What EMOTIONS does the artist/photographer want you to feel as you observe each image? PURPOSE

Do you think that images of war can ever be “neutral” or do you think that they will always carry some kind of biased viewpoint? VALIDITY

How do you think the American public felt about each war after seeing these images? IMPACT

Antietam September 17, 1862

The Battle of Antietam was THE BLOODIEST ONE DAY Battle Total casualties: 22,720

The Setup… After the disaster at Bull Run, President Lincoln put his hopes in General George B. McClellan. For the next year (61-62) the Union (North) kept losing battles. Robert E. Lee felt that it was finally time to take the fight to the North

The Story… In September of 1862, the Confederates moved into Maryland in order to take Washington D.C. A STROKE OF LUCK! A Union soldier found a copy of Robert E. Lee’s battle plans wrapped around three cigars. The two armies met at Antietam Creek near the town of Sharpsburg.

Antietam So what happened at the battle?

September 17, 1862 Battle began in the morning and lasted all day. Back and forth fighting. Each side tried to hold the ground near the cornfield, the church, and the old stone bridge. McClellan had 4 divisions of men that he refused to use. He could have won, but the battle was a draw

Antietam (or Sharpsburg) Casualties 23,100 / one day State Maryland Aggressor: Union Commanders: Gen. George B. McClellan [US] Gen. Robert E. Lee [CS]

Central Historical Question: What effects did the Battle of Antietam have on America? HISTORY MYSTERY

The living that throng Broadway Street care little for the dead at Antietam, but we believe they would jostle less carelessly down the great road, saunter less at ease, were a few dripping bodies, fresh from the field, laid down along the pavement. Mr. Brady has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality of war. If he has not brought bodies and laid them in our dooryards and along the streets, then he has done something very much like it. -New York Times October 20, 1862 These photos came to be called “The Dead at Antietam”

TWEDYAOD? IT IS GOOD FOR AMERICANS TO SEE IMAGES OF THEIR DEAD AND WOUNDED SOLDIERS.

TWEDYAOD? IT IS NECESSARY FOR AMERICANS TO SEE IMAGES OF THEIR DEAD AND WOUNDED SOLDIERS.

Key items to remember from today’s lesson The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day in American history. McClellan could have won the entire war at Antietam. He chose not to pursue… The Union “victory” at Antietam allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Matthew Brady’s pictures of Antietam changed how Americans viewed the war. Great Britain and France remained neutral and did not enter the war on the side of the Confederacy.