ANTIE'TAM, BATTLE OF, Sept. 17, 1862: one of the most important conflicts in the war of the rebellion in the United States, 1861-65. The name is taken from a smal but deep river in Maryland, emptying into the Potomac, 6 m. above Harper's ferry. The battle was the result of an attempt of the confederates to capture the city of Washington, in the expectation that Maryland would then join their cause and insure final victory. The federal army was commanded by gen. George B. McClellan, and the confederates by gen. Robert E. Lee. On the 4th, 5th, and 6th of Sept., the confederates crossed the Potomac near Leesburg, and occupied Frederick and the country along the 3fonoc acy. McClellan threw a part of his army between them and the fords of the Potomac, forcing Lee to leave Frederick on the 12th, the latter marching towards Hagerstown. On the 10th " Stonewall " Jackson, the confederate general, had moved by forced marches towards Harper's ferry, which important position with 12,000 men surrendered to him on the 15th. Meanwhile the federal army followed Lee towards the north, and on the 14th took Crampton's gap and the heights of South mountain, forcing Lee to retreat over the Antietam to Sharpsburg. On the 16th the federals under gen. Hooker gained advan Cage in a sharp engagement, and on the 17th the real battle was begun by Hooker, who drove back the left wing of the confederates under Jackson, while gen. Burnside engaged their right wing. The battle raged around a corn-field surrounded by woods, to which Hooker bad driven the enemy. The federal troops were twice repulsed, but gained the
position on the third attack. Hooker was wounded, and the command fell to gen. Sumner. Meanwhile on the extreme left Burnside had twice unsuccessfully tried to cross the A., but at 3 P.M. drove the enemy until a range of hills occupied by batteries checked him. At 4 o'clock he was ordered to take the position at any cost, and took the first battery. But the arrival of gen. A. P. Hill's division strengthened the confed erates, and Burnside reported that he could not hold his position if not assisted by McClellan with the reserve. McClellan did not heed this demand, and the federals were driven back to the bridge, which the confederates declined to attack. When darkness ended the contest, the federals had gained advantages at most points, but not a decided success. In the morning Lee asked and was granted a truce to bury the dead, and while this was going on he retreated to the right bank of the Potomac, without serious resistance. The federal force numbered 87,164, and that on the other side is variously stated from 40,000 to 90,000. The federal losses were 2010 killed and 10,459 wounded; the confederate losses have never been ascertained, though some of their writers put 9000 as the total. The result was to put the confederates on the defen sive, and to hasten the emancipation proclamation, then contemplated by president Lincoln.