The Antietam Battle is the bloodiest single day battle in American military history. It ended in a draw, but the Confederates retreated and gave Abraham Lincoln the “victory” he desired before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Today, the battle site is preserved and maintained by the National Park Service as a memorial of the brave men and women who risked and sacrificed their lives for today’s Americans and the next generation of Americans.
“Antietam symbolizes something even more important than combat heroism and military strategy. It marks a diplomatic turning point of world-wide consequence. From this point onward our Civil War had a new dimension which was important to the whole course of human liberty.” – John F. Kennedy