers; that would make anyone more cautious, especially on enemy soil. Also during that campaign as well as at Antietam he didn't have "go-to" commanders like Jackson or Hill to work with.
Heck just look at burnside for crying out loud. Not saying McClellan was the unions best commander, but I'd argue he was the third best --) behind grant and Sherman
Even if you think he's better than people give him credit for, you can't discount commanders like Meade and especially George Thomas
@@Sheriff723
Absolutely not. But in my mind the big 3 are
Bronze: Sherman. (Controversial but hear me out) while tactically aggressive and capable, his destruction caused a rift. If Lincoln hadn't proposed such a kind approach to the restructuring of the union, many historians have proposed decades of guerilla fighting might have happened. Long term he almost shot us in the foot. If you put Meade here in bronze, I could believe it.
McClellin is no. 2 for his work with the Army of The Potomac and showing spine and very Grant-esque strategies later on.
With that said, grant is the gold-medal winner though
Edit: you know what.... Sherman is an Honorary mention. Meade gets the spot
I am convinced that the better sideburns these generals had the better general they were
Burnside has one of the most magnificent sideburns, and he is widely seen as one of the worst Union commanders, famous for blundering into a decisive defeat at Fredericksburg
And the Crater, and the Mudd march, to add to Burnside list.
Ambrose Burnside was a horrible commander....learn some history casual
Fredericksburg wasn't entirely his fault
Probably better check out Griffin's upcoming video (if he has it) on Fredericksburg. Burnside ordered a frontal assault, up a hill, with no cover or concealment, on an icy day, against another sunken road. The Fighting Irish Brigade once again found themselves in the wrong place, wrong time, shall we say....
“Burnside, in a stunning display of competence.” Lmao.
I totally lost it 🤣
I like that Griffin called General Burnside a "facial hair pioneer."
It's beautiful.
Fun fact, he's literally where we get the term "sideburns" from.
yeah! and that bitch started the NRA 1871
The game "War of Rights" covers this battle, I highly recommend the game to anyone interested
Also if you want to play seriously and not here the nword every other match, join a regiment/group, it helps a lot. For the confederate side I recommend 24th Georgia, Army of Northern Virginia, or Pickett’s Brigade. For Union I recommend IX Corps, IVB, or II Corps (Union)
@@sgtirish5915 But that's half the fun
@@BASEDKAISER you gotta point there
@@BASEDKAISER saying the n-word shouldnt be considered "fun" whats wrong with you?
@@boss-anovait’s part of the rp. And the rp is hilarious
Just moved from living in Sharpsburg all my life. Nice quietish town lots of fun memories of swimming/floating in the creek and running or biking the trail that cuts through the battlefield. Crazy you can still see civil war influence like the one building in town with a old cannonball part of the second story lol
I lived in a small town in Germany, which has a good portion of its town walls from around the 30 Years War, or earlier, still having cannonballs sticking.
Stuff like that, even a single cannonball, preserves a piece of History.
@@RealRotkohl sounds amazing! It’s great to have history all around you and so important to preserve it for the next generation and the next and it’s great to know it’ll stand the test of time.
I live around sharpsburg
I lived in Dargan and went to Sharpsburg elementary, Nutters is goated
@@LiveFreeHitYou awesome! The old elementary got torn down and a new bigger one got built in 2020 and it’s ginormous and nutters is legit the only good ice cream possibly in all of Maryland lol.
I was born in Maryland, a little over an hour away from these battlefields. You can still find signs of the battle to this day. A lot of the old fences are still there, and you can occasionally (although *much* rarer these days) find old chunks of lead or shrapnel buried deep into the dirt or trees.
cool dude
Damn if only i cared about the US 💀
@@-Teca- bro why are you watching the video
@@hanburbger7782 cause its cool to look at
Femboy fox furry! *waves paw*
I’m currently working on my lesson plans for the upcoming school year for my US History class as a History teacher. I love the fact that you uploaded this video as it aligns with the Civil War time period I’m going to be covering. I can’t wait to show this video to my future students!
Wait, how do you have time to be. History teacher and a History TH-camr? Isn’t that really hard to balance things?
