The Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam was on September 17, 1862. It was the bloodiest day in American history. Over 23,000 soldiers where killed. It started off as a planned invasion of Washington, D.C. The Confederate army came from the western mountains of Maryland in hopes of conquering D.C. and ending the war. The Union army found out about this and rushed over to a series of fields near a town called Sharpsburg. Sharpsburg is a town in northwest Maryland. The Union knew the Confederacy would come past the fields and Sharpsburg to get to D.C. When the Confederacy reached the fields, they where very suprised to see the Union there, on the fields, pointing guns at them. About 10 seconds later, gunfire from both sides brokeout. Since, of course, it was the 1800's and guns where only 1 shot, soldiers from both sides had to hide behind a tree or duck down while loading their guns or have a high risk of being shot. The battle went on all day. In the end, the Union army had emerged victorious while the Confederates where retreating to Sharpsburg to regroup and reorganize. Every year, boy scouts and girl scouts make luminating candles to honor all of the soldiers who where killed at Atietam. At night, you can see the candle's light burning bright through the paper bag and sometimes it can make you feel like a real soldier from the battle.