To Hazard All

“The present seems to be the most propitious time since the commencement of the war for the Confederate Army to enter Maryland,” wrote Robert E. Lee following his army’s stunning success at Second Manassas.

Confederate armies advanced across a thousand mile front in the summer of 1862. The world watched anxiously—could the Confederacy achieve its independence?

Reacting to the Army of Northern Virginia’s trek across the Potomac River, George B. McClellan gathered the broken and scattered remnants of several Federal armies within Washington, D. C. to repel the invasion and expel the Confederates from Maryland. “Everything seems to indicate that they intend to hazard all upon the issue of the coming battle,” he said of the invading force.

Historians Robert Orrison and Kevin Pawlak trace the routes both armies traveled during the Maryland Campaign, ultimately coming to a climactic blow on the banks of Antietam Creek. That clash on September 17, 1862, to this day remains the bloodiest single day in American history.

To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862 offers several day trip tours and visits many out-of-the-way sites related to the Maryland Campaign. Chapters include:

Confederates Enter Maryland
The Federals Respond
The Investment of Harpers Ferry
The Battle of South Mountain
The Battle of Antietam
Return to Virginia

Robert Orrison is co-founder of Emerging Revolutionary War and has worked in the public history field for more than 25 years. He serves as the Division Manager for the Prince William County (VA) Office of Historic Preservation. His works include A Single Blow: The Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Beginning of the American Revolution, A Want of Vigilance: The Bristoe Station Campaign, The Last Road North: A Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, 1863, and To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862.

Kevin R. Pawlak is a historic site manager for Prince William County’s Office of Historic Preservation and a Certified Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield. He previously worked as a Park Ranger at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. This is Kevin’s seventh book about the American Civil War, including To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862, part of the Emerging Civil War Series.