On September 17, a ferocious battle broke out over the future of democracy in the United States.
The year was 1862. 150 years ago this past week, in the beautiful farm country of Maryland, some 73,000 union soldiers were massed on the east bank of a small creek, looking across at 40,000 confederate soldiers camped outside a small village. Shortly after dawn, the northerners crossed over and launched a furious assault against southerners hiding in a corn field near a dunker church. The result was utter chaos. No orders could be given in the noise. Guns overheated and jammed; the soldiers fought on with bayonets. The carnage was incredible. (When a general was asked later in the day where his division was, he simply replied, “dead on the field.”) The center of action then moved south to where confederates had dug in along a sunken wagon road. The northerners launched assault after assault, and so many bodies piled up that the road is now grimly remembered as the Bloody Lane. Finally, in the afternoon, a third part of the union army crossed a bridge over the creek and attacked what was left of the rebel army. The confederates were disintegrating, but reinforcements miraculously arrived, and as the day ended the two armies ground to a bloody stalemate.
It was a battle so brutal that, to this day, we can’t even agree on what to call it. Southerners refer to it as Sharpsburg; northerners call it Antietam. But this much is certain: Sept 17, 1862 was the single bloodiest day in our history, with over 22,000 Americans killed or wounded. And, though it was technically a draw, it persuaded President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. That in turn caused England and France to choose to not support the southern cause. All of which ultimately ensured the preservation of a unified democracy, the integration of millions of immigrants, and the freeing of over 4 million slaves. For the first time, the people of these States were truly United.
Given the magnitude and importance of this battle, it’s shocking that its anniversary passed this week largely unnoticed. But ironically, the reason for that is that the news cycle is overwhelmed by the upcoming election. The airwaves are filled with bitter dialogue, and with questions that Civil War soldiers might find oddly familiar. What is the purpose of government? Whom does a democracy serve? What is a citizen’s responsibility? And who shall lead?
In the coming weeks, we will answer those questions ourselves. We’ll all go to the polls, pull some levers, and peacefully re-invent the government without firing a shot.
And this much is certain: the ghosts of Sharpsburg, and of Antietam, will be watching.
– Mike Keeler
