Civil War author and historian John Michael Priests classic book Antietam: The Soldiers Battle is considered the definitive book on the bloody battle of Antietam fought on September 16 and 17, 1862. The author has written the book from the soldiers (both Union and Confederate) perspective and accounting of one of the most deadliest battles of the Civil War. The soldiers who wrote about their experience describe what they saw and did. Fromn Sergeant WIlliam Potts of the 124th Pennsylvania Infantry to Captain David G. Maxwell of the 35th North Carolina Infantry, these soldiers experienced terrible conditions during the battle. Seeing fellow soldiers blown apart, maimed, wounded, killed instantly the carnage of battle and the terrible aftermath is written in a chronological order. The author begins with the statement, This is a book about battle, More especially, it is a book about the human dimension in a battle, before generals could rationalize actions, historians could impose order upon chaos, the army could build a tower and lay out the battle lines- and the National Park Service could transform the whole into something approaching a pastoral setting. This is a book about what the soldiers saw, fought, and died in. Excellent battle maps describe the various advances, defenses, marches, and layout of the battle. Photographs of both Union and Confederate Officers and Enlisted men are in various chapters with their personal experiences about Antietam. Tragically, some of the men would be killed less than a year later at Gettysburg and other battles thereafter. Mr. Priest also has in the closing chapters the gruesome statistics of the fatalaties, killed, wounded, mortally wounded and MIA by regiment both USA and CSA. This is one of the best written books about Antietam (Sharpsburg) and the first invasion of the north by General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia and how General George B. McClellan of the Union Army of the Potomac fought the ANV invasion. As stated before, this is not a book based on the generals strategy or tactics, but is based on first hand accounts of the battle. It is a sobering, fascinating, and excellent read that is a MUST READ for any Civil War scholar, student, or buff to have in their Civil War Library, especially the eastern theatre of the war, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac. A GREAT READ!
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 20:20:47 +0000
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