@@sethkoch7114 Great question! It’s just like anything in this world. I have a passion for teaching and History. So when it comes to being able to teach History through TH-cam and teaching History in the classrooms, I don’t see it as a job, I see it as an opportunity to be able to do what I love while having fun! Hope that answers your question.
Im in school right to be a history teacher and damn creating lesson plans can be a real pain in the ass
@@Spongebrain97 Yeah the lesson plans are honestly the hardest part. What gets me every time is ensuring that I’m able to keep the class on track while keeping it fun and educational.
@@sethkoch7114 not having to be teaching classes 5 days a week during the summer doesn't hurt.
I live right by an old hospital to the battle. Hard to believe a place so peaceful now had such a big battle. Thanks for making this!
Ayyyyy it’s the legend himself!
I would love a vid on the Portuguese Colonial War. It's a super unique and criminally underrated war that would make for an awesome video.
You mean with the ottomans? Or Africans? Native Brazilians? Indonesians? 😂
@@ChevyChase301 the Cold war conflict in Africa when Portugal basically fought their equivalent of the Vietnam war across three theatres and would've won if not for the Carnation Revolution
@@ChevyChase301 The Ultramar? The Indians? New Guinea? Southeast China?... We can spend a looong time at this
@@carloshenriquezimmer7543 Portugal historically has been the most disproportionately powerful and militarily successful country ever
I agree with this. Then again I'm a sucker for anything Cold War related so yea. 😆
If I have a nickle everytime America got Bloodied from a place rhyming with “Am”, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice
*Vietnam flashbacks intensify*
Better make it three: The Battle of Guam, World War II.
@@thunderbird1921 Guam doesn't rhyme with "Am."
@@My-Name-Isnt-Important Neither does Vietnam (assuming that's what he's talking about) lol
@@Sasha-nl8ry Guam rhymes more then Viet-Nam
I'm glad you covered Antietam, I grew up in Sharpsburg and learned quite alot about the battle growing up. Unfortunately no one knows about it and thus don't have any idea where I come from or the significance of the battle that occurred lol. I'll show my dad this and he'll certainly get a kick out of it. Thank you!
And, did you show it to your Dad?
Over 200,000 people visit Antietam in person each year, so I'm not sure how you figure "no one knows about it".
It’s baffling how McClellan had everything handed to him on a cigarette and could have eliminated Lee right there and then, but just didn’t.
For such an ostensibly ambitious man, it’s crazy that he could’ve ended the confederacy’s military resistance right there and then. He probably could’ve beaten Lincoln in the following election if he had.
@@ST-zm3lm alright, you know that the CSA is planning an attack on the capital
now what?
don't make it sound easy, through the mess that was warfare back then, it was definitely a pain to organise literally anything
McClellan's army was assembled on the march from the Army of the Potomac, Pope's Army of Virginia, Burnside's Ninth Corps from North Carolina. Many of the commanders had never worked together before. One-quarter of the army was made up of recruits that had only enlisted six weeks earlier. (The 16th CT had only learned to load their muskets the day before the battle. The brigades of French's division had only been assembled together as a division the previous day as well.) The Confederates had interior lines which allowed them to shift troops to report to threats whereas McClellan had to remain on the other side of Antietam Creek to maintain contact with his army. McClellan could only react to what he saw or what messages he received. By the time he could issue an order, the situation had already changed and the Confederates seem to miraculously to appear from woodlots that he can't see into.
Choosing to pursue a retreating army after seeing thousands of your soldiers die in Antietam is a hard choice
@@johnnicholas7420 that’s an accurate recitation of McClellans excuses. It doesn’t account for the many things he could have done to achieve victory...things other generals were doing in other theaters.
I went to the battlefield at Antietam/Sharpsburg in March 2018.
It was windy and cold, so I was pretty much alone. I stopped and stood for a good long while at Bloody Lane. It’s a strange thing, to stand at the exact spot where so many were killed. Sort of eerie, with the wind blowing and the trees rustling…
McClellan threw away a golden opportunity to crush Lee here. He knew Lee’s battle plan. Had Lee backed up and badly outnumbered, and Lee did not have Jackson’s troops for most of the day.
Talk about not getting out of your own way.
