Existing comment:
Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan at Antietam:
The Battle of Antietam, Maryland, on September 17, 1862, was not the conclusive Union victory that President Lincoln has desperately hoped for. Still, it was enough of a win for him to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that on January 1, 1863, all slaves in states still in rebellion would be free. Yet in the days immediately after the battle, Lincoln became distressed at general George B. McClellan's failure to pursue Robert E. Lee's retreating army. In early October, Lincoln visited McClellan at his headquarters at Antietam to personally urge him to attack. This photograph of Lincoln with McClellan and his staff was one of several taken on October 3 and is a rare view of Lincoln at the front. |