The Confederates decided to shift from defensive to offensive warfare after victories in the Eastern theater. They moved into the North for two reasons - to convince Lincoln to let the South secede, which was unlikely, and to gain England's support by demonstrating they could win on Northern soil. However, England had abolished slavery and would not ally with the pro-slavery Confederacy. At Antietam Creek in Maryland, the bloodiest day in American history occurred as the Union and Confederacy fought to a draw, failing the Confederate objectives. Lincoln then issued the Emancipation Proclamation, shifting the war's focus from states' rights to ending slavery.

1. “Landscape
turned
red” – Stephen sears

2. Bad judgment
•With a number of victories
in the eastern part of the
war, the Confederates
decided to change from
fighting a defensive war to
moving to the offensive.

3. Bad judgment
•The Confederates moved
north for a couple reasons;
one because they hoped a
victory on Northern soil
might convince Lincoln to let
the South go, something that
would never happen.

4. Bad judgment
• Second, they needed a victory in
the North to convince the
English to ally with them,
despite the fact that England
had outlawed slavery in the
1830s and would never join the
side of a group fighting to
continue it.

5. Bad judgment
•The Confederacy believed
that the need for
Southern cotton was
more important than the
issue of slavery, but they
were wrong.

6. Bad judgment
•So, off General Robert E. Lee,
commander of the
Confederate Army of
Northern Virginia rode into
Maryland, one of the four
border states, where slavery
was still allowed.

7. Bad judgment
•The two armies faced off
along the tiny Antietam
Creek near Sharpsburg,
Maryland on September 17,
1862 in what would become
the bloodiest day in
American history.

8. • Video

9. Bad judgment
• The battle itself was a draw,
but Lee failed in his efforts to
gain new recruits from the
border slave state and failed
to win the support of
Marylanders, who were not
convinced that Lee could win.

10. Bad judgment
•Lincoln took advantage of
what was considered the
first Union “victory” to
change the focus of the war
from one in which states’
rights was the focus to one in
which slavery was the focus.

11. Bad judgment
• Less than one week later, Lincoln
issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, which freed all
slaves living in states which were
in rebellion against the United
States, as of January 1, 1863.

12. Bad judgment
•Lincoln said nothing about
the slaves living in the
border states of Maryland,
Delaware, Kentucky, or
Missouri, all of which were
still part of the United States.