Lincoln Believed That the Civil War Was God’s Will, Unfathomable As It Seemed

<![CDATA[September 17, 1862: The battle fought between Antietam Creek and Sharpsburg, Md., with its 22,720 killed, wounded, missing or captured, remains America’s bloodiest day. With Lee having retreated back into Virginia, though, it was enough of a victory for Lincoln to finally issue the Emancipation Proclamation he had proposed months earlier, when his cabinet suggested postponing it, Seward saying it would be “our last shriek on retreat.”]]>