Battle of Antietam
During the summer of 1862, the hopes of the North that the rebellion could be easily crushed were quickly fading. In July, Major General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign to capture the Southern capital at Richmond, Virginia failed. Near the end of August, the Second Battle of Bull Run was another Confederate victory. The Union armies retreated back to Washington, D.C. only a few miles away. In Tennessee and other western states, Confederate offensives were succeeding. This was causing poor morale in the Union army.