On Sept. 23, 1862 — a few days after Lee’s army retreated to Virginia after an unsuccessful invasion of Maryland — the general wrote to Mary on a piece of cheap blue paper. Now, nearly 144 years later, the words are barely legible. “We had two hard fought battles in Maryland and did not consider ourselves beaten as our enemies supposed,” he wrote. “We were greatly outnumbered and opposed by double if not treble our strength and yet we repulsed all their attacks, held our ground and retired when it suited our convenience.”
That’s an interesting spin on the Battle of Antietam, an event that Abraham Lincoln considered a Union victory.
Actually, this is an interesting ‘spin’ by the Washington Post about the battle of Antietam / Sharpsburg.
Lee’s view is historically accurate. Lincoln claimed it was a ‘victory’ for the simple reason he was desperate to offer up the Emancipation Proclamation.
Between McClellan’s cowardice, and the ‘vaunted’ Pinkerton’s completely and totally fabricated ‘intelligence reports’ stating Lee had 200,000 troops when he had at best 37,000 the battle that should have ended the war right then and there was mismanaged to a degree thats unbelievable.
Except for the part about being outnumbered two or three to one, or about being beaten. Lee was forced to retreat and return to Viginia. His goal of attracting Maryland recruits to his army was a failure. And most importantly it showed to the European powers that the Union was not on the verge of defeat, thus ending forever what slim hope of foreign recognition there had been. By all accounts Antietam wound up being a disaster for the confederacy.