Unfurl Those Colors: McClellan, Sumner, and the Second Army Corps in the Antietam Campaign
Sumner's rationale for the movement configuration of Sedgwick's division was logical and in consort with his understanding of McClellan's orders. When the attack disintegrates, Sumner is instrumental in quickly recognizing the disaster and leading the shattered division away from further damage

Antietam Battle
Sharpsburg Maryland

American Civil War
September 16-18, 1862


On September 16, Major General George B. McClellan confronted General Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Sharpsburg, Maryland. At dawn September 17, Hooker's corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee's left flank that began the single bloodiest day in American military history.
Too Afraid to Cry: Maryland Civilians in the Antietam Campaign
The children, women, and men living in the village of Sharpsburg and on surrounding farms. The dramatic experiences of these Maryland citizens, stories that have never been told, and also examines the political web holding together Unionists and Secessionists, many of whom lived under the same roofs

Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller's cornfield and fighting swirled around the Dunker Church. Union assaults against the Sunken Road eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not followed up. Late in the day, Burnside's corps finally got into action, crossing the stone bridge over Antietam Creek and rolling up the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, A.P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and counterattacked, driving back Burnside and saving the day.

Although outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout the 18th, while removing his wounded south of the river. McClellan did not renew the assaults. After dark, Lee ordered the battered Army of Northern Virginia to withdraw across the Potomac into the Shenandoah Valley.

September 17, 1862 was the bloodiest day of the Civil War. Federal losses totaled 12,410 and the Confederates lost 10,700 men. Although neither side won a decisive victory, General Robert E. Lee's failure to carry the war into the north was significant to the outcome of the war. The battle also gave President Lincoln the opportunity to issue the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, which on January 1, 1863, declared free all slaves in States still in rebellion against the United States.
Estimated Casualties: 23,100 total



Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom
Lincoln and Lee at Antietam covers the entire struggle of the Antietam Campaign. The political concept about why Lincoln needed a Union victory and Lee's need to take the war north were covered as well as the battle. DVD


Ballon observing the battle

Click to enlarge
Antietam September 17, 1862  Battle Map

First and Second Maryland Cavalry, C.S.A
An indepth look at Maryland and her divided loyalties during the Civil War. Brother against brother epitomizes the state of affairs in Maryland. Men, loyal to the South, crossed the Potomac river at great personal peril to join Confederate ranks.
  State Park Battlefield Map
  


The Gleam Of Bayonets: The Battle Of Antietam And Robert E. Lee's Maryland Campaign, September, 1862
Antietam turned the tide of the Civil War in favor of the North and delivered the first major defeat to Robert E. Lee's Confederate army. The gentleness and patience of Lincoln, the vacillations of McClellan, and the grandeur of Leeall unfold before the reader


Antietam Battle Field
antietam battle field

Battle of Antietam, looking north; showing dash of 7th Maine into the Piper cornfield, Cemetery Hill & Sharpsburg.
Photograph of sketch made on the field by Capt. James Hope, Co. B, 2nd Vermont Inf.


Illustrated Catalog of Civil War Military Goods: Union Weapons, Insignia, Uniform Accessories and Other Equipment
Unabridged reproduction of rare and valuable 1864 catalog brimming with uniform and dress regulations, arms and ammunition, horse "furniture," tables of military pay, uniform accessories, insignia and other equipment. Detailed descriptions of hats, coats, "trowsers," boots, tents, swords, more. 226 illustrations 		More on Antietam
Civil War Exhibits
Women in the War
State Battle Maps
Civil War Pictures
Civil War Timeline
Ships and Naval Battles
Battles by Campaign
Civil War Submarines
Civil War Cooking
Civil War Store
Arms and Equipment of the Civil War
Marvelous illustrations, the text describes what materiel was available to the armies and navies of both sides. Iron-clad gunboats, submarine torpedoes, and military balloons to pontoon bridges, percussion grenades, and siege artillery

Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam
James M. McPherson states in his concise chronicle, it may well have been the pivotal moment of the war . The South had reversed the war's momentum during the summer, and was on not only on the "brink of military victory" but about to achieve diplomatic recognition by European nations
Antietam The Soldiers Battle
In "Antietam: The Soldiers' Battle," author John Michael Priest tells the story of the American Civil War's bloodiest day using a compilation of eyewitness accounts. The book also includes 72 sketch maps of the battle. Between the plentiful maps and the chronologically-arranged accounts, the reader can follow the battle.
Antietam Expedition Guide
Indespensible asset for understanding the battle that resulted in America's bloodiest day. The automated and time-scaled troup movement maps helps to grasp the scope and scale of the conflict

American Civil War Book Club Selected Title

The Antietam Campaign
. 		The Antietam Campaign
The Maryland campaign of September 1862 ranks among the most important military operations of the American Civil War. Crucial political, diplomatic, and military issues were at stake as Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan maneuvered and fought in the western part of the state. The clash came on September 17 at the battle of Antietam, where more than 23,000 men fell in the single bloodiest day of the war.

