Antietam

Essays on the 1863 Maryland Campaign

Gary W. Gallagher, Ed.

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781612770307
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

The 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.

Index

Adams, Charles Francis, 92

Alexander, Edward Porter, 12, 36, 78, 88, 89–90

Anderson, George B., 51, 53

Anderson, Richard H., 19, 35, 47

Anderson, Thomas M., 78

Antietam: Confederate strength at, 39, 44; effects of, 90–94; horror of, 84; McClellan’s claims concerning, 56–57, 77, 86; McClellan’s plans for, 65–67; Northern assessments of, 86–88; Southern assessments of, 84–86; as turning point of the war, vii, viii, 84, 88–94; Union estimates of, 60–61. See also Bloody Lane; Miller’s Cornfield; Pasture; Sunken Road; West Woods

Armstrong, Samuel Chapman, 27, 32

Army of Northern Virginia, 1; after Antietam, 90; casualty rate of, 56, 88; condition of, before Antietam, 8–12, 81, 83–85; Lee in charge of, viii, 4; Lee’s praise for, 85. See also Desertion; Lee, Robert E.; Lost Orders; Straggling

Army of the Potomac, viii, 1, 7, 15, 64, 80, 90, 93

Army of Virginia, 3, 7

Atlanta, viii

Atlantic Monthly, 91

Ball’s Bluff, 50

Baltimore: anti-Union sentiments in, 5, 37, 38

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 17

Banks, Nathaniel P., 67, 72

Barksdale, William, 19, 21, 51, 52

Battle Cry of Freedom (McPherson), viii

Beaver Dam Creek, 50

Bigelow, John, 44

Binney, Henry, 28

Blackford’s Ford. See Boteler’s Ford

Bloody Lane, 53, 54, 71

Bloss, John, 24

Bolivar Heights, 17–18, 22, 24, 27, 32–33, 34

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 35

Boonsboro, 15, 19, 61–62, 63

Borcke, Heros von, 31

Boteler’s Ford, 67, 75, 88, 90

Brady, Mathew, 91

Bragg, Braxton, 1, 7

Branch, L. O’B., 51

Brent, Jo...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: Gary W. Gallagher
• The Autumn of 1862: A Season of Opportunity: Gary W. Gallagher
• Drama between the Rivers: Harpers Ferry in the 1862 Maryland Campaign: Dennis E. Frye
• The Army of Northern Virginia in September 1862: Its Circumstances, Its Opportunities, and Why It Should Not Have Been at Sharpsburg: Robert K. Krick
• “I Fought the Battle Splendidly”: George B. McClellan and the Maryland Campaign: A. Wilson Greene
• The Maryland Campaign in Perspective: Gary W. Gallagher
• Bibliographic Note
• Index
• Contributors