I partially agree. The Lost Order was crucial in understanding that Lee was split up, but it didn't have exact numbers and troop compositions, plus it was out of date when it was passed to McClellan. But McClellan, even thinking he may be outnumbered and with his orders only being to defend Washington, swings his mixed army north west and defeats Lee and elements of the ANV at South Mountain. Lee, to his credit, regroups at Sharpsburg and uses the creek as a great natural obstacle. Realising forcing his way across the creek is ridiculous, McClellan's conservative plan is to attack from the north (as shown in the video) with just a few corps and see how it goes, with Burnside as a diversion whose orders then get changed. I will criticize Mac here for not having a council of war and getting his corps commanders together so they can see the overall battleplan, but all things considered, McClellan does enough and Lee is forced to strategically withdraw. You are right, it could have been a golden opportunity, but we are playing Monday morning quarterback here.
Mac blew so many chances to beat Lee. Even people at the time criticized him for it.
@@michaelsinger4638 I agree, the Peninsular campaign should have been game over for Richmond, and during the Seven Days he completely hands the initiative over to Lee when it could have been much more even.
@@michaelsinger4638 My counter-argument is that he keeps getting into positions where he can beat Lee. Getting to the finish line and then fumbling a draw is certainly better than what Pope, Burnside and Hooker did.
Mac reminds me of a car factory administrator that is popular with the staff, has everything organized perfectly, paychecks out on time & the cafeteria serving good food that forgets that the factory is there to make cars.
I went to Antietam Elementary and grew up right near the battlefield remains. Nobody in our area doesn't know the details about this battle and for good reason. May that tradition never cease.
You mean sharpsburg elementary not Antietam elementary
Aww, not a word about Clara Barton. She took a bullet through her dress while giving water to wounded men and wrapping their wounds. She was just as heroic as the men!
I’ve been to Antietam and Gettysburg. Hard to imagine thousands of people dying in such beautiful places.
Ye
I live on the antietam battlefield it’s beautiful
I’m a lot more used to seeing Germany or the Balkans in battle videos but seeing my home state is much more surreal
I would love to see something like this on the Vicksburg campaign.
And the Arizona campaigns
"And to show you the power of the Union I sawed this rebellion in half."
-General Grant, probably.
@@generalfred9426 “That’s a lot of damage, how about a little more?” -General Sherman
McClellan was one of the South's best generals. Had the Union had better leadership the War would have been over in a year.
Although I watch your videos through a translator, the way you explain everything on the shelves makes me think that you are the most interesting desk historian. You're the best desk historian I've ever watched. Thank you very much!
Where are you from. 🤔
@@acatwithwiskers9273 I'm from Russia my friend
@@user-v117 Thanks for your interest in our history and stay safe.👍
McClellan’s big flaw of several was being overly cautious. Grant was bold and knew his capabilities and thus saw lots of victories.
I get it tho, he thought he was the last army of America. Didn't want to attack unless he was sure.
@@mrhumble2937 he thought that because he had an enormous ego. If he'd been paying attention to anything else in the war he would have known about how the aggressive action of generals like Thomas and Grant were paying off in the west.
I remember this battle from Darkest of Days. Man going through that cornfield multiple times was crazy
“I didn’t lose, I mearly failed to win! George B McClellan
Fun Fact: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was also in this battle. After this, he would later lead the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and met his end in the famous assault on Fort Wagner.
Glory
I would you cover Ulysses S. Grant's brilliant Vicksburg Campaign and dispell the lies and myths about General Grant.
Watch atun sheis video about the generals of the civil war. He gives you what you want here. It's from his series checkmate lincolnites
Yes, Grant was slandered by the press, who was managed by no military personal, same for Sherman, their constant attacks on militaries who won in the field by the New York press, was the best propaganda for the Confederacy
The animation quality is so fricking good. The shot at 14:24 is one of my favorite you've ever done. Fantastic video!
If Grant had been in command during this battle, the war may have been ended far sooner.
Well, who would have taken Vicksburg? who was far more important than Virginia.
@@omarbradley6807 Thomas certainly or Rosecrans possibly could have taken Vicksburg. Not to take away from the brilliance of Grant's Vicksburg campaign, which was absolutely top-notch, but he wasn't the only competent commander in the west.
