Quotes about Battle of Antietam

Winston Churchill

Thus ended the great American Civil War, which upon the whole must be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts of which till then there was record.

Churchill saw the American Civil War as inevitable as it placed two huge forces in opposition. The moral force to eliminate slavery was up against the economic force of the entire Southern economy. The Southern slaves were worth more than all the factories, railroads, stores, real estate, farms and goods of the entire South. If slavery ended, the upper class Southerners would all be economically ruined. If slavery did not end, the United States would contain the most evil and immoral institution then known to the world.

Abraham Lincoln

I said I would remove him [Gen. George McClellan] if he let Lee's army get away from him and I must do so. He has got the slows.

Michael Hayden

In the great battle of Antietam, still the bloodiest day in American history, Union forces were led by Gen. George McClellan, an incredibly cautious man.

Kami Garcia

Everyone under the age of sixty called it the War Between the States, while everyone over sixty called it the War of Northern Aggression, as if somehow the North had baited the South into war over a bad bale of cotton.Read

James Longstreet

In a very short time the army of Northern Virginia was face to face with the Army of the Potomac.

Joshua Chamberlain

Just after writing those we were called up to defend a new position on the left, where the terrible storming of the bridge over the Antietam took place.

Abraham Lincoln

I have just read your dispatch about sore-tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything?

McClellan liked to parade and drill his troops but not fight them. Lincoln wanted him to take the offensive but he always found an excuse not to. Many historians believe that McClellan wanted the war to end, the South to rejoin the Union and be allowed to maintain slavery. Others feel that he was just a military man who maintained his popularity by minimizing casualties. Finally, Lincoln fired McClellan and the complexion of the war changed thereafter. McClellan ran against Lincoln for the Presidency in 1864. See {633923}

Battle of Antietam Quotes