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Rebels never had a better chance

TERRY HEADLEE

The Confederacy was on a roll during the summer of 1862. Just a year after the outbreak of the Civil War, rebel troops had managed to make a presence along a 1,000-mile front stretching from Sharpsburg, Md., to Newtonia, Mo.

For the moment, it appeared the Confederates were on the verge of accomplishing their goal of becoming a separate nation, said James M. McPherson, a Pulitzer Prize-winining Civil War author.

From June 26 until Sept. 17, rebel armies won numerous key battles, driving Union troops from the Peninsula in Virginia and taking a smashing victory at the Battle of Second Manassas in August.

"Lee already gave the Union a one-two punch. He invaded the North in early September hoping to make it 'three and out,'" McPherson siad.

Then came Antietam.

Historians would later peg Antietam, and not Gettysburg as is widely believed, as the turning point of the Civil War.

By the time the cannon smoke cleared after nearly 12 hours of hellacious fighting, Confederate forces led by Gen. Robert E. Lee were in full retreat from Sharpsburg.

The battle ended Lee's high hopes for a major victory in his first invasion of the North.

And in the next three weeks, the Confederacy would suffer a chain of losses and retreats.

"Antietam changed the momenum for the Confederacy from being on a roll, to being in retreat," McPherson said.

Suddenly, Lee had failed to win Maryland, a border state, and the Confederacy was no longer seen as invincible.

That gave a much-needed boost to the morale of the Union soldiers.

Even worse for the Confederacy, Lincoln seized the moment to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in Confederate states as of Jan. 1, 1863.

That's significant because it elevated the war to a higher level by converting it from a struggle over states' rights to the higher moral cause of slavery.

That practically ended the Confederates' quest for diplomatic recognition from Britain and France.

The two countries weren't anxious to get involved in a moral war.

Recognition could have turned the Civil War into a world war if the Union attempted to stop the two world powers from shipping supplies to the South.

"It almost certainly would have ended the blockade of the South," McPherson said. "That's why what happened at Antietam had world importance."

"Antietam was a crucial turning point. It was important for Maryland, nationally and internationally," said McPherson, a Princeton University professor whose 1988 book, "Battle Cry of Freedom," won the Pulitzer Prize.

No other Civil War battle can make that claim, he said.

Not even Gettysbug.

Historians say Gettysburg is often mistakenly considered the turning point of the Civil War.

It was fought over three days with more total casualties, about 50,000.

It also marked the Confederate's highest penetration of the North.

The battle was a victory for the Union. Lee was forced to retreat to Virginia and never again undertook a major offensive.

McPherson said even if Lee had won at Gettysburg, the Confederacy lost a significant battle at Vicksburg, Miss., the next day.

That Union victory gave federal troops vital control over the Mississippi River and doomed any hope for the Confederacy to win the war.