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ANTIETAM

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 124 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANTIETAM , the name of a See also:

Maryland See also:creek, near which, on the 16th-17th of See also:September 1862, was fought the See also:battle of Antietam or See also:Sharpsburg (see See also:AMERICAN See also:CIVIL See also:WAR), between the Federals under McClellan and the Confederates commanded by See also:Lee. See also:General McClellan had captured the passes of See also:South See also:Mountain farther See also:east on the 14th, and his See also:Army of the See also:Potomac marched to meet Lee's forces which, hitherto divided, had, by the 16th, successfully concentrated between the Antietam and the Potomac. The Confederate Army of See also:Northern See also:Virginia occupied a position which, in relation to the surrounding See also:country, may be compared to the See also:string of a See also:bow in the See also:act of being See also:drawn, Lee's See also:left wing forming the upper See also:half of the string, his right the See also:lower, and the Potomac in his See also:rear the bow itself. The See also:town of Sharpsburg represents the fingers of the See also:archer See also:drawing the bow. The right wing of the position was covered by the Antietam as it approaches the Potomac, the upper course of that stream formed no See also:part of the battlefield. Generals See also:Longstreet and See also:Jackson commanded the right and left wings. The See also:division of A. P. See also:Hill was at Harper's See also:Ferry, but had received orders to rejoin Lee. McClellan's troops appeared See also:late on the 16th, and See also:Hooker was immediately sent across the upper Antietam. He had a See also:sharp fight with Jackson's men, but See also:night soon put an end to the contest. See also:Early on the 19th the See also:corps of See also:Sumner and See also:Mansfield followed Hooker across the upper stream whilst McClellan's left wing (See also:Burnside's corps) See also:drew up opposite Lee's extreme right.

The Federal See also:

leader intended to hold back his centre whilst these two forces were See also:rolling up Lee's wings. The battle began with a furious See also:assault on the extreme right by Hooker's corps. After a very severe struggle he was repulsed with the loss of a See also:quarter of his men, Jackson's divisions suffering even more severely and losing nearly all their generals and colonels. It was only the arrival of See also:Hood and D. H. Hill which enabled Stonewall Jackson's corps to hold its ground, and had the other Federal corps been at See also:hand to support Hooker the result might have been very different. Mansfield next attacked farther to the left and with better See also:fortune. Mansfield was killed, but his successor led the corps well, and after heavy fighting Hood and D. H. Hill were driven back. Again want of support checked the Federals and the fight became stationary, both sides losing many men. Sumner now came into See also:action, and overhaste involved him in a See also:catastrophe, his troops being attacked in front and flank and driven back in See also:great confusion with nearlyhalf their number killed and wounded; and their See also:retreat involved the gallant remnants of Mansfield's corps.

Soon after-wards the Federal divisions of See also:

French and See also:Richardson attacked D. H. Hill, whose men were now exhausted by continuous fighting. Here occurred the fighting in the " Bloody See also:Lane," See also:north of Sharpsburg which French and Richardson eventually carried. Opposed as they were by D. H. Hill, whose men had fought the battle of South Mountain and had already been three times engaged d fond on this See also:day, proper support must have enabled the Federals to crush Lee's centre, but See also:Franklin and See also:Porter in reserve were not allowed by McClellan to move forward and the opportunity passed. Burnside, on the See also:southern wing, had received his orders late, and acted on them still later. The battle was over on the right before he fired a shot, and Lee had been able to use nearly all his right wing troops to support Jackson. At last Burnside moved forward, and, after a brilliant See also:defence by the handful of men left to oppose him, forced the Antietam and began to See also:roll up Lee's right, only to be attacked in rear himself by A. P. Hill's troops newly arrived from Harper's Ferry.

The repulse of Burnside ended the battle. Pressure was brought to See also:

bear on McClellan to renew the fight, but he refused and Lee retired across the Potomac unmolested. The Army of the Potomac had lost 11,832 men out of 46,000 engaged; the See also:cavalry and two corps in reserve had only lost 578. Lee's 31,200 men lost over 8000 of their number. See the bibliography appended to AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, and also General See also:Palfrey's Antietam and Fredericksburg. See also:ANTI-FEDERALISTS, the name given in the See also:political See also:history of the See also:United States to those who, after the formation of the federal Constitution of 1787, opposed its ratification by the See also:people of the several states. The " party " (though it was never regularly organized as such) was composed of statesrights, particularistic, individualistic and See also:radical democratic elements; that is, of those persons who thought that a stronger See also:government threatened the See also:sovereignty and See also:prestige of the states, or the See also:special interests, individual or commercial, of localities, or the liberties of individuals, or who fancied they saw in the government proposed a new centralized, disguised "monarchic" See also:power that would only replace the See also:cast-off despotism of Great See also:Britain. In every See also:state the apposition to the Constitution was strong, and in two—North Carolina and Rhode Island—it prevented ratification until the definite See also:establishment of the new government practically forced their See also:adhesion. The individualistic was the strongest See also:element of opposition; the See also:necessity, or at least the desirability, of a See also:bill of rights was almost universally See also:felt. Instead of accepting the Constitution upon the See also:condition of amendments,—in which way they might very likely have secured large concessions,—the Anti-Federalists stood for unconditional rejection, and public See also:opinion, which went against them, proved that for all its shortcomings the Constitution was regarded as preferable to the Articles of See also:Con-federation. After the inauguration of the new government, the See also:composition of the Anti-Federalist party changed. The Federalist (q.v.) party gradually showed broad-construction, nationalistic tendencies; the Anti-Federalist party became a strict-construction party and advocated popular rights against the asserted aristocratic, centralizing tendencies of its opponent, and gradually was transformed into the Democratic-Republican party, mustered and led by See also:Thomas See also:Jefferson, who, however, had approved the ratification of the Constitution and was not, therefore, an Anti-Federalist in the See also:original sense of that See also:term.

See O. G. Libby, See also:

Geographical See also:Distribution of the See also:Vote . . on the Federal Constitution, 1787-1788 (University of See also:Wisconsin, Bulletin, 1894); S. B. See also:Harding, Contest over the Ratification of the Federal Constitution in . See also:Massachusetts (Harvard University Studies, New See also:York, 18.96); and authorities on political and constitutional history in the See also:article UNITED STATES.

End of Article: ANTIETAM

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