In the summer of 1862 Lincoln had made the decision to issue an emancipation proclamation that would free slaves in the Confederate States. His cabinet suggested that he should wait for a Union victory so that the proclamation did not have the appearance of an act of desperation.

On September 17, 1862, what would prove to be the bloodiest single day of the Civil War, Union General George B. McClellan met Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The following day, Lee began retreating into Virginia.

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