Crossroads of Freedom: AntietamOxford University Press, 2002 - 203 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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... Confederacy , said its President Jefferson Davis , was " forced to take up arms to vindi- cate the political rights , the freedom , equality , and State sovereign- ty which were the heritage purchased by the blood of our revolu- tionary ...
... Confederacy and restoration of " the Union as it was " —a Union with slavery . But Southern counteroffensives in the summer of 1862 reversed the momentum of war and by September of that year brought the Confederacy to the brink of ...
... Confederates probably because the Union dead were interred first , before Gardner and Gibson arrived , but perhaps also because pic- tures of Union dead might have had a dampening effect on Northern morale . In any event , a New York ...
... military victories in the early months of 1862 blunted previous Southern triumphs and brought the Confederacy almost to its knees . But Southern counteroffen- sives in the summer turned the war around . When 8 CROSSROADS OF FREEDOM.
... Confederacy appeared to be on the brink of victory . Antietam shattered that momentum . Never again did Southern armies come so close to conquering a peace for an inde- pendent Confederacy as they did in September 1862. Even though the ...
Contenido
The Pendulum of War 18611862 | 11 |
Taking Off the Kid Gloves JuneJuly 1862 | 41 |
The Federals Got a Very Complete Smashing AugustSeptember 1862 | 73 |
Showdown at Sharpsburg | 97 |
The Beginning of the End | 133 |
NOTES | 157 |
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY | 185 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 191 |
193 | |