Nice, Antietam is such an interesting battle with it being basically the height of confederate command being in the same area
"At West Point, he was an energetic and ambitious cadet, deeply interested in the teachings of Dennis Hart Mahan and the theoretical strategic principles of Antoine-Henri Jomini. His closest friends were aristocratic southerners including George Pickett, Dabney Maury, Cadmus Wilcox, and A. P. Hill. These associations gave McClellan what he considered to be an appreciation of the southern mind and an understanding of the political and military implications of the sectional differences in the United States that led to the Civil War." George was basically a Southern Democrat who had little interest in prosecuting a war that violated his own personal beliefs.
I have been waiting for this day for years, ever since my group of reenactors re-enacted this battle I’ve wanted to see an over view of it on this channel. Good one!
Conventional wisdom is that Gettysburg was Lee's greatest mistake, but I think a case can me made that Antietam was the battle he should never have fought. Yes, Lee managed to escape back to Virginia with his army mostly intact, but he lost the very best, most committed southern soldiers--the ones who hadn't slipped out of the ranks when the army marched north of Virginia, and who had been hardy enough to keep up throughout the campaign. Those were the Confederate soliders whose morale was sky-high after stopping one Union army on the peninsula outside Richmond and routing another at Sexond Bull Run. Given that Lee knew McClellan was in possession of Order 191 and therefore knew the Confederate army was dispersed, and given that Lee knew he would have to fight on enemy territory with his back to the river, one would think the better strategy would have been to have consolidatied the army and slipped back across the Potomac instead of turning to fight. A battle like Antietam that ended in "bloody stalemate" was actually a pretty favorable result for the Confederates all things considered, and it's hard not to wonder what a better, or at least more offensively minded Union commander might have accomplished. Political consequences aside--when would the Emancipation Proclamation have been released had there not been a battle in September of 1862?--imagine a Confederate army in the spring of 1863 with 10 or 15K more veterans in its ranks, not to mention all the line and lower-ranking field officers, who were, as usual, lost in greater proportion at Antietam, and who were the backbone of Lee's army. And a large percentage of those veterans would have been fast-marching, hard-charging II Corps men, veterans of Jackson's Valley Campania; the sort of high-quality, highly motivated soliders that the Confederates could never replace once lost. In short, the best soliders the Confederates had or would ever have. True, the Union army would also have been saved the casualties from Antietam, but the number of troops was never the problem for the Union, it was experience and quality that were the issues, and no major battle in the fall of 1862 would just have meant more green Union regiments on the field whenever the next battle occurred. To put it another way, each solider killed or maimed in battle was far more damaging to the Confederacy than to the Union, so to have avoided the single bloodiest day of combat would have been a disproportionately greater benefit to the South. And maybe if he hadn't gotten them killed in a battle that could have been avoided. Lee might have been able to have used those excellent soliders decisively on a hypothetical future battlefield.
Interesting
Very logical and well thought out argument. I do quibble w one thing. Lee deciding he wanted the battle. Antietam, like Gettysburg, were thrust upon him. Only Antietam was more desperate because his army was widely dispersed. Lee would have been crushed piecemeal if he hadn't quickly consolidated (cuz it's like the opposing team had his playbook and layout of all movements) Jackson did very well to stop the initial steamroll by the Union. Came down to leadership. If leadership swapped and Lee was commanding the North (like Winfield Scott had offered) Lee would have destroyed the army of n Virginia and prob have been our 17th president.
The rest of what you said is on point.
good quality alt hist idea but passionate enough to be a lost causer
@@Jaljfkao The passion is only for the history. Screw the lost cause and all its adherents.
And what does it matter? He lost.
Is there such thing as a pyrrhic draw? It seems like the Civil War has been such a touchy topic lately that you don't hear as much about it these days. I'm glad Armchair Historian "goes there" with the touchy topics. These things are still important.
What exactly is "touchy"? Slavery is bad and the Confederates were traitors who lost. Not very controversial.
@@PotatoNo Your smart ass attitude sounds pretty touchy about it.
@@PotatoNo And if you think walking on eggshells to discuss any historical topic is a good thing and/or inserting op-ed instead of just telling what happened is a good idea - you're wrong.
@@Blalack77 Are you illiterate?
Maybe but this was certainly not it. By all accounts Antietam was a tactical victory for the North and a disastrous end to the Maryland campaign for the South.
