Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies: Confederate Generals' Accounts of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign (Illustrated)

The bloodiest day in the history of the United States took place on the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. On September 17, 1862, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fought George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac outside Sharpsburg along Antietam Creek. That day, nearly 25,000 would become casualties, and Lee’s army barely survived fighting the much bigger Northern army.

Although the battle was tactically a draw, it resulted in forcing Lee’s army out of Maryland and b...