At the battle of Antietam the Union general, George
McClellan, with 80,000 troops confronted the South’s 45,000 [estimated to be a
mighty host in excess of 100,000]. Although McClellan stumbled into possession
of the South’s master battle plan, for some reason he kept approximately 20,000
Union soldiers in reserve - they never fired a shot. The battle, Lee’s first
invasion of the North, was a Union victory in that Lee was driven back to his
native Virginia; it was less than the stupendous victory it would have been if
a moderately competent general had pursued his advantage and destroyed the Army
of Northern Virginia, far and away the more fearsome military force the South
possessed. As Lincoln more than once was forced to concede, ‘we must work with
the tools we are given.’
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