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Travel Planning Book Store > Travel Planning books beginning with A
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Antietam: The Soldiers' Battle |
Author: John M. Priest
Published: 1994-01-20 |
List price: $24.95
Our price: $22.49
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As of: January 06th, 2009 11:02:55 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Eyewitness accounts and loads of maps
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 no less than 72 sketch maps of the battle. Between the plentiful maps and the chronologically-arranged accounts, the reader can easily follow the ebb and flow of the battle.
The book contains surprises, such as a mention of Gen. Robert E. Lee harassing Confederate stragglers, the soldiers' nearly universal dislike of shelling and occasional acts of cowardice or outrageous bravery. It's astonishing how close together opposing units were when they fired at one another. The author claims that Confederate defenders of the Bloody Lane fired at Max Weber's Union brigade at a range of 60 feet!
My favorite vignette concerns the half-crazed Swedish commander of the 20th New York Regiment, Col. Von Vegesack. When a Maine colonel helpfully suggested that the 20th's colors be lowered because they were drawing too much Rebel fire, Vegesack ranted, "Let them wave. They are our glory."
While many historians write about Antietam in broad strokes, this book gets into the details. For example, every student of the battle knows that Gen. John Sedgwick's Union division got ambushed and cut to pieces in the West Woods. Priest's book shows exactly how this disaster unfolded and where each unit was positioned. Most historians criticize the clumsy commitment of Col. William Irwin's VI Corps Union brigade. Yet, this unit -- which included the 20th NY -- defeated a Confederate thrust that threatened to retake Bloody Lane.
It's easy for armchair strategists to say that the Union commanders should have done this or the Rebel commanders should have done that. But, the general impression from reading this book is how difficult it must have been to impose any sort of control on a large battle like Antietam. This book should serve as a handy and useful reference for students of the battle.
 Terrific read
I can't say enough good things about this book. Prior to visiting the Antietam battlefield, I read Sear's Landscape Turned Red to get an overview. But then after seeing the battlefield I was eager to read more. Priest's book was just what I wanted. It is a compilation of first person accounts that puts you right in the middle of the action. You'll feel the shells and bullets flying all around. I've now read this book at least ten times, learning and understanding more with each read. I've also recently revisited the battlefield to help me put everything together.
Outstanding, gripping first person accounts
Terrific book. Unique in its approach of using first person accounts to describe in detail one of the most horrific fights of the ACW. Priest puts you in the thick of the action. Contains numerous great maps as well.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys military history, and consider it one of the best written on the Civil War.
Deja vu
John Michael Priest " Antietam: The Soldier's Battle" is like deja vu. The Minnie balls are fast and thick and the double canister cut down your men. Of the 226 men you led into the cornfield (1st Texas) that warm day of 17th of Sept 1862, only 40 men came out.
This book reads just like you were there. AWESOME and highly reccomended. The research is impressive and for those looking for who shot whom up on one of the most bloodiest days of the war, this book is it.
My research was also in to try to identify what battery fired the U.S. 12lb Sperical Shot recovered at Sharpsburg Pike near the prison at Antietam that I own.
Impressive work, the effort shows
I agree with a previous reviewer that Priest's book works best with a general Antietam book like Sears's. My approach to understanding Antietam was to (1) read Sears's Landscape Turned Red; (2) visit the battlefield (this is key to understanding the numerous references in Priest's book to "Mumma's swale," "the high ground 600 yards south of the Dunker Church," etc.--with a mental picture everything fits together better); (3) buy a topographic battlefield map, such as the one by Trailhead Graphics (for sale at the Battlefield's Visitor Center); and (4) read this book. My only criticism of the maps is the lack of a small-scale "finder" map that shows the battlefield and the area around Sharpsburg. As for the author's large-scale "handdrawn" maps, I found them very useful, and they are placed well, usually never more than a page or two from the action they refer to (I read the original 1992 edition, so I'm not sure if the maps are placed as well in this 1994 edition from a different publisher). As for the text, it's wonderful: well edited and even well indexed. The emphasis on the more "minor" actions on September 17, 1862 that a more general book would breeze over or ignore because of space limitations is appreciated.
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