Antietam National Battlefield Site, Maryland (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Antietam National Battlefield Site, Maryland

Because his army lacked the strength to assault Washington, Gen eral Lee had decided on September 3 to invade Maryland. North of the Potomac his army would be a constant threat to Washing ton. This would keep Federal forces out of Virginia, allowing that ravaged land to recuperate from the campaigning that had stripped it. It would give Maryland's people, many of whom sympathized with the South, a chance to throw off the Northern yoke.

From Maryland, Lee could march into Pennsylvania, disrupting the east-west rail communications of the North, carrying the brunt of war into that rich land, drawing on its wealth to refit his army.

Lee's army crossing the Potomac; Union scouts in foreground. From wartime sketch by A. R. Waud. Courtesy, Library of Congress.

Larger political possibilities loomed, too. The North was war weary. If, in the heartland of the Union, Lee could inflict a seri ous defeat on Northern arms, the Confederacy might hope for more than military dividends - the result might be a negotiated peace on the basis of Southern independence. Too, a successful campaign might induce England and France to recognize the Confederacy and to intervene for the purpose of mediating the conflict.

So it was that the hopes of the South rode with this Army of Northern Virginia as it marched into Frederick, Md., on Sep tember 7.

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