What do you think?
Rate this book
The Civil War #11
The Bloodiest Day: The Battle of Antietam
Beautifully bound and illustrated volume on the Civil War featuring The Bloodiest Day, the Battle of Antietam. Part of Time-Life's popular series on the Civil War, this book covers the 1862 Maryland Campaign and includes maps, period engravings and sketches, and several dozen photographs.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
2 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 2, 2021
This book in the series looks at the battle of Antietam. This book does an excellent job at examining all aspects of the battle. I feel all of the books in this series are great primers at looking into the topics. The photographs, the maps, and all the supporting context of the book make this great.
This book contains a photographic segment titled 'A Gallery of the Dead' pgs. 142-149. In these pages are photographic images of the carnage and death of fighting Americans who were aimed at preserving their own way of life.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the American Civil War. Thanks!
This book contains a photographic segment titled 'A Gallery of the Dead' pgs. 142-149. In these pages are photographic images of the carnage and death of fighting Americans who were aimed at preserving their own way of life.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the American Civil War. Thanks!
August 16, 2018
This is one of the best volumes of the, overall very good, old Time-Life Civil War series. As the title suggests, this book looks at the 1862 Maryland Campaign.
Following a stunning triumph at 2nd Manassas, Lee determines to invade Maryland, in the hopes of carrying the war to the North and in defeating the Army of the Potomac on their home soil. He is looking at nothing less than winning independence for the Southern Confederacy.
Lincoln, reeling from the disaster, again, along the banks of the Bull Run, has had little choice but to reinstate George B. McClellan to command the twin armies of the Potomac and Virginia. McClellan will merge the Corps of the Army of Virginia into his own and begin a plethora of command changes amongst the newly integrated Corps.
Lee crosses the Potomac and heads into Maryland, where he forms for a while around Frederick before fanning out to achieve multiple objectives simultaneously. McClellan, cautiously shadowing the Rebel army, arrives at Frederick following the Army of Northern Virginia's moving on, and a couple men of the Army of the Potomac find a lost copy of Robert E. Lee's general orders. This is a tremendous intelligence windfall which allows the Federals to disrupt Lee's intentions, and seize the initiative from the Southerners.
The author does a very good job of describing the Confederate strategic and political reasonings for invasion, as well as the Unions initial counter movements.
However, the author falls into the typical narrative trap of describing McClellan as a near total incompetent, entirely overlooking the type of war Little Mac was attempting to wage.
Written in the 80's, a good decade and a half before the beginning of the push to rehabilitate McClellan's reputation in military history, the author repeats all too often, without really doing any independent analysis, the accepted standard template narrative on the Federal command during the campaign.
Then again, these were meant to ve straightforward, brief and concise narratives of the war. So some leeway considering time and word count restraints is in order.
Despite this flaw, which is entirely prevalent throughout the narrative, the book otherwise does a flawless job detailing the Maryland Campaign. The Rebel siege of Harpers Ferry, the Federal assault upon the passes at South Mountain, and the ensuing, epic clash at Antietam are all wonderfully told. The book even carries past the campaign by detailing Lincoln's frustrations with McClellan as fall seeps towards winter and McClellan seemingly dawdles.
Another Confederate feat of cavaliers circumnavigating the Army of the Potomac is about the last straw for a fed up Administration who replaces McClellan with the disastrous Burnside.
For the space restrictions, the book also did a very good job of narrating the decision, and issues with, to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The international dimension involved in the issuance of the Proclamation is highlighted as is its pragmatic value above that of the humanitarian.
Despite the flaw of unduly criticising McClellan, this was an excellent read, one that can stand on its own as a single volume primer on the Antietam Campaign outside the reading order of the series.
Highly recommended.
Following a stunning triumph at 2nd Manassas, Lee determines to invade Maryland, in the hopes of carrying the war to the North and in defeating the Army of the Potomac on their home soil. He is looking at nothing less than winning independence for the Southern Confederacy.
Lincoln, reeling from the disaster, again, along the banks of the Bull Run, has had little choice but to reinstate George B. McClellan to command the twin armies of the Potomac and Virginia. McClellan will merge the Corps of the Army of Virginia into his own and begin a plethora of command changes amongst the newly integrated Corps.
