Crossroads of Freedom: AntietamOxford University Press, 2002 M09 12 - 224 páginas The Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest single day in American history, with more than 6,000 soldiers killed--four times the number lost on D-Day, and twice the number killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks. In Crossroads of Freedom, America's most eminent Civil War historian, 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. Northern armies and voters were demoralized. And Lincoln had shelved his proposed edict of emancipation months before, waiting for a victory that had not come--that some thought would never come. Both Confederate and Union troops knew the war was at a crossroads, that they were marching toward a decisive battle. It came along the ridges and in the woods and cornfields between Antietam Creek and the Potomac River. Valor, misjudgment, and astonishing coincidence all played a role in the outcome. McPherson vividly describes a day of savage fighting in locales that became forever famous--The Cornfield, the Dunkard Church, the West Woods, and Bloody Lane. 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. |
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... action could be seen by those who never came close to the battlefield. Gardner and Gibson worked for Mathew Brady, whose studio in New York City exhibited the photographs a month after the battle. The unburied soldiers in these ...
... action could be seen by those who never came close to the battlefield. Gardner and Gibson worked for Mathew Brady, whose studio in New York City exhibited the photographs a month after the battle. The unburied soldiers in these ...
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... action, however, provoked a diplomatic crisis and potential war with Britain. Already embroiled in one war it seemed unable to win, the Lincoln administration could not risk a second one. The day after Christmas 1861 the U.S. government ...
... action, however, provoked a diplomatic crisis and potential war with Britain. Already embroiled in one war it seemed unable to win, the Lincoln administration could not risk a second one. The day after Christmas 1861 the U.S. government ...
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... angle fire against the forts, and 15,000 army troops. As matters turned out, the latter were not needed except as an occupation force. For a week in mid-April the Orleans on April 24, 1862, in an action that a 24 Crossroads of Freedom.
... angle fire against the forts, and 15,000 army troops. As matters turned out, the latter were not needed except as an occupation force. For a week in mid-April the Orleans on April 24, 1862, in an action that a 24 Crossroads of Freedom.
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... action. Growing impatient, Farragut decided to steam past the gauntlet of enemy fire. Weighing anchor at 2:00 a.m. April 24, the fleet moved single-file upriver exchanging fire with the forts and the anchored ironclads, fending off fire ...
... action. Growing impatient, Farragut decided to steam past the gauntlet of enemy fire. Weighing anchor at 2:00 a.m. April 24, the fleet moved single-file upriver exchanging fire with the forts and the anchored ironclads, fending off fire ...
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Contenido
3 | |
11 | |
JuneJuly 1862 | 41 |
3 The Federals Got a Very Complete Smashing AugustSeptember 1862 | 73 |
4 Showdown at Sharpsburg | 97 |
5 The Beginning of the End | 133 |
NOTES | 157 |
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY | 185 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 191 |
INDEX | 193 |
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