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On September 13, 1862, in a field near Frederick, Maryland, four Union soldiers hit the jack-pot. There they found, wrapped carelessly around three cigars, a copy of General Robert E. Lee's most recent orders detailing Southern objectives and letting Union officers know that Lee had split hisArmy into four vulnerable groups. General George B. McClellan realized his opportunity to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia one piece at a time. "If I cannot whip Bobbie Lee," exulted McClellan, "I will be willing to go home." But the notoriously prudent Union general allowed precious hoursto pass, and, by the time he moved, Lee's army had begun to regroup and prepare for battle near Antietam Creek. The ensuing fight would prove to be not only the bloodiest single day of the entire Civil War, but the bloodiest in the history of the U.S. Army.Countless historians have analyzed Antietam (known as Sharpsburg in the South) and its aftermath, some concluding that McClellan's failure to vanquish Lee constituted a Southern victory, others that the Confederate retreat into Virginia was a strategic win for the North. But in Antietam: TheSoldiers' Battle, historian John Michael Priest tells this brutal tale of slaughter from an entirely new point of view: that of the common enlisted man. Concentrating on the days of actual battle--September 16, 17, and 18, 1862--Priest vividly brings to life the fear, the horror, and the profoundcourage that soldiers displayed, from the first Federal cavalry probe of the Confederate lines to the last skirmish on the streets of Sharpsburg. Antietam is not a book about generals and their grand strategies, but rather concerns men such as the Pennsylvanian corporal who lied to receive theMedal of Honor; the Virginian who lay unattended on the battlefield through most of the second day of fighting, his arm shattered from a Union artillery shell; the Confederate surgeon who wrote to the sweetheart he left behind enemy lines in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that he had seen so much deathand suffering that his "head had whitened and my very soul turned to stone."Besides being a gripping tale charged with the immediacy of firsthand accounts of the fighting, Antietam also dispels many misconceptions long held by historians and Civil War buffs alike. Seventy-two detailed maps--which describe the battle in the hourly and quarter-hourly formatsestablished by the Cope Maps of 1904--together with rarely-seen photographs and his own intimate knowledge of the Antietam terrain, allow Priest to offer a substantially new interpretation of what actually happened.When the last cannon fell silent and the Antietam Creek no longer ran red with Union and Confederate blood, twice as many Americans had been killed in just one day as lost their lives in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American war combined. This is a book about battle,but more particularly, about the human dimension in battle. It asks "What was it like?" and while the answers to this simple question by turns horrify and fascinate, they more importantly add a whole new dimension to the study of the American Civil War.… (més)
Antietam by John Michael Priest is aptly subtitled “The Soldier’s Battle” since it is a distillation of many letters, journal entries, diaries and various other contemporary personal accounts of the battle. The battle itself has the dubious distinction of recording the most casualties American armed forces have ever sustained in a single day, 24,412; nearly 30% of all the forces engaged. Of course, all the forces engaged were American. But that is the terrible added cost of a Civil war. What Mr. Priest has done with this account is set the reader in the rank and file of the soldiers who paid that cost.
There is no preamble or introductory set up. There is no elucidation of the grand strategy or how the forces came to meet. There is not even an explanation of what each armies’ goals were or what their commanders hoped to accomplish. In fact, aside from a very few almost cameo appearances by General Robert E. Lee, the commanders – in – chief are pretty much absent. Instead, we are placed almost as silent observers in the rank and file of those doing the fighting. The narrative, drawn from meticulously researching thousands of documents, follows along minute by minute from brigade to brigade as the first shots are fired from the West Woods through the Cornfield and across Bloody Lane finally to end in the fields between the Lower Bridge and Sharpsburg. It is a horrible journey through bravery, heroics, confusion, and, above all, extreme carnage. As the battle unfolds soldiers tell their experiences. They come either through journals or letters written directly afterward, in some cases during, or through memoirs and reminisces from later years. Either way, the sensation of being in the thick of the action is palpable.
Throughout the book, the reader has very little idea how the battle is going, much like the trooper in the field. Except, no matter which side is currently being described, the losses are staggering. Also staggering is the compassion. Scenes are described where moments before soldiers were mowing each other down with minie-balls and canister shot, are now offering water and binding wounds.
It takes a while to get into the rhythm of the author’s style but once you get used to it, the story flows very well. There are certain sections of the book that are definite can’t-put-it-down page-turners, particularly the fight at Bloody Lane. The maps, while helpful and abundant, could have been done better; perhaps in color and with more description.
It would be a very difficult task to find a work that better describes and makes the reader actually know and feel what it was like to be a soldier on a 19th century battlefield. I highly recommend this account. ( )
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
To my family with love
Primeres paraules
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
Over the three preceding days, the war had crept agonizingly closer to Samuel Mumma's farm, which lay nestled in a swale north of Sharpsburg, Maryland.
