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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... President Jefferson Davis, was “forced to take up arms to vindicate the political rights, the freedom, equality, and State sovereignty which were the heritage purchased by the blood of our revolutionary sires.” But Lincoln insisted that ...
... President Jefferson Davis, was “forced to take up arms to vindicate the political rights, the freedom, equality, and State sovereignty which were the heritage purchased by the blood of our revolutionary sires.” But Lincoln insisted that ...
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... President Abraham Lincoln wished to achieve his war aims of preserving the United States as a whole nation—a Union of all the states—his armies would have to invade the Confederacy, defeat its armies, conquer and occupy its territory ...
... President Abraham Lincoln wished to achieve his war aims of preserving the United States as a whole nation—a Union of all the states—his armies would have to invade the Confederacy, defeat its armies, conquer and occupy its territory ...
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... president on January 6 explaining why he could not attack the Confederate fortifications on the Mississippi at Columbus, Kentucky. On a copy of Halleck's letter, Lincoln wrote: “It is exceedingly discouraging. As everywhere else ...
... president on January 6 explaining why he could not attack the Confederate fortifications on the Mississippi at Columbus, Kentucky. On a copy of Halleck's letter, Lincoln wrote: “It is exceedingly discouraging. As everywhere else ...
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... president on February 22 (until then he had been provisional president). He conceded in his inaugural address that “after a series of successes and victories, we have recently met with serious disasters.” The inauguration took place ...
... president on February 22 (until then he had been provisional president). He conceded in his inaugural address that “after a series of successes and victories, we have recently met with serious disasters.” The inauguration took place ...
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... president and his footmen were dressed in black suits for the occasion, the servant replied wryly: “This, ma'am, is the way we always does in Richmond at funerals and sichlike.”14 Far from the ferment of news and rumors in Richmond that ...
... president and his footmen were dressed in black suits for the occasion, the servant replied wryly: “This, ma'am, is the way we always does in Richmond at funerals and sichlike.”14 Far from the ferment of news and rumors in Richmond that ...
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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