The only silver lining for the Confederacy was that their army was not completely Anhiliated afterwards (Which Mcllelan probably could have done if he wasn't so cautious)
So far I’ve enjoyed your game! I think the overall art between your games and videos make for a great experience! Again I hope the best for your team and you! I plan on purchasing your DLC content and I’ve had quite the time playing through the Crimean story! I can’t wait to play as Prussia! I have quite the German heritage and I’d love to explore vicariously their journey!
Gotta say I’m loving F&M so far great job guys!
Wisconsinites are known as Sconnies. That's with a short "o".
Also a note about Burnside's Bridge, if not for Burnside ordering the initial single charge across the bridge, casualties would be much lower and the Rebels wouldn't have had time to retreat. The "river" is about 6 inches at its deepest there. If he ordered a full mass charge across the river instead of just the bridge, Lee would've been pressed to not be completely routed or encircled.
No we aren't. We call ourselves Wisconsinites. Not Sconnies, that's some fib tier stuff.
@@henryblack9553 you clearly are not a Badger fan, ergo not from Wisconsin.
@@jeremiahkivi4256 I'm from Sheboygan...
@@henryblack9553 ah that's ur problem right there. Southeast is all that Milwaukee garbage.
Jeremiah Kivi That is not true. Burnside made several attempts to get across the creek. Antietam Creek today is not the same it was in 1862. The bottom of the creek in 1862 was soft, had a much faster current than now, and very steep banks. It could only be forded in a couple of places. The army's engineers had found a ford the day before but somehow failed to inform Burnside that the banks were too steep. A ford to the south of the bridge was only wide enough for soldiers to cross single file. That attack ended in failure. An attempt to reach another ford north of the bridge misfired when Crook's brigade went to the wrong place. Even when Snavely's Ford was found farther south, the banks were too for artillery to cross. They had to return to the bridge to cross the creek.
It's crazy and puzzling how McClellan was such an excellent trainer and organiser in the way he built up the Army of the Potomac and the men LOVED him but was such a poor field commander
Amazing coverage of this battle and surrounding information, thank you so much!
Antietam was a really rare type of battle. Where both sides suffered heavy casualties because both sides were evenly matched and competent (even though up until Antietam and Gettysburg, the Union leadership was pretty incompetent)
Calling the Union generals *competent* at any point until Confederate surrender would be generous. If the South had the North's resources and all things were equal aside from leadership, then Richmond would be the capitol of the U.S. today and we'd be wondering how Lincoln could've ecer thought he'd beat a better army.
@@RockandrollNegro The south were also always on the defense and had the home turf advantage. Sorry but Grant was a greater general then Lee.
Grant had a long term strategy to win the war, and was able to adapt his strategy to fix. He was great at logistics, and great at maneuver warfare, as he showed in the Western theatre; while Lee was busy blowing his last chance at Gettysburg, Grant was busy capturing 30,000 Confederates and cutting the Confederacy in half at the strategically far more important Siege of Vicksburg.
In the west he was a logistician and very good at maneuver warfare, and eviscerated the Confederacy. When he moved over to the East he looked at what needed to be done and utterly changed his strategic style, turning into a logistics centered grinding commander, pinning Lee down and never giving his army time to recover. That wasn’t the Grant of the West. That was a strategist looking at the right strategy to win the war while Lee was almost entirely focused on the strip of coast round Virginia.
Lee, once he stopped being cautious, was very good at what he did. But if at Chancellorsville a concussion hadn’t lead to 40,000 unused Union reserves he’d have been crushed. If at Antietam McClellan hadn’t been such a blithering incompetent that he (a) left 20,000 unused reserves, (b) had coordinated the three sections of his army so they attacked at the same time rather than let Lee shuffle reinforcements between them, and (c) had been more aggressive about having a copy of Lee’s battle plan Lee would have been crushed; he only got as far as he did through a mix of luck and early Union general incompetence.
But Lee did what he did which was tactics heavy, strategy and logistics light; he couldn’t get his troops the equipment they needed even while the Confederacy had them, and his entire strategic focus was centered round Virginia.
And for people who claim Grant only won through grinding, I’d cite the Seven Days Battles and the Battle of Gaines Mill in particular where Lee had almost 50% more troops than McClellan and still took over a thousand more casualties to win the battlefield. Indeed across the whole of the Seven Days Lee lost over 4,000 more troops than McClellan did in order to win the field - troops the Confederacy badly needed.
