AllMovie

Gettysburg and Gods and Generals director Ronald F. Maxwell narrates as a collection of highly regarded historians offer educated insight into the bloodiest day in American history in producer/director Robert Child's revealing look at The Battle of Antietam. With more casualties than The Mexican War, The Spanish-American War, The American Revolution, and the War of 1812 combined, this violent confrontation between the forces of Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee would go down in the history books as the single most devastating battle fought on American soil. As President Lincoln seeks to claim the battle that will enable him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and put an end to slavery in the South, Lee hatches a plan to invade the North and claim victory for Confederate forces. When the Union Army learns of Lee's plan, the ensuing confrontation that took place in Sharpsburg, Maryland would result in casualties that dwarfed even that of D-Day during World War II.