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.

"Bearing aloft the flag of his country in the final charge" by Company A, 103rd New York Volunteers at the Battle of Antietam, Captain Henry Augustus Sand fell wounded. He penned a letter to his family in Brooklyn Heights while lying on the battlefield, and then three more before dying of his wounds six weeks later. His complete correspondence from the field, covering the first 18 months of the Civil War, paints a vivid picture of combat and life in a 19th-century German-Irish immigrant family. Captain Sand helped raise the 103rd--known as "the German Grenadiers" and "Seward's Infantry"--at the beginning of the war. The unit joined General Ambrose Burnside's 1862 campaigns in North Carolina and Virginia. His letters were collected and transcribed by his sister, Emily Isabella Rossire nee Sand, and illustrated with her own watercolors of the Antietam battlefield and sketches by their younger brother, Maximilian Edward Sand.

“The best account of the Battle of Antietam” from the award-winning, national bestselling author of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville (The New York Times Book Review). The Civil War battle waged on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, was one of the bloodiest in the nation’s history: in this single day, the war claimed nearly 23,000 casualties. In Landscape Turned Red, the renowned historian Stephen Sears draws on a remarkable cache of diaries, dispatches, and letters to recreate the vivid drama of Antietam as experienced not only by its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate. Combining brilliant military analysis with narrative history of enormous power, Landscape Turned Red is the definitive work on this climactic and bitter struggle. “A modern classic.”—The Chicago Tribune “No other book so vividly depicts that battle, the campaign that preceded it, and the dramatic political events that followed.”—The Washington Post Book World “Authoritative and graceful . . . a first-rate work of history.”—Newsweek

Stories of New England soldiers who perished in this bloody battle, based on their diaries and letters. The Battle of Antietam, in September 1862, was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. In the intense conflict and its aftermath across the farm fields and woodlots near Sharpsburg, Maryland, more than two hundred men from Connecticut died. Their grave sites are scattered throughout the Nutmeg State, from Willington to Madison and Brooklyn to Bristol. Here, author John Banks chronicles their mostly forgotten stories using diaries, pension records, and soldiers’ letters. Learn of Henry Adams, a twenty-two-year-old private from East Windsor who lay incapacitated in a cornfield for nearly two days before he was found; Private Horace Lay of Hartford, who died with his wife by his side in a small church that served as a hospital after the battle; and Captain Frederick Barber of Manchester, who survived a field operation only to die days later. This book tells the stories of these and many more brave Yankees who fought in the fields of Antietam. Includes photos

"Moreau's research is impeccable and smoothly incorporated, and his descriptions of battle scenes are vivid . . .--Publishers Weekly "Moreau displays an astute grasp of military history. . . . The author invests the cast of authentic historical characters with a wide range of strengths and failings, infusing this gripping narrative with a dramatic human element, resulting in a passionate retelling of a legendary battle.--Booklist August 1862?Federal armies threaten Richmond, the Confederate capital. From the east, the Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George McClellan, has edged closer to the city until the citizens of Richmond are able to listen to their church bells and the report of cannon with equal clarity. Late in the summer, President Jefferson Davis gives command of the Rebel army to the untried Robert Edward Lee. It is a momentous decision. In a series of battles fought virtually in sight of the city, Lee defeats the Army of the Potomac, then turns and drives the Union Army back to Washington, DC. Now, in the first week of September, the days are long and hot. Roads muddied by summer rains dry. There is time yet for one last campaign, a battle that could bring about the end of the war, and ensure a southern nation. This is the story of that campaign. This is the story of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day of the Civil War. "It is refreshing to read a historical novel that is both faithful to historical fact and yet imaginative enough to make the often dry bones of fact come alive. . . . C. X. Moreau succeeds in that endeavor by portraying the events of the Battle of Antietam, which produced America's single most bloody day, through the eyes of the generals who planned and fought the battle . . . As only a veteran can do, Moreau paints a convincing portrayal of the ebb and flow of battle, providing his characters with credible thought processes as that terrible day proceeded. The terror, dismay, and savage emotion that one would expect to feel on a great battlefield show up in the fictionalized account of the actions of Lee, Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, Burnside, Hooker, and McClellan. Those who enjoy good historical fiction will find this an entertaining book.--The Chattanooga Times "What distinguishes this novel from a straight historical account is Moreau's telling of the story through the eyes and emotions of an array of officers and soldiers, their detailed words and thoughts. The inner conversations and quotes spring from the author's close reading of the record, and?in obviously large measure?from his imagination. His intuition rings true."--The Virginian Pilot

