rupert822
Private
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2017
- Location
- Eastern Shore, Maryland
I've been thinking recently about Antietam a good bit, and I think I may have come up with an idea I've not heard before. Apologies if I am wrong and this has been discussed.
Having come to agree with the opinion that McClellan in effect decided the outcome of the battle, i.e. Lee recrossing the Potomac at Shepherdsburg, by controlling the Hagerstown Pike the night before, early in the day of the battle and throughout the same. Agree with that or not, I don't think it is earth shattering.
But that got me thinking, why would McClellan have wanted to control the Hagerstown Pike so badly he made it the initial, and focal, point of his attack? Attacking there wasn't cutting Lee off from the river at his back, it was driving towards his exit. It dawned on me that if I want the answer to that question, I need to think like McClellan. So I went to his dispatch to Lincoln during the battle. Something along the lines of we are gaining ground, all is going well given the enemy's superior numbers. Obviously Lee's supposed numerical advantage was a long and closely held belief of McClellans', even if demonstrably false. That being said, it sure seems to me that McClellan only moved to control the Hagerstown Pike because he feared Lee's superior numbers and a possible further move north (which ironically in spite of his inferior numbers is exactly what Lee planned to do). I.e. without McClellan's delusions, maybe the main blow would not have fallen in a way that only allowed Lee one way out, back across the Potomac. If Lee had not moved across the Potomac after Antietam would emancipation have waited until Stones River? Gettysburg? It might be odd, but perhaps but for McClellans' delusions about Lee's numbers we'd live in a different country.
Having come to agree with the opinion that McClellan in effect decided the outcome of the battle, i.e. Lee recrossing the Potomac at Shepherdsburg, by controlling the Hagerstown Pike the night before, early in the day of the battle and throughout the same. Agree with that or not, I don't think it is earth shattering.
But that got me thinking, why would McClellan have wanted to control the Hagerstown Pike so badly he made it the initial, and focal, point of his attack? Attacking there wasn't cutting Lee off from the river at his back, it was driving towards his exit. It dawned on me that if I want the answer to that question, I need to think like McClellan. So I went to his dispatch to Lincoln during the battle. Something along the lines of we are gaining ground, all is going well given the enemy's superior numbers. Obviously Lee's supposed numerical advantage was a long and closely held belief of McClellans', even if demonstrably false. That being said, it sure seems to me that McClellan only moved to control the Hagerstown Pike because he feared Lee's superior numbers and a possible further move north (which ironically in spite of his inferior numbers is exactly what Lee planned to do). I.e. without McClellan's delusions, maybe the main blow would not have fallen in a way that only allowed Lee one way out, back across the Potomac. If Lee had not moved across the Potomac after Antietam would emancipation have waited until Stones River? Gettysburg? It might be odd, but perhaps but for McClellans' delusions about Lee's numbers we'd live in a different country.