Why was the Battle of Antietam “an important strategic victory for the Union”? Especially in relation to the Emancipation Proclamation?

The History

On October 8, 1862, two weary, thirsty armies confronted each other outside of Perryville, Kentucky. In the midst of the region’s worst drought in memory, the Union Army of the Ohio, commanded by Major General Don Carlos Buell, faced off against the Confederate Army of Mississippi, commanded by General Braxton Bragg. The location wasn’t a coincidence. According to historian Ken Noe, Bragg chose to reunite his force in Perryville, “taking tactical advantage of the hills west of town but also guarding a series of springs as well as the puddles in the bed of the Chaplin River."  

The first attack of the day unfolded on the property we hope to save in this campaign. After a midday bombardment, Confederate Major General Benjamin Cheatham’s mostly-Tennessee brigades began their fateful advance toward the Union position. All of these troops, three brigades, crossed this property in grand lines of battle, some climbing steep banks and cliffs along the Chaplin River to get into position. As Cheatham’s men approached, Union troops lined up to meet them, extending their flanks to a prominent hill known as Open Knob. Cheatham’s lead brigade got caught in a terrible crossfire in an area known ever since as the Valley of Death.

As Confederates attempted to gain the Union flank, inexperienced troops, mostly from Illinois, advanced across a portion of the target property and clashed with regiments from Tennessee and Georgia. Cheatham’s men and other Confederate divisions advanced, driving all before them, over one ridge and then another, but they eventually ran out of steam (and ammunition) just as Union resistance (and counterattacks) began to exact a high toll.  

Outnumbered, Bragg believed he had little choice but to abandon the field. The Battle of Perryville had lasted just five hours and been among the most ferocious of the Civil War. While Perryville was a tactical victory for the Confederacy, it was an important strategic victory for the Union that left Kentucky in Union hands for the remainder of the war.

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