Ultimately Lee was overpromoted. He’d have been an outstanding corps commander and Lt. General as he was very good at taking what he had and using it to win on the battlefield, and was lucky (as at Chancellorsville). But Grant was better at picking when to fight, where to fight, and how to fight.
@@RockandrollNegro There were plenty of Confederate generals that were just as incompetent. When people talk about Stonewall Jackson, I ask them which one? The Jackson of Chancellorsville or The Seven Days? Second Manassas or Fredericksburg? And actually, the Confederacy had the resources to win the war up until late 1864, but they squandered those resources. The United States had to conquer an area that was greater in size than the distance between Paris and Moscow. They also had to garrison areas they had taken and supply their armies over long distances. During the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's armies had a supply line that stretched 400 miles back to Louisville, KY. That negated much of their advantage in manpower.
@@RockandrollNegro The South with a few exceptions like Forrest were completely inept out west. The Confederates got their asses handed to them in Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana because of incompetent Confederate Officers.
@@geographyhistorygeopolitic3851 you can find just as many “ifs” that would have been much more favorable for the CSA too
I remember going on several trips with one of my old Boy Scout troops back in the day. It's a surreal place to wander knowing all that took place.
This video was fantastic. Presentation was top notch and the switch to American Civil War content was refreshing and very interesting. More please 🙂.
I remember visiting the Antietam Battlefield so many times as a kid. Growing up on western Maryland, Antietam (battlefield and creek) was practically in my backyard. However, this has been an extremely helpful source of history for the battle. Thanks!
To anyone that has the opportunity I recommend visiting the Antietam battlefield in early December. Every year they put out luminaries for every causality of the battle. Pictures don't do it justice, the sight of fields of seemingly endless luminaries is something words simply cannot describe.
This is an excellent video covering a battle that was kind of skipped in the movies, not really well covered in normal school history books and glossed over in general.
This was a big point about the Civil war in my middle school U.S history class, glad to see a youtuber make a video about it.
Thank you for all of your efforts putting this content together for us.
Lots of love for our comrade armchair historian
Order 191 was not hand written by Lee, heads up! They new it was legitimate because a union colonel recognized his friends signature. Love your content.
Proper recognition is deserved for the selection and timing of this video's background music, good sir!
I love the battle music in the background. :) keep up the good work.
Another great video! Hope this will become a series
Man the New game was better than my expectation. It was a Great experience playing it.. I’m playing as Prussia and Austria. It is really great I love it and I will be happy if new updates come out.
getting better and better every video
I'm loving this civil war content. Keep it up!
Am enjoying your American Civil War videos. I've only got a basic knowledge of the war so your impartial videos do help in understanding the tactics used by both sides. Always seems like either side is always just 'one' maneuver away from the break through.
I recommend Ken Burns Civil War...best documentary you'll ever watch on the topic.
It will be great that you bring to us a video about the Peninsular Campaign, because is interesting to see what near the Union been to end the war if McClellan would have been more aggressive on the field and in the same way how nearly Lee would been of Destroying the invasion army if Stonewall Jackson maked well his movements.
I love that you are doing more on the Civil War, one of my favorite eras.
aughhhhhhhh
Thank you Griffin I've been watching yr channel for three years im glad u got yr game out!
The Union had a hard time finding experienced and competent Generals during the start of the conflict because many of the battle proven commanders who fought in the Mexican-American war a decade prior were mostly from the Southern region of the United States.
So basically the North had armies with no generals to lead and the South had generals with no armies to lead.
One without the other,
@@ryeguy7941 The south also lacked pretty much every basic resource to wage war.
@@ryeguy7941 honestly Southern Generals are overrated. A lot of them were good at tactics, but their delusions of grandeur when it came to warfare had them throw their already limited manpower into unnecessary and costly battles.
Both sides were unbelievably unprepared, but the Union had to undertake an invasion of a landmass larger than that conquered by Napoleon...with an army initially composed of less than 16,000 men spread from California to Florida, from Maine to Minnesota. It was much simpler to form an army for defense than to build and lead an army prepared for the complex task of invasion.
