The document describes the bloody Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War. It notes that Jackson and Lee fed three divisions "into the meat grinder" during intense fighting where the slain lay precisely as they stood moments before. A soldier wrote of the carnage the following morning, describing smashed weapons, dead horses, bloody clothing and smells among the corpses and waste left on the battlefield. The document also mentions Frederick Douglass praising the "righteous decree" of the Emancipation Proclamation and a picture of General McClellan, who believed Antietam was his finest hour.

1. Crossroads of Freedom II
The Battle on the Cornfield, wrote Hooker, where the slain lay in rows precisely as they
stood in their ranks a few minutes before. Jackson and Lee also fed 3 divisions into the
meat grinder.

2. The flags were up & down several times a minute. The
mental strain so great the whole landscape turned
slightly red.

3. “The waste and carnage lay on the field. Smashed
weapons, dead horses, bloody clothing, knapsacks
and blanket rolls among the smell of rotting corpses,
vomit and feces”, a soldier wrote in his diary the
following morning.

4. NEW YORK TIMES
“GREAT VICTORY!”
SEPTEMBER 19, 1862

5. Fred Douglas,
“We shout for joy
that we live to
record this
righteous
decree”.

6. The reading of the first
Emancipation Proclamation

7. General Mc Clellan, on the far left,
believed Antietam was his finest hour.