Introduction: This is a book about battle. More especially, it is a book about the human dimension in a battle, before generals could rationalize actions, historians could impose order upon chaos, the army could build a tower and lay out the battle lines--and the National Park Service could transform the whold into something approaching a pastoral setting.
Citacions
Darreres paraules
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
When will this horrid war ever end; God grant the time may spedily [sic] the time may soon come that piece [sic] may return to our once happy Country and our lives may be spared to meet each other again on earth; may the Lord take care of you all and shield you from all harme [sic] is the prayer of your unworthy son and Brother.
On September 13, 1862, in a field near Frederick, Maryland, four Union soldiers hit the jack-pot. There they found, wrapped carelessly around three cigars, a copy of General Robert E. Lee's most recent orders detailing Southern objectives and letting Union officers know that Lee had split hisArmy into four vulnerable groups. General George B. McClellan realized his opportunity to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia one piece at a time. "If I cannot whip Bobbie Lee," exulted McClellan, "I will be willing to go home." But the notoriously prudent Union general allowed precious hoursto pass, and, by the time he moved, Lee's army had begun to regroup and prepare for battle near Antietam Creek. The ensuing fight would prove to be not only the bloodiest single day of the entire Civil War, but the bloodiest in the history of the U.S. Army.Countless historians have analyzed Antietam (known as Sharpsburg in the South) and its aftermath, some concluding that McClellan's failure to vanquish Lee constituted a Southern victory, others that the Confederate retreat into Virginia was a strategic win for the North. But in Antietam: TheSoldiers' Battle, historian John Michael Priest tells this brutal tale of slaughter from an entirely new point of view: that of the common enlisted man. Concentrating on the days of actual battle--September 16, 17, and 18, 1862--Priest vividly brings to life the fear, the horror, and the profoundcourage that soldiers displayed, from the first Federal cavalry probe of the Confederate lines to the last skirmish on the streets of Sharpsburg. Antietam is not a book about generals and their grand strategies, but rather concerns men such as the Pennsylvanian corporal who lied to receive theMedal of Honor; the Virginian who lay unattended on the battlefield through most of the second day of fighting, his arm shattered from a Union artillery shell; the Confederate surgeon who wrote to the sweetheart he left behind enemy lines in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that he had seen so much deathand suffering that his "head had whitened and my very soul turned to stone."Besides being a gripping tale charged with the immediacy of firsthand accounts of the fighting, Antietam also dispels many misconceptions long held by historians and Civil War buffs alike. Seventy-two detailed maps--which describe the battle in the hourly and quarter-hourly formatsestablished by the Cope Maps of 1904--together with rarely-seen photographs and his own intimate knowledge of the Antietam terrain, allow Priest to offer a substantially new interpretation of what actually happened.When the last cannon fell silent and the Antietam Creek no longer ran red with Union and Confederate blood, twice as many Americans had been killed in just one day as lost their lives in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American war combined. This is a book about battle,but more particularly, about the human dimension in battle. It asks "What was it like?" and while the answers to this simple question by turns horrify and fascinate, they more importantly add a whole new dimension to the study of the American Civil War.
)
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(3.73)
1
There is no preamble or introductory set up. There is no elucidation of the grand strategy or how the forces came to meet. There is not even an explanation of what each armies’ goals were or what their commanders hoped to accomplish. In fact, aside from a very few almost cameo appearances by General Robert E. Lee, the commanders – in – chief are pretty much absent. Instead, we are placed almost as silent observers in the rank and file of those doing the fighting. The narrative, drawn from meticulously researching thousands of documents, follows along minute by minute from brigade to brigade as the first shots are fired from the West Woods through the Cornfield and across Bloody Lane finally to end in the fields between the Lower Bridge and Sharpsburg. It is a horrible journey through bravery, heroics, confusion, and, above all, extreme carnage. As the battle unfolds soldiers tell their experiences. They come either through journals or letters written directly afterward, in some cases during, or through memoirs and reminisces from later years. Either way, the sensation of being in the thick of the action is palpable.
Throughout the book, the reader has very little idea how the battle is going, much like the trooper in the field. Except, no matter which side is currently being described, the losses are staggering. Also staggering is the compassion. Scenes are described where moments before soldiers were mowing each other down with minie-balls and canister shot, are now offering water and binding wounds.
It takes a while to get into the rhythm of the author’s style but once you get used to it, the story flows very well. There are certain sections of the book that are definite can’t-put-it-down page-turners, particularly the fight at Bloody Lane. The maps, while helpful and abundant, could have been done better; perhaps in color and with more description.
It would be a very difficult task to find a work that better describes and makes the reader actually know and feel what it was like to be a soldier on a 19th century battlefield. I highly recommend this account. (