September 17, 1862: "America's Bloodiest Day"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

That's a reference to the Battle of Sharpsburg. Or as some call it:

Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam /ænˈtiːtəm/, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War, fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. Part of the Maryland Campaign, it was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It was the bloodiest day in United States history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing.

In its aftermath, photographers visited the scene.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted:

Days after the September 17 battle at Antietam, photographers Matthew Brady & A. Gardner visited the battlefield. The dead lay where they fell, as burial details slowly got underway with their gruesome task. Gardner began taking photos.

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One month later, Brady opened a new photographic exhibit in Manhattan, entitled "The Dead of Antietam." For the first time, the American people were shown the horrid, gruesome, and tragic fruits of war.

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The NYT wrote: "Mr Brady has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality & earnestness of war. If he has not brought bodies & laid them in our door yards & along the streets, he has done something very like it." Huge crowds visited the exhibit.

But the war continued.

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Since that time, photojournalists & cameramen have risked their lives to show the American people the face of war, in the hopes that it will provide an honest representation of its horrors and help guide wise policy making.

It all began with Antietam - America's bloodiest day.

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