[billorites]

A story in my wife's family is about how the neighbor, General McClellan, saved her grandmother, a small child then, from a swarm of bees.

I always have doubted the story and fancied the General stood by and watched the child get stung.

[aspiring.hillbilly]

If only our side had won our freedom, if only!

[bill1952]

To be fair, he was also struggling under the burden of Pinkerton's analysis, and he must be judged with that in regard.

In the day, Pinkerton was considered a gold standard, at least in the beginning.

It was also his politics, or lack of political savvy that doomed him.

Think what would have happened if Pope or Burnside had commanded the Army of the Potomac at that time.

They might have established the Confederacy right then and there.

Antietam allowed the Emancipation Proclamation to be issued, and that is what ultimately allowed the war to be won.

[lionheart 247365]

All the while the 20th Maine , the heros of Little Round Top in Gettysburd sat fresh but idle in the town Sharpsburg just down the road . What a great guy McClellan was for the south . They called him the Virgina Creeper .

[driftless]

Been to Antietam, big Civil war buff, but in my view even if McClellan had pursued Lee and caught him, Lee would have found a way to beat him. All the generals before Grant were no match for Lee. Even then with overwhelming superiority it took the North one year to finally grind down Lee's worn out forces.

[fella]

It's easy to be an all knowing general from a great distance either physical or time wise. An army is a complex social machine and getting it to do things after a horrendous bloodletting is tricky business. Possibilities and coulda, shoulda, woulda are just so much B.S. when studying history. It's all about what did happen and how to avoid the bad things that happened and repeat the good ones.

[lionheart 247365]

27,000 Americans died as the result of that one day of fighting making it the bloodest day in american military history . 9 / 18 / 02

[lionheart 247365]

27,000 Americans died as the result of that one day of fighting making it the bloodest day in american military history . 9 / 18 / 02

[freedomson]

Please bump this or repost for today.

Thanks