Before Antietam: The Battle for South Mountain - Softcover

John Michael Priest

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1572494077 ISBN 13: 9781572494077

Publisher: White Mane Publishing Company, 2011

Synopsis

Civil War buffs and scholars quickly recognize the dates of September 16-18, 1862 as the period marking the bloodiest battle of the entire campaign--Antietam. But until now, the ten days prior to that event have remained in relative obscurity. In Before Antietem, John Michael Priest offers the first book-length, tactical exploration of the Maryland campaign and the Battles of South Mountain, describing the decisive events leading up to the famous battle and elevating them from mere footnote status to a matter of military record.
Chronicling Robert E. Lee's turnabout from defensive maneuvres to full scale Confederate invasion into Maryland, Priest demonstrates how this tactical change brought about a series of engagements near Sharpsburg, Maryland that came to be known as "The Battle of South Mountain" in which the Federal and Confederate forces struggled fiercely over Union territory. It was here that George B. McClellan, the new Northern commander, led his Army of the Potomac to its first victory over Lee in a furious action that produced one of the war's few successful bayonet charges. Written from the perspective of the front line combatants (and civilian observers), the book recounts the Confederate invasion and the Federal pursuit into Sharpsburg that set the stage for Antietam. From September 5-15, a total of twenty-five skirmishes and three pitched battles were fought.
Priest provides graphic descriptions of the terrible conditions surrounding these events and so thoroughly enters into the common soldier's viewpoint that military history quickly gives way to gritty realism. He vividly shows that, had Robert E. Lee not been bested at the gaps along South Mountain, there would have been no Antietam. Lee's decision to make a stand along Antietam Creek was a point of pride--he had never been "whipped" before and would not return to Virginia defeated. That decision was a fateful one, since the sparring and fighting drove him into an untenable position that became his downfall. Priest's revealing narrative establishes that, at this stage of the Civil War, the Federal cavalry was better equipped and just as well trained as the Confederate cavalry thereby settling a point of debate among historians.
Scholars and Civil War buffs alike will applaud the efforts of John Michael Priest in bringing us the means to view those devastating encounters from a true military perspective.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author:
John Michael Priest is the author of Antietem: The Soldiers' Battle, and the editor in chief of From New Bern to Fredericksburg: Captain James Wren's Civil War Diary. He is a member of the Civil War Education Association in Winchester, Virginia, and is currently working on two other Civil War book projects.

From Library Journal

The Battle for South Mountain during the Civil War has always been treated as a prelude to the major Battle of Antietam. Here, Priest, the author of several Civil War books, gives the first full study of the battle and emphasizes its importance. He details the troops' marches, bivouacs, and skirmishes but also gives the reactions of the civilians as they encounter the troops from both sides. The author uses the words and actions of the common soldiers involved, both blue and gray, to describe graphically the conditions preceding the battle, the intense fighting, and the horrrible conditions that were left afterward. Priest has used extensive letters, diaries, military records, and newspaper articles to create a vivid account of a battle for which both sides claimed a victory. Before Antietam sets the stage for the Battle of Antietam. It will make an excellent addition to all Civil War collections.
- W. Walter Wicker, Louisiana Tech Univ., Ruston
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: White Mane Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1572494077
• ISBN 13: 9781572494077
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 433