"'Matchless Organization' describes the operations of the Confederate Army's Medical Department as managed by its successive surgeons general, especially Samuel Preston Moore"--

On September 17, 1862, the "United States" was on the brink, facing a permanent split into two separate nations. America's very future hung on the outcome of a single battle--and the result reverberates to this day. Given the deep divisions that still rive the nation, given what unites the country, too, Antietam is more relevant now than ever. The epic battle, fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland, was a Civil War turning point. The South had just launched its first invasion of the North; victory for Robert E. Lee would almost certainly have ended the war on Confederate terms. If the Union prevailed, Lincoln stood ready to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. He knew that freeing the slaves would lend renewed energy and lofty purpose to the North's war effort. Lincoln needed a victory to save the divided country, but victory would come at a price. Detailed here is the cannon din and desperation, the horrors and heroes of this monumental battle, one that killed 3,650 soldiers, still the highest single-day toll in American history. Justin Martin, an acclaimed writer of narrative nonfiction, renders this landmark event in a revealing new way. More than in previous accounts, Lincoln is laced deeply into the story. Antietam represents Lincoln at his finest, as the grief-racked president--struggling with the recent death of his son, Willie--summoned the guile necessary to manage his reluctant general, George McClellan. The Emancipation Proclamation would be the greatest gambit of the nation's most inspired leader. And, in fact, the battle's impact extended far beyond the field; brilliant and lasting innovations in medicine, photography, and communications were given crucial real-world tests. No mere gunfight, Antietam rippled through politics and society, transforming history. A Fierce Glory is a fresh and vibrant account of an event that had enduring consequences that still resonate today.

- Now Available in Paperback - First study of the Antietam campaign from civilians' perspectives - Many never-before-published accounts of the Battle of Antietam The battle at Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day of the American Civil War, left more than 23,000 men dead, wounded, or missing. Facing the aftermath were the men, women, and children living in the village of Sharpsburg and on surrounding farms. In Too Afraid to Cry, Kathleen Ernst recounts the dramatic experiences of these Maryland citizens--stories that have never been told--and also examines the complex political web holding together Unionists and Secessionists, many of whom lived under the same roofs in this divided countryside.

The Civil War battle in western Maryland that killed 22,000 men—and served no military purpose. For generations of Americans, the word Antietam—the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland—held the same sense of horror and carnage that the date 9/11 does for Americans today. But Antietam eclipses even this modern tragedy as America’s single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 men became casualties in a war to determine our nation’s future. Antietam is forever burned into the American psyche as a battle bathed in blood that served no military purpose and brought no decisive victory. This much Americans know was true. What they didn’t know was why the battle broke out at all—until now. The Cornfield: Antietam’s Bloody Turning Point tells for the first time the full story of the struggle to control “the Cornfield,” the action on which the costly battle of Antietam turned. Because Federal and Confederate forces repeatedly traded control of the spot, the fight for the Cornfield is a story of human struggle against fearful odds, men seeking to do their duty, and a simple test of survival. Many of the firsthand accounts included in this volume have never before been revealed to modern readers or assembled in such a comprehensive, readable narrative. At the same time, The Cornfield offers fresh views of the battle as a whole, arguing that two central facts doomed thousands of soldiers. This new, provocative perspective is certain to change our modern understanding of how the battle of Antietam was fought and its role in American history.