It was a day later before Lee's movements were sufficiently clear for
McClellan to claim a victory.
On September nineteenth, he telegraphed Washington:
"I do not know if the enemy is falling back or recrossing the river. We
may safely claim the victory as ours."
Abraham Lincoln hastened to take advantage of McClellan's claim to issue
his Emancipation Proclamation. And yet so utter had been the failure of
his general to cope with Lee and Jackson, the President of the United
States relieved McClellan of his command.
While Lee's invasion had failed of the larger purpose, its moral effect
on the North had been tremendous. He carried back into Virginia fourteen
thousand prisoners, eighty pieces of artillery and invaluable equipment
for his army.
In the meantime the Western army under Bragg had invaded Kentucky,
sweeping to the gates of Cincinnati and Louisville and retiring with
more than five thousand prisoners, five thousand small arms and ten
pieces of artillery.
The gain in territory by the invasion of Maryland and Kentucky had been
nothing but the moral effect of these movements had been far reaching.
The daring valor of the small Confederate armies fighting against
overwhelming odds had stirred the imagination of the world.
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