Lee crosses the Potomac and heads into Maryland, where he forms for a while around Frederick before fanning out to achieve multiple objectives simultaneously. McClellan, cautiously shadowing the Rebel army, arrives at Frederick following the Army of Northern Virginia's moving on, and a couple men of the Army of the Potomac find a lost copy of Robert E. Lee's general orders. This is a tremendous intelligence windfall which allows the Federals to disrupt Lee's intentions, and seize the initiative from the Southerners.
The author does a very good job of describing the Confederate strategic and political reasonings for invasion, as well as the Unions initial counter movements.
However, the author falls into the typical narrative trap of describing McClellan as a near total incompetent, entirely overlooking the type of war Little Mac was attempting to wage.
Written in the 80's, a good decade and a half before the beginning of the push to rehabilitate McClellan's reputation in military history, the author repeats all too often, without really doing any independent analysis, the accepted standard template narrative on the Federal command during the campaign.
Then again, these were meant to ve straightforward, brief and concise narratives of the war. So some leeway considering time and word count restraints is in order.
Despite this flaw, which is entirely prevalent throughout the narrative, the book otherwise does a flawless job detailing the Maryland Campaign. The Rebel siege of Harpers Ferry, the Federal assault upon the passes at South Mountain, and the ensuing, epic clash at Antietam are all wonderfully told. The book even carries past the campaign by detailing Lincoln's frustrations with McClellan as fall seeps towards winter and McClellan seemingly dawdles.
Another Confederate feat of cavaliers circumnavigating the Army of the Potomac is about the last straw for a fed up Administration who replaces McClellan with the disastrous Burnside.
For the space restrictions, the book also did a very good job of narrating the decision, and issues with, to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The international dimension involved in the issuance of the Proclamation is highlighted as is its pragmatic value above that of the humanitarian.
Despite the flaw of unduly criticising McClellan, this was an excellent read, one that can stand on its own as a single volume primer on the Antietam Campaign outside the reading order of the series.
Highly recommended.
September 30, 2020
I first read this book back in 1986 at the tender age of 10.
Fast-forward to the present day, and after finally having the honour and pleasure of touring the Antietam Battlefield, I decided to purchase and re-read this book, this time with the perspective of adulthood, post-graduate education, and military service under my belt.
Well, I loved the book every bit as much this time as I did then, and for the same reasons: excellent text narrative, illustrations (paintings, editorial cartoons from the era, and photographs [including dramatic photos of war dead that aren’t for the faint of heart), and captions alike, chock full of fascinating information.
Fast-forward to the present day, and after finally having the honour and pleasure of touring the Antietam Battlefield, I decided to purchase and re-read this book, this time with the perspective of adulthood, post-graduate education, and military service under my belt.
Well, I loved the book every bit as much this time as I did then, and for the same reasons: excellent text narrative, illustrations (paintings, editorial cartoons from the era, and photographs [including dramatic photos of war dead that aren’t for the faint of heart), and captions alike, chock full of fascinating information.
May 12, 2019
Great detail and pictures!
February 28, 2026
I bought the Lifetime series from Barnes & Noble in 1989 off their clearance table and boy have we enjoyed them, we read through them at least once a year.
July 23, 2014
These Time-Life books are excellent summaries of their subjects, especially if you know little about the battle itself and yet you've been to the battlefield and would like to go again. This volume (from the Civil War series) is a great way to familiarize yourself with what happened so you can understand the landscape better, and how it contributed to the events. And, as always with Time-Life, the pictures, drawings, and the maps are fabulous.
September 27, 2018
Like the other books in the Time-Life Civil War series, this volume is a good overview of the campaign but doesn't go into much detail. There is an (over) abundance of photos and illustrations, some of which cover a full page and even two full pages, space which could have been used to go into more detail. This book would probably be of more interest to those just starting to get inresting in the Civil War; personally, I prefer Stephen W. Sears' Landscape Turned Red.
March 18, 2013
Again, quite good!
April 15, 2015
I enjoy reading the Time-life series because they are good introductions to various topics. The narratives are easy to read. But, the real charm of the series are the archival photos.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews