Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, the first major battle of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil and the bloodiest one-day battle in American history– with over 23,000 causalities on both sides. While Antietam had little tactical significance, it served as a turning point in the war; not only did it push back an invasion of the North by General Robert E. Lee, it gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to enact the Emancipation Proclamtion and made the abolition of slavery a central point of the war.
National Geographic Live hosted James Robertson, one of the foremost historians on the Civil War. He revealed several untold stories that help humanize the events in which loss of life was staggering and unprecedented in American history.
James Robertson: The Untold Civil War from National Geographic Live on FORA.tv
