The Battle of Antietam, otherwise known as Battle of Sharpsburg, was fought on Wednesday, September 17, 1862, in Maryland. It was the bloodiest day of the entire Civil War with a total of 22,717 casualties and losses. Union General, George B. McClellan had an army that outnumbered Confederate General, Robert E. Lee's army 2-1. He also had an actual hard copy of Lee's battle plan. Yet despite these amazing bonus points, McClellan's army failed to subdue Lee's army allowing Lee to shift forces and attack. And though the battle was tactically inconclusive, it gave President Lincoln the extra push to announce the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by the President himself, and was not a law passed by Congress. It was decreed on January 1, 1863, that all those enslaved in Confederate territory were to be freed and treated as such. The Proclamation, however, did not apply to those slaves living in the border states (Delaware, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Missouri).
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