BATTLE OF ANTIETAM

There was a time in the United States when black people were forced to work without pay. They were slaves who belonged to white landowners called masters. Slavery was very important for the farms in the South. The South included all the states from Maryland and south of it. Without slavery, farm owners would have to pay workers and make much less money. Slaves in the U.S. were treated very badly and had no rights or freedoms. A slave’s master was allowed to beat him like he might beat his animal. In the northern states, there were fewer large farms and slaves were not as needed or used.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the president of the United States. He tried to stop the spread of slavery to new states that wanted to join the country. Some states in the South were really upset about it. They said that Lincoln was trying to completely end slavery. Eleven states seceded , meaning separated, from the Union and started their own country called the Confederate States of America. The Union was the states in the North. In April 1861, the Confederate army attacked a Union army base in South Carolina, starting the Civil War.

The first major battle fought on Union land was on September 17, 1862, in Maryland. It was called the Battle of Antietam. The Confederate army attacked Maryland, hoping to win the war quickly. The fighting was very heavy, and more than 23,000 people were killed or hurt. In fact, it was the worst day in American history for people being hurt or killed. However, the Union army was able to stop the Confederate army from winning any Union land. This major victory showed the Union that they could win the war.

A few months after the Battle of Antietam, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This was a law freeing all slaves in the U.S. The Civil War continued for two and a half years after the Battle of Antietam. More than one million people died or were hurt during the Civil War. The Union army had better supplies, and they took over the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, in April 1865. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. When a side gives up fighting, it surrenders and loses the war.

The war was finally over, and slavery became illegal, or against the law, throughout the United States.