Antietam Battle, Sharpsburg, Maryland | 1862 | McClellan & Lee | Cornfield, Sunken Road with Maps

Comments · 471

• CA

  @carnivoroussoupspoon · 4 years ago

  Ive looked out over the Corn Field, Ive walked the Bloody Lane and Ive stood on Burnsides Bridge, never have I felt the feeling of hallowed ground so strongly. No matter which side you stood, the sacrifices on this soil were heavy. You can almost feel it press down on you. Its unlike any other battlefield ive been too.

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• PB

  @Pbro1758 · 4 years ago

  My great great grandpa survived this battle.  That's why I am here.  He was on the union side.  Thank you for this documentary.

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• HA

  @hatuletoh · 5 years ago

  I've fought this battle on various video game simulators a thousand times, both with the units in their historically accurate positions and arriving on the field at the time they actually did, and with randomized scenarios, in which more or less units are available, or available at different times/places, etc.  No matter what the variant, it always comes down to the same thing:  if the Union forces can make use of their full strength, and manage some modicum of coordination so that the attacks left, right, and center are mutually supportive, or at the very least timed in such a way that they prevent the Confederates from shifting men around to reinforce threatened areas, they--the Union--can sweep the Confederates off the field.  The Union attacks can even be poorly coordinated so that don't achieve immediate breakthroughs.  As long as they keep pressure on the Confederate units to their immediate front and prevent them from being shifted or redeployed, the attacking Union troops will eventually hit some part of the Confederate line with too few defenders, and the entire Confederate army's position can be compromised.  And if this happens early enough in the battle, with sufficient daylight and fresh troops available to exploit the breach, it can be catastrophic for the Confederate army.  It's just a matter of arithmetic, geographyl:  the Confederate army isn't big enough to stop the Union army on the given battlefield.  I realize that video games are literally a in different universe  from an actual battle, and it doesn't take much nerve to issue "orders" with no greater consequences than changing pixels on a screen; and I realize that one should be very careful about extrapolating answers to historical "what if?" questions based upon them.  Never the less, seeing the same scenario unfold time and time again in the video games really drove home what a huge gamble Lee took by inviting that battle, and--despite the feelings at the time--what a huge failure it was for McClellan.  Big, war-ending, one-shot battles are pretty much solely the province of video games, but at the very least, McClellan's lack of resolve and "hands off" approach to managing his army in combat probably got thousands of his soldiers unnecessarily killed.  And one can't help imagining what a "grab em by the nose and kick em in the ass"-type general in the vein of Grant or Sheridan might have accomplished that day.  But I can sympathize with McClellan:  Pope was that kind of general.

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• RA

  @rangers7259 · 3 years ago (edited)

  The details you put into your videos is absolute top notch viewing… as a Brit I find the American Civil War fascinating… the amount of British sounding surnames of the Corp commanders on both sets of combatants is truly incredible… superb video…👏👏🇺🇸🇬🇧👍

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• J_

  @J_Steven · 3 years ago

  I grew up in this area and visited the battlefield hundreds of times if not thousands. Quite the experience and I recommend watching the videos available at the visitors center.

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• MS

  @MS-kd9fd · 5 years ago

  Really well done.  I recommend this video to anyone going to visit the battlefield in order to get your bearings.

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• JA

  @jameshood1928 · 5 years ago

  Excellent presentation. I have visited the battlefield, and all three sections can be seen in a well planned day. Lee's army was really in peril but maneuvered brilliantly to survive. Hill's arrival late in the day is one of the most dramatic moments of the war. Beautiful farmland, now so bucolic.

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• PR

  @presterjohn9624 · 5 years ago

  Great work. These of some of the best Civil War battle commentaries around.

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• 19

  @19MAD95 · 3 years ago

  Anyone who’s interested in military history should try their best to visit the Antietam battlefield because it is absolutely unbelievable. The view from Burnsides bridge and bloody lane are absolutely insane. There are so many sheer cliffs and Hills that I can’t believe they actually fought on the ground. It’s almost impassable by foot.

• JO

  @JohnnyRebKy · 5 years ago

  Very good, sir.  A good old fashioned old school documentary type video 👍😎. Beats the hell out of anything on tv these days!

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• CH

  @christopherdorsey7192 · 3 years ago

  I just got back home from a visit to the Antietam/Sharpsburg National Battlefield. I watched this video on my tablet in the middle of the cornfield on the walking trail. Love your work, it really was like having my own personal historian with me. Keep them coming! Thank you!

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• EB

  @ebeneezerscrooge8394 · 5 years ago

  Excellent graphics.  Excellent narration.  My 9y0 son loves your videos but likes this one in particular.  We toured the Antietam Battlefield when he was 7. He was obsessed with Burnsides Bridge and the 11th Connecticut (Connecticut is our home). We've watched this video before bedtime a number of evenings. Thanks , I'm sure a lot of effort goes into these videos.

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