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Antietam, South Mountain, and Harpers Ferry: a Battlefield Guide (ebook) by
In September 1862 the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac conducted one of the truly great campaigns of the Civil War. At South Mountain, Harpers Ferry, and Antietam, North and South clashed in engagements whose magnitude and importance would earn this campaign a distinguished place in American military history. The day-long battle at Antietam on September 17 still holds the distinction of being the single bloodiest day of combat in American history. Thorough descriptions and analyses, augmented with vignettes and numerous maps, convey the mechanics as well as the human experience of the campaign.
Antietam: Essays on the 1862 Maryland Campaign (ebook) by
he relative importance of Civil War campaigns is a matter for debate among historians and buffs alike. Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Atlanta have their advocates. Gettysburg certainly maintains its hold on the popular imagination. More recently has come the suggestion that no single campaign or battle decided the war or even appreciably altered its direction. If any one battle was a dividing line, Antietam is a solid contender. In no other campaign were the political, diplomatic, and military elements aligned so favorably for the Confederacy. Yet Lee's retreat after the terrible battle in September 1862 changed everything. Great Britain had second thoughts about intervention; Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation; and Lee's army, while victorious on other fields, proved not to be unbeatable. Across the years, Antietam remains the worst one-day slaughter in American history. The ghastly losses in the Cornfield, the West Woods, and the Sunken Road still appall the reader. Lee's gamble against disaster and George McClellan's inexplicable refusal to press his advantage remain puzzlements.
Counter-thrust: from the Peninsula to the Antietam (ebook) by
During the summer of 1862, a Confederate resurgence threatened to turn the tide of the Civil War. When the Union’s earlier multi-theater thrust into the South proved to be a strategic overreach, the Confederacy saw its chance to reverse the loss of the Upper South through counter-offensives from the Chesapeake to the Mississippi. Benjamin Franklin Cooling tells this story in Counter-Thrust, recounting in harrowing detail Robert E. Lee’s flouting of his antagonist George B. McClellan’s drive to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond and describing the Confederate hero’s long-dreamt-of offensive to reclaim central and northern Virginia before crossing the Potomac. Cooling shows us Lincoln’s administration in disarray, with relations between the president and field commander McClellan strained to the breaking point. He also shows how the fortunes of war shifted abruptly in the Union’s favor, climaxing at Antietam.
Unfurl Those Colors! McClellan, Sumner, and the Second Army Corps in the Antietam Campaign by
The Battle of Antietam is among "the bloodiest single day of combat in American history" with over 5,000 killed, 20,000 wounded, and 3,000 missing. This book examines the operational fabric of leadership and command in the Army of the Potomac during one of the critical campaigns and battles of the Civil War.
Burnside's Bridge: The Climactic Struggle of the 2nd and 20th Georgia of Antietam Creek (eBook) by
Before the heroic stand of the 20th Maine at Little Round Top, the 2nd and 20th Georgia Infantries, led by Brigadier General Robert Toombs, held off a veritable Yankee juggernaut and triumphed at Burnside's Bridge on Antietam Creek in 1862. This detailed account profiles the troops whose last stand helped prevent the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia, providing Robert E Lee with yet another chance for a northern invasion.
Crossroads of Freedom - Antietam (eBook) by
The Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest single day in American history. In Crossroads of Freedom, James M. McPherson, paints a masterful account of this pivotal battle, the events that led up to it, and its aftermath. As McPherson shows, by September 1862 the survival of the United States was in doubt. The Union had suffered a string of defeats, and Robert E. Lee's army was in Maryland, poised to threaten Washington. The British government was openly talking of recognizing the Confederacy and brokering a peace between North and South. Both Confederate and Union troops knew the war was at a crossroads, that they were marching toward a decisive battle. Valor, misjudgment, and astonishing coincidence all played a role in the outcome. Lee's battered army escaped to fight another day, but Antietam was a critical victory for the Union. It restored morale in the North and kept Lincoln's party in control of Congress. It crushed Confederate hopes of British intervention. And it freed Lincoln to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation, which instantly changed the character of the war. McPherson brilliantly weaves these strands of diplomatic, political, and military history into a compact, swift-moving narrative that shows why America's bloodiest day is, indeed, a turning point in our history.