he 12th of
September. On the same day this tell-tale document was handed to the
Federal commander. Almost a third of Lee's army was on its way to
Harper's Ferry, many miles to the west, to seize that post, which
McClellan thought had already been evacuated. McClellan began to press
upon the Confederates as they retired from their advanced position to
the valley of Antietam Creek. South Mountain, a spur of the Blue Ridge,
lay between the armies. On September 16, McClellan crossed the passes
and confronted Lee, who was now on the defensive. A most sanguinary
battle followed on the 17th, and the Confederates, having suffered
losses of nearly 12,000 men, retired to northern Virginia. The campaign
was closed, for McClellan was too cautious to risk a second attack, and
Lee retired to a safe position south of the Potomac. The consternation
of the North subsided and President Lincoln gave out the announcement
that if war continued till January he would emancipate the slaves by
executive order in all the States which at that time refused to
recognize the Federal authority.

The elections which came in October and November following ran heavily
against the Administration. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, Republican States in 1860, went
Democratic. Only in States where the war upon the South, as the ancient
enemy, was popular did the Administration receive hearty support. In the
moderate States like Pennsylvania and the border States like Kentucky,
the Republican party had practically ceased to exist. The Emancipation
Proclamation had served to emphasize the almost fatal cleavage in
Northern public opinion.

But the fortunes of both sides depended on victory in the field as well
as votes in Congress, and all eyes turned again to the movements of Lee.
The failure of McClellan to follow Lee and deliver battle led to his
second removal from command. Ambrose E. Burnside, a corps commander who
had done good work at Antietam, succeeded, and in obedience to the
orders of the War Department moved directly upon Richmond by way of
Fredericksburg, with an army of 122,000. But Lee confronted him on the
south bank of the Rappahannock, and though his forces were only a little
more than half as strong, there was no uneasiness at Confederate
headquarters. On the 12th of December Burnside crossed the Rappahannock
and attacked Lee, who held the formidable hills on the southern bank of
that stream. Anothe