INTERESTING. Nonetheless, The Battle at Sharpsburg, MD was AT BEST a DRAW, rather than ANY sort of Union victory.
The best that can be truthfully said was that the Union didn’t actually lose the battle. - That’s why Lincoln was able to call it a victory.
ONE thing is undoubtedly TRUE: Sharpsburg was a BLOODBATH & a HORROR SHOW for both sides.
Yours, TMN78247
I'm no Civil War expert, but the armies of that era mostly used RIFLES, which were deadly accurate out to as much as 400 yards. That was made possible by the minie ball, a type of bullet that somewhat cleaned out the fouling in the rifling caused by the black powder propellants of the day. Between that and the author's sketchy math on how many bullets were fired and how many casualties were incurred, I sort of lost interest in this post.
Yes, it was a draw. The Army of the Potomac was so starved for victories at that point of the war that a draw was as good as a victory for them. Actually, I tend to think of it as more of a Confederate victory. McClellan should have destroyed the Copnfederate army once he found out how dispersed their forces were. The fact that the Rebs escaped destruction was a greater victory IMO than the Union achieving a draw.
Stopping a larger strategy may be more important than clearly "winning" the battle of the field and carrying the day.
Lee went back to Virginia afterwards, so it does count as a Union victory.
I don't know whether Lee actually won the Seven Days' Battles outside Richmond earlier that year, but McClellan withdrew, so the Confederacy claimed the victory that time.
I’m inclined to agree with some that while Antietam (Sharpsburg) was a tactical draw, it was a strategic victory for the North because Lee had to withdraw and end his invasion of the Union.
I doubt anyone can disagree about the ghastly aspect of it all... :-(