The Battle of Sharpsburg was a clash between George B. McClellan and Robert E. Lee on September 17, 1862. McClellan had an overwhelming force of 84,000 men while Lee commanded a much smaller force of 45,000 men despite the inequity of strength Lee's brave rebels lost 10,316 soldiers in the bloody fray but amazingly McClellan's Yankee forces lost 12,401. The official number of luminary's lit is 23,110. The battle total counts are off from that number but I do not know why but will attempt to find out a bit of input on that question..