Battles of Gettysburg and Antietam

¶ … battles of Gettysburg and Antietam to determine which was the turning point of the war. Both of these battles were decisive victories for the North. The North also wasted opportunities to totally crush the opposition after both battles. Which then was the real turning point of the Civil War? Although many believe the Battle of Antietam was the turning point in the Civil War, in reality the turning point was the Battle of Gettysburg, for a number of compelling reasons.

This is an exercise in interpretation and argumentation. The assignment calls for me to construct a persuasive argument, one that uses evidence and analysis to convince readers of a thesis. Primary and secondary sources are required. The concept of "argument" is central to this task. I must express a point-of-view on a subject and support it with evidence. My thesis statement must be clear and that can be directly challenged. I need to compare and contrast the perceived importance of these two battles, with Gettysburg coming out as the real turning point.

In geographic space, the sites of two of the greatest battles of the Civil War, Antietam and Gettysburg, are only about an hour away from the each other. The Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17, 1862, outside the small town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. (the Confederates refer to this war as the Battle of Sharpsburg.) the Battle of Gettysburg was fought over several days in July 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, culminating with a Union victory on July 3, celebrated on July 4. Neither battle ended the war, and each battle was hugely significant at the time. However, Gettysburg was the turning point of the war, ultimately leading to Union victory and Confederate defeat. The war raged on for two more years after Gettysburg, but the South was never as strong or as successful after this battle.

The Battle of Antietam was significant for several reasons. It was the first battle fought in Northern territory, and it produced 23,000 casualties, the largest amount of casualties in American history. Historians for the National Park Service write, "More soldiers were killed and wounded at the Battle of Antietam than the deaths of all Americans in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Spanish-American War combined" (Editors). General Robert E. Lee commanded the Southern forces, while General George B. McClellan commanded the Union forces. It is estimated Lee commanded about 30,000 troops, while McClellan commanded about 60,000. Lee's men were flushed with recent victory at Manassas, but they were tired and ill equipped for another battle. He wrote President Jefferson Davis, "The army,' he wrote President Davis, 'is not properly equipped for an invasion of an enemy's territory. It lacks much of the material of war, is feeble in transportation, the animals being much reduced, and the men are poorly provided with clothes, and, in thousands of instances, are destitute of shoes'" (Steele 260). In several bloody campaigns, the Union forces pushed the Confederates back, and the Confederates lost the battle.

Many believe the Union could have won the war then and there if they had routed the Confederates as they retreated, but they failed to do so. While the battle was an important Union victory, it did not mark the turning point of the war, because the Confederates returned to fight further north in Pennsylvania, the war waged on, and the South won many decisive battles after Antietam. In fact, many historians believe the South continued to dominate the war until Gettysburg, which most experts agree was the true turning point of the war.

Gettysburg took place on July 1-3 1863. One Union soldier wrote after it ended, "The great battle of the war has been fought and thanks be to God the Army of the Potomac has been victorious at last.' Elisha Hunt Rhodes of the Second Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry wrote those words in Middletown, Maryland, on July 8, 1863" (Kinsel 203). General Robert E. Lee again commanded the southern forces, while General George G. Meade commanded the northerners. The Union forces were encamped on the hills of Little and Big Round Tops and Cemetery Ridge, with fairly unobstructed views of the southern advance. Lee felt the only way to win at Gettysburg was for his men to advance in one solid line, but many of his generals did not agree. However, Lee won out, and the solid line attacked. It was a fatal decision as Union forces literally mowed down Confederate troops by the thousands.

One historian later concluded, "Apparently it never occurred to him that the position [the Union line on Cemetery Ridge] could not be taken" (Wert 101). While the numbers vary, most people agree the South lost between 3,900 to 4,500 men, while the Union lost about 3,155 during the three days of battle. Clearly, not nearly as many men died at Gettysburg as did at Antietam. The turning point did not rely on the number of men killed or wounded in battle. Ultimately, it depended on the momentum of the army and its leader. Lee made some mistakes on the battlefield, such as demanding a long, united line. It cost him thousands of men, the battle, and ultimately the war. The South turned toward home after Gettysburg, and never again made it that far north in any of their campaigns. They were defeated; it just took time for the Union forces to sink the final nail in the South's coffin.

Finally, the most compelling reason that Gettysburg was the turning point in the war is the fact that the South lost the battle, and so the war continued. One historian notes, "The greatest offensive effort of Confederate arms, the campaign represented perhaps the only opportunity that the South had to win the war by offensive means. The Confederate loss at Gettysburg meant that the war would go on" (Nofi 223). If the South had won, and continued their winning momentum, the war could have gone a very different way, and the Union might have been defeated. With the loss at Gettysburg, the Confederate forces not only lost thousands of men, they had to turn and retreat, heading back toward Southern soil. They certainly won battles after Gettysburg, but they were truly lost after that loss. They came too far north, expended too much energy, and lost too many men to make up the difference. They still put on a good fight, but it was inevitable they would lose after Gettysburg. What is remarkable is that they held on as long as they did after the battle.