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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... be buried or treated by the Union Army of the Potomac. “I was on the battlefield yesterday where we were engaged,” wrote a Union artillery officer on September 19, “and the dead rebels INTRODUCTION: Death in September.
... be buried or treated by the Union Army of the Potomac. “I was on the battlefield yesterday where we were engaged,” wrote a Union artillery officer on September 19, “and the dead rebels INTRODUCTION: Death in September.
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... wrote in his diary on September 19: “Today I was given detaile to burry the Dead Rebels, just where I captured the flag at 2:00 pm of the 17th. 12 lengths of fence being counted off for my station & in 10 rods [55 yards] we have piled ...
... wrote in his diary on September 19: “Today I was given detaile to burry the Dead Rebels, just where I captured the flag at 2:00 pm of the 17th. 12 lengths of fence being counted off for my station & in 10 rods [55 yards] we have piled ...
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... wrote, but he tried to find words anyway. “For four miles in length, and nearly half a mile in width, the ground is strewn with . . . hats, caps, clothing, canteens, knapsacks, shells and shot.” Scattered around were “long mounds of ...
... wrote, but he tried to find words anyway. “For four miles in length, and nearly half a mile in width, the ground is strewn with . . . hats, caps, clothing, canteens, knapsacks, shells and shot.” Scattered around were “long mounds of ...
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... wrote home to family members eager to hear about their experiences told them that they could not begin to depict the enormity of it. “Words are inadequate to portray the scene,” wrote one. “I will not attempt to tell you of it ...
... wrote home to family members eager to hear about their experiences told them that they could not begin to depict the enormity of it. “Words are inadequate to portray the scene,” wrote one. “I will not attempt to tell you of it ...
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... wrote to his father four days after the carnage. “It seems almost as if nothing could justify a battle like that of the 17th, and the horrors inseparable from it.”13 Shaw's next battle was the assault on Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, in ...
... wrote to his father four days after the carnage. “It seems almost as if nothing could justify a battle like that of the 17th, and the horrors inseparable from it.”13 Shaw's next battle was the assault on Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, in ...
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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