We once visited this field, and what a moving experience! Not from anything happening on the day of our visit (it was a rather quiet summer day, sunny and warm weather, a light breeze, not that many other visitors), but from what had happened there nearly a century and a half earlier. Standing near the corn field, the Dunker church, the sunken road, Burnside's bridge, not feeling modern or superior at all, but small in the face of so much courage and bravery and fear and pain, the echoes of it still strong, the very landscape still drenched in it so many years later, though deceptively quiet. All of it an assault not on the senses, but definitely on the heart. Lives, so many, many lives, cut short before their time, on both sides, each one no doubt loved by many souls in their small corner of the world from which they hailed. Grieving mothers, wives, children who had seen their young man march off down the road, only to receive in his place some years later a letter, perhaps from him or his command. A piece of paper! Small recompense for an entire man. And how did our young man die? Blown apart by a cannon volley? Repelled while assaulting a corn field? Slowed while wading a creek not knee deep, enough to be targeted by a sharpshooter hidden in a bramble patch? How pointless it must have sounded to those back home, whose heart would always ache for the loss. And yet, the thing must needs be seen through. People ought not own other people! Nor ought a nation needlessly divide over that question, weakening itself on a world stage where opportunistic foreign enemies were waiting to gobble up the remaining parts piecemeal and feast on the untold natural resources left unprotected. This home of liberty, of justice, of the greatest experiment in self-governance the world had ever seen, was too important to be allowed to fall apart. The thing must needs be seen through. Still, cold comfort to a grieving mother in her rocking chair, reading her Bible by candlelight, through the lonely watches of the night....
These anamations are getting so much better!
Tfw you learn more from a 17 minute video than history class, you are amazing sir! another channel going on to my recommended list!
I remember reading that the most violent event ever to take place on U.S. soil, was World War II fought in the Philippines. During WW2, the USA had colonies (e.g. Guam, Hawai'I and Philippines). The reconquest of the Philippines was one of the most bloodiest afairs in US history. This campaign cost an estiimate of one million Filipinoes their lives. Who were caught in the crossfire and died due through bombardments from US airplanes. Take Manilla for example, then the sixth-largest city in the US, that was decimated completely.
Further reading: Daniel Immerwahr, The greater United States: Territory and Empire in U.S. History, 2016)
They shouldn't have fought. When you fight the US, more often than not, you lose. Your only hope is we get bored and leave.
@@eodyn7 Or protests at home get too bad, or money goes dry
@@eodyn7 you know that the Phillipines were conquered by japan right and this was against Japan. So we were killing American subjects and allies in the fight against japan
You must be referring to the Battle Of Bataan which happened immediately following Pearl Harbor in 1942.
@@CrossOfBayonne no he means the reconquest. the death toll of Filipinos during the reconquest was far higher than anything the Americans suffered at Bataan or Corregidor.
Great vid. At 6:13 the rebels are referred to be in a corn field but the animation shows wheat or some other small grain
maybe it was reused. or there was a miscommunication with the animator
Great video. You should do more videos about the civil war. The Peninsula Campaign was of the biggest operations in American history from up to that point and a month before the battle of Antietam, the Union suffered a heavy lose to the Confederates at the second battle of Bull Run. I would love to see you do videos on Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spotsilvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg.
I love this video!! I hope to see more Civil War videos from this channel, if this video and your video on Gettysburg are anything to go by, there is so much potential for Civl War Content on this channel!!!
I’m having a shitty day and can I just say I say I saw “Bloodiest Day” and I’m like….”you know it brother..”
Cept that day was Antietam and today is Saturday and I’m just happy for a new video.
Please make more Civil War videos!!! With much love from India 🇮🇳
@TAİMUR KHAN (HİNDU SLAYER) American
@GENGHİS KHAN (CRUEL HORDES) Please write clearly what you are saying.
This battle was the definition of fubar.
Would love to see more of the battle videos. Fantastic job.
This is a fine introduction to Civil War history, but lacking details. 27th Indiana found the copy of Lee's orders wrapped around some cigars. The orders made it up to McLellan, but not the cigars. McLellan was removed from command after the Peninsula Campaign to be succeeded by Pope, who was relieved after 2nd Manassas. McClellan was the only General left to Lincoln at the time and the Army of the Potomac loved him. Lincoln didn't face any serious political opposition to war at that time. McClellan made the Army of the Potomac what it eventually turned out to be, he just wasn't willing to face the arithmetic of war and take the casualties necessary to win.
