Civil War Re-Enactment; Monday, Period Three [ 06/15 ].

[civilwarsongs.livejournal.com]

You know, if you really thought about it and had to program them all into the Danger Shop, a lot of these open battlefields looked awfully similar. "Today," he greeted the class, "we're going to be talking about something bright and cheerful, and that's the Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, which took place September 27, 1862 right here in this fine state of Maryland. First battle on Northern soil and the..." Come on, Jasper, you can say it, "...bloodiest single-day battle of American history, 23,000 casualties."

"Union McClellan launched an attack on Confederate Lee's defense by Antietam Creek, while Union Hooker sent in his own for Lee's left flank. And, eventually, Union Burnside came around to get the right. With incredible timing, Confederate Hill's division from Harper's Ferry arrived on the scene to divide Burnside's faction with a surprise counter-attack. Lee threw in his entire force, while McClellen only worked with a portion of his own, and by the end of the day, the armies were at a standstill. Skirmishes still continued through the 18th while Lee tried to pull his army back south of the river. This lead to an inconclusive victory on either side, but it is considered a general victory for the North. McClellan failed to destroy Lee's army, having kind of done a piss-poor job of things, but he had succeeded in putting a halt to Lee's invasion of Maryland."

"The retreat was enough of a victory that it's said to have given President Lincoln enough confidence to release his Emancipation Proclamation, which I'm now handing out to you, which not only set up the framework for the emancipation of slaves, crippling the majority of the Southern economic system, but also discouraged British and French governments from recognizing the Confederacy and changed the goals of the war to not just be about reuniting the country, but also about the issue of slavery."

"Look it over, share any thoughts if you've got them, and then grab your weapons and get to the field. One of you Confederates hold off a moment and then come in to represent Hill's reinforcements."

Or something. Man, this class was ridiculous...

"And, for the love of God, don't actually hurt yourself. We really," really, "don't need to re-enact the bloodiest part."


[[ OCD is on the way still probably making you Civil War nerd cry! Class Roster and Syllabus ]]