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Title: Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (Pivotal Moments in American History) by James M. McPherson ISBN: 0195135210 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.66
Rating: 4
Summary: A Brief Overview of an Epic Battle
Comment: Don't buy James McPherson's "Antietam" expecting a detailed blow-by-blow account of the battle itself. As he showed in his classic account of the entire Civil War, "Battle Cry of Freedom," McPherson is more interested in the political, social and even diplomatic aspects of America's deadliest conflict. The point of the book is to argue that Antietam, not Gettysburg, was the pivital battle of the war. McPhereson makes his argument by describing the events that led up to the battle and demonstrating how it affected what came after.
Antietam, McPherson argues was the moment when the South came the closest to winning diplomatic recognition from the European powers and a resulting negotiated settlement that would have secured its independence. The aftermath of the Union "victory" at Antitam also persuaded Abraham Lincoln to finally issue the Emancipation Proclamation, turning the war once and for all into a battle against slavery.
McPherson is a first rate writer and historian, and his book is well reasearched and highly readable. What it is short on, however, is accounts of the actual fighting, which resulted in the single bloodiest day in American history (far worse than even Pearl Harbor or September 11th). The narrative clocks in at a brief 155 pages, only about a third of which are devoted to the battle. Yet the book is well worth reading despite this flaw.
Overall, a brief historical overview of an epic moment in American history by one of our most distinguished historians.
Rating: 5
Summary: A New Birth of Freedom and its Cost
Comment: On September 17, 1862, the Army of the Potomac commanded by General George B. McClellan met the Army of Northern Virgina commanded by Robert E. Lee in the fields near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The result was the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American History and a pivotal moment of the Civil War. The battle ended the Confederacy's first invasion of the North and gave President Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
In his short study, "Crossroads of Freedom" Professor McPherson weaves together many strands in discussing the significance of the battle. First, he places the battle against the backdrop of the prior military course of the war, both in the Eastern and the Western Theatres. He points out how Union successes in the early part of 1862 were followed by serious defeats in the Seven Days Battle and Second Manassas with the tide of the war turning to the Confederacy. Although the South would again invade the North culminating in the Battle of Gettysberg, Antietam was a clear check to Southern momentum. It gave the Union the courage, will and political force to fight on.
Second, Professor McPherson emphasizes the role of the European powers -- England and France -- in the Civil War. These nations followed events in America closely and were economically at risk from the loss of Southern cotton for their textile mills. They likely would have recognized the Confederacy if the results of the first invasion of the North had favored the Cofederacy.
Third, and probably most importantly to his theme, Professor McPherson discusses the role of Antietam in the changing character of the Civil War. President Lincoln was opposed to slavery, but his initial war aims did not include freeing the slaves. Rather he wished to hold the Union together. As the War continued, Lincoln became convinced of the necessity of issuing an Emancipation Procamation but believed that he needed a military success to give the Proclamation force and credibility. The victory at Antietam, narrow as it was, and tremendous as was its human cost, gave him that opportunity.
Emancipation was indeed a new birth of freedom. It also, as Professor McPherson points out, changed the character of the War from one with the aim of trying to persuade the South to come back to a state of total War -- which changed the character of a culture and redefined the nature of freedom in the United States.
Professor McPherson's book is part of a series called "Pivotal Moments in American History" whose aim is "to encourage interest in problems of historical contingency." There was a great deal of chance involved in the Battle of Antietam, more so than in most military campaigns. (There were also military blunders on both sides.) During the course of the southern invasion the Union discovered by chance a copy of General Lee's "Special Order No. 179" which had been dropped in a field. Special Order No. 179 detalied Lee's disposition of his troops and gave General McClellan the opportunity to attack in series each detachment of Lee's divided army. This was crucial to the result at Antietam. But McClellan missed the opportuniity to win a decisive victory and bring an end to the War. Human error and chance play a great role in human events. But Professor McPherson might have done well to refer to Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and compared Lincoln's reflections on the role of providence with the blind chance that led to the Union finding of Special Order No. 179.
There is only a short description of the battle of Antietam itself. The focus of the study is putting the Battle in its historial and political context rather than in a detailed analysis of military moves. Nevertheless, I fouund Professor McPersons's description of the battle (as well as his descriptions of the Seven Days Battle and Second Manassas) easier to follow than more detailed studies I have read. Professor McPherson gives a good annotated bibliography which refers the reader interested in a military study of the battle to more detailed accounts.
This is an excellent study of the Battle of Antietam which places it well in the context of the Civil War and which encourages the reader to reflect on the meaning of the War and of the nature of American freedom.
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding Overview of the Pivotal Battle of the Civil War
Comment: If you asked most Americans what was the turning point of the Civil War (assuming, of course, that the ones you asked knew there was a war between the states) they would probably say "Gettysburg". James M. MacPherson, professor of history at Princeton, develops the case that the one-day battle in September 1862 near Sharpsburg, MD was the pivotal event of the Civil War. This is the bloodiest day of war experienced by American troops. The union commander, "Little Mac", let the opportunity to shatter the Army of Northern Virginia slip away for the second time, the first being when he was just five miles from Richmond during the earlier Pennisular Campaign. It caused Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves (although only in the Confederate States). Probably kept the Republicans in control of both houses of Congress after the 1862 election. And, perhaps most importantly, decided the issue of recognition of the Confederacy for the British and French. This book is an overview of the events leading up to the battle at Antietam Creek and it focuses on the socio-political background at the time. Military history buffs who prefer to read minute details of battles and campaigns will find this book lacking. However, one cannot analyze warfare without understanding what lead up to the use of armed force. This is a concise, must read for those interested in the second most important war our nation has ever fought.
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Title: Gettysburg : A Testing of Courage by Noah Andre Trudeau ISBN: 0060193638 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 18 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson ISBN: 0345359429 Publisher: Ballantine Books (Trd Pap) Pub. Date: January, 1989 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson ISBN: 0805062882 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 02 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin ISBN: 0300095325 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864 by Gordon C. Rhea ISBN: 0807128031 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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