Antietam: The Bloodiest Day in US History
In fewer than 12 hours, 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died, wounded, or were missing during the Battle of Antietam.
It still stands as the single most fatal day in US history.
Todd Arrington, site manager of James A. Garfield National Historic Site, explains why the armies met at Sharpsburg, why there were so many casualties, and what Antietam had to do with the Emancipation Proclamation.
Our Civil War series continues at noon on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at our Main Branch. We’ll discuss the Siege of Atlanta. As always, the talk is free and open to all.
By the way, if you’re interested in Civil War history, several talks in our Civil War series can be viewed online in their entirety, including:
- The Atlanta Campaign
- Gettysburg
- Juneteenth
- The Fourteenth Amendment
- The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
- Life & Legacy of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
- Cycloramas as Art, Entertainment & Memorial
- 60 Years of Service: The Life of Admiral David G. Farragut
- Bennett Place: The Final Surrender of the Confederacy
- Ulysses Grant the Election of 1868
- The History of the Medal of Honor
- Burying the Dead after a Civil War Battle
- James A. Garfield & the First Decoration Day
- Prelude to Fort Sumter: The Mexican-American War
- Ambrose Burnside: An Innovator in Firearms & Facial Hair
- Warriors to the White House – Civil War Generals that Became President
- General Winfield Scott Hancock
- the Civil War and the Grand Army of the Republic
- from Civil War to Civil Rights
- political cartooning during and after the Civil War
- the Civil War and USS Michigan