Approaching topics related to Lee's and McClellan's operations from a variety of perspectives, contributors to this volume explore questions regarding military leadership, strategy, and tactics, the impact of the fighting on officers and soldiers in both armies, and the ways in which participants and people behind the lines interpreted and remembered the campaign. They also discuss the performance of untried military units and offer a look at how the United States Army used the Antietam battlefield as an outdoor classroom for its officers in the early twentieth century

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American Civil War Book Titles

George B. Mcclellan: The Young Napoleon
By age 35, General George B. McClellan (18261885), designated the "Young Napoleon," was the commander of all the Northern armies. He forged the Army of the Potomac into a formidable battlefield foe, and fought the longest and largest campaign of the time as well as the single bloodiest battle in the nation's history
Maryland In The Civil War
After Fort Sumter, the Lincoln administration could ill afford to lose Maryland, especially its principal city Baltimore, site of the first blood spilled when a mob attacked the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment. Maryland was the site of the greatest single day's carnage in American
The First and Second Maryland Infantry, C.S.A.
The First Maryland Infantry was formed from Marylanders who chose to cast their lot with the Confederacy against a Union government that had invaded their state and established martial law, forcing those who disagreed with the invasion of the South to join the Confederates or to submit to what they considered as tyranny
A Maryland Boy in Lee's Army: Personal Reminiscences of a Maryland Soldier in the War between the States, 1861-1865
Young George Wilson Booth followed the call of the Confederacy and served four years in the Army of Virginia. During the days of the successes at Manassas battles and in the Peninsula to the Valley

A southern star for Maryland: Maryland and the secession crisis, 1860-1861
Maryland did not freely choose to remain in the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, this book argues: the state was held by brute force. A colorful account of the dilemmas faced by Marylanders in the crisis as seen from the Southern point of view.
Lee Vs. McClellan: The First Campaign
An interesting account of the struggle for western Virginia in 1861. It follows that year's rolls of Generals McClellan and Lee; the former using the successes of the campaign to further his reputation and career, and the latter struggling to straighten out a quagmire and failing to do so
George B. McClellan and Civil War History: In the Shadow of Grant and Sherman
The complex general who, though gifted with administrative and organizational skills, was unable and unwilling to fight with the splendid army he had created. In this book, Rowland presents a framework in which early Civil War command can be viewed without direct comparison to the final two years of the war
Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign
Narrative history of military operations in the Overland Campaign of May and June, 1864: the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, and Cold Harbor. Describes Union and Confederate earthworks and how Grant and Lee used them in this new era of field entrenchments.
       

American Civil War DVDs


Civil War Journal
Collector's Edition 4-DVD Set
Made exclusively for Books Are Fun. Discs include: · Stonewall Jackson · Sherman and the March to the Sea · West Point Classmates-Civil War Enemies · Robert E. Lee · Battle of 1st Bull Run · The 54th Massachusetts · John Brown s War · Destiny at Fort Sumter
Gettysburg: Three Days of Destiny
Presented by the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee and filmed at the massive 140th Gettysburg Battle Reenactment. The dramatic story unfolds through both Union and Confederate commanders dispatches, diaries and after-battle reports, with some of the biggest and most exciting Civil War battle sequences ever filmed
Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union
Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor

Civil War Journal, West Point Classmates - Civil War Enemies, Robert E. Lee
Beyond the pages of history and into the personal stories behind the Great Conflict
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one
THE GREAT COMMANDERS
Ulysses S. Grant
Lee was determined to confront Grant's numerically-superior Union Army in the dense Spotsylvania wilderness. For Lee it was imperative to fight here, his army was massively outnumbered, with 61,000 men to Grant's 101,000
History Channel Presents
The Civil War
From Harper's Ferry, Fort Sumter, and First Bull Run to Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg. The most legendary Civil War battles in brilliant detail. A selection of the soldiers and legendary leaders.

Young Reader Book Titles

The Journal of James Edmond Pease: A Civil War Union Soldier, Virginia, 1863
James was only 15 when he joined, but he was able to get in. Nobody really liked him cause he was unlucky. One day in the confusion he charged ahead of his company and scared off all the Confederates single handed. After that, he became well liked by most people and soon rose Corporal. He showed his bravery when he spent a week in enemy territory. By the end of the war he rose up to Second Lieutenant.
Behind the Blue and Gray: The Soldier's Life in the Civil War
Civil War reading can be very dry, but not this book. Delia Ray takes us on a soldiers journey beginning with enlistment and ending with a soldiers life after the war, using quotes from actual letters and diaries strategically placed throughout the book.
Eye Witness Civil War
Eyewitness Civil War includes everything from the issues that divided the country, to the battles that shaped the conflict, to the birth of the reunited states. Rich, full-color photographs of rare documents, powerful weapons, and priceless artifacts plus stunning images of legendary commanders, unsung heroes, and memorable heroines
The Boys War
With the many boys who fought in the civil war most of them lied about their age. A lot of them wrote letters or had a diary. Johnny Clem had run away from his home at 11. At age 12 he tried to enlist but they refused to let him join because he was clearly too young. The next day he came back to join as a drummer boy.


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