I remember watching an episode of the documentary series: Civil War Journal, and the episode was about McClellan. All of the historians in the interviews listed why McClellan was “incapable” of commanding a field army. I would recommend anyone who wants to understand and learn more about McClellan, watch that episode of Civil War Journal.
Awesome video continue making more bangers imagine fighting in this battle killing and dying in large numbers all because a general wanted glory
I like yalls civil war vids the best tbh. I hope we get more. I think an interesting video would be on the Zouave units.
I love the inclusion of the Battle Hymn of the Republic at the end. I know it's a small detail, but I think it fits very nicely with the final monologue.
This is the best explanation of the Battle of Antietam!!! Thank you Armchair Historian!!!
Love the fact, that the song "irish volunteer" is playing in the background in the beginning. The song is praising McClellan.
There are some historians who would insist that General Burnside was a much more competent and less petty general than most give him credit for. He did not hesitate to attack the bridge and in fact tried several times. His flanking force was given bad intelligence by McClellan's staff and they took longer to find the ford to cross the creek. But the most interesting part of it is that both Burnside and McClellan would write that his attack on the bridge was intended to be a diversion not the main attack. It was only when things went poorly on the Union right that McClellan pushed Burnside to move and save the day. If he intended Burnside's attack to save the day, he should have given him support. The IX corps was quite literally by itself on the left flank. He's definitely not the best general in the war, but he was far from the worst.
In the Battle of Shiloh, the amount of Americans lost in that one battle was equivalent to the entire American casualties in the American War for Independence
Shiloh and Antietam had about the same amount of casualties but Antietam lasted one day and Shiloh lasted two
Visited there last year and it’s definitely something you won’t forget.
What a perfect combination of pictures from the battle, music and storytelling 👌
Please do a video on Sherman's march to the sea. I am curious about the logistics of it and its overall effect on the war. Since it was basically proto-total war it is also interesting how it affected later wars.
I’d be careful with how I describe the March to the Sea. It was not the terroristic and scorched earth horror story that the Southerners like to tell. The army actually did very little of the destruction attributed to them. Most of the loss of property was due to the bummers who traveled on the outskirts of the Army and the Confederates setting fire to their own cities to slow the Union advance. Sherman only burned down military and communications equipment, which unfortunately sometimes spread to civilian homes.
As for the idea that they took whatever they could and burned everything else, Sherman had no supply lines for his forces, and needed to forage and take from the local populace as every army in that time period across the entire world did, meaning that the Southerners tried to stop him from taking what they had to feed his troops by burning it.
In short, I don’t think his tactics or his behavior at all affected how later wars were fought, at least not to the degree that you’re assuming.
@@rookcapcoldblood2618 was actually gonna comment the same thing. A lot of the impact of the March was the fear campaign against the South that went along with it rather than any physical damage. Grant talked about destroying the South a lot more than he actually destroyed the South.
Sherman may be the most overrated general of the war, and his march was his most overrated action.
@@mjfleming319 you’re forgetting that Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson both exist lol
@@SD11729 no, they’re overrated but they actually won some battles.
Grey clad scarecrows! God damn Griffin, you and your team can make anyone laugh. After seeing this vid, grate quality as usual, my distinguished sir, I'm getting the DLC and the rest of the bundle for Fire and Menuever. Can't really have the game without you yanks and Johnny Reb
What a chaotic battle!
I've helped set up the Illumination 3 times. It is a very long 2 days of setting up and then you go out and light them all on Saturday night. So beautiful, so sad, so unfortunate.
This is a little thing but I like how you use federal and rebel as much as confederate and Union, cause it reminds people that yeah this is a rebellion, not a war between two sovereign nations. Idk it’s a personal thing cause I started thinking how words have importance in teaching history
Well it was a civil war.
@@Smartyvoy i noticed
Does anyone else find something so creepy about the Civil War?
No. The American Civil War is kino
Like that it's soon to be upon us again?
Ooh I would love a video on Grant's Vicksburg Campaign. Keep going guys you are great
Awesome presentation as always, but the prominent use of historic music pieces was a very fitting addition.