The Maryland Campaign of September 1862: Volume I, South Mountain

The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 #1

by Ezra A. Carman, Thomas Clemens

When Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland in early September 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan moved his reorganized and revitalized Army of the Potomac to meet him. The campaign included some of the bloodiest, most dramatic, and influential combat of the entire Civil War. Combined with Southern failures in the Western Theater, the fighting dashed the Confederacy's best hope for independence, convinced President Abraham Lincoln to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, and left America with what is still its bloodiest day in history.

One of the campaign's participants was Ezra A. Carman, the colonel of the 13th New Jersey Infantry. Wounded earlier in the war, Carman would achieve brigade command and fight in more than twenty battles before being mustered out as a brevet brigadier general. After the horrific fighting of September 17, 1862, he recorded in his diary that he was preparing "a good map of the Antietam battle and a full account of the action." Unbeknownst to the young officer, the project would become the most significant work of his life.

Appointed as the "Historical Expert" to the Antietam Battlefield Board in 1894, Carman and the other members solicited accounts from hundreds of veterans, scoured through thousands of letters and maps, and assimilated the material into the hundreds of cast iron tablets that still mark the field today. Carman also wrote an 1,800-page manuscript on the campaign, from its start in northern Virginia through McClellan's removal from command in November 1862. Although it remained unpublished for more than a century, many historians and students of the war consider it to be the best overall treatment of the campaign ever written.

Dr. Thomas G. Clemens (editor), recognized internationally as one of the foremost historians of the Maryland Campaign, has spent more than two decades studying Antietam and editing and richly annotating Carman's exhaustively written manuscript. The result is 'The Maryland Campaign of September 1862', Carman's magisterial account published for the first time in two volumes. Jammed with firsthand accounts, personal anecdotes, maps, photos, a biographical dictionary, and a database of veterans' accounts of the fighting, this long-awaited study will be read and appreciated as battle history at its finest.

About the Authors: Ezra Ayres Carman was born in Oak Tree, New Jersey, on February 27, 1834, and educated at Western Military Academy in Kentucky. He fought with New Jersey organizations throughout the Civil War, mustering out as a brevet brigadier general. He was appointed to the Antietam National Cemetery Board of Trustees and later to the Antietam Battlefield Board in 1894. Carman also served on the Chattanooga-Chickamauga Battlefield Commission. He died in 1909 on Christmas day and was buried just below the Custis-Lee mansion in Arlington Cemetery.

Thomas G. Clemens earned his doctoral degree at George Mason University, where he studied under Maryland Campaign historian Dr. Joseph L. Harsh. Tom has published a wide variety of magazine articles and book reviews, has appeared in several documentary programs, and is a licensed tour guide at Antietam National Battlefield. An instructor at Hagerstown Community College, he also helped found and is the current president of Save Historic Antietam Foundation, Inc., a preservation group dedicated to saving historic properties.

REVIEWS

"Ezra Carman's long-unpublished history of the 1862 Maryland Campaign is an essential source on the operations that produced the bloodiest day in American military history and largest surrender of U.S. troops before World War II and there is no one better qualified than Thomas Clemens to bring it to print. Not only does this volume make Carman's study broadly accessible to students of the war, but Clemens's many years studying the events of September 1862 and unmatched knowledge of Carman and his work enable him to skillfully and authoritatively explain and scrutinize Carman's take on events. In addition to being a magnificent contribution to literature on the Civil War, this outstanding book will also advance the process of securing Clemens a place alongside Carman and Harsh in the pantheon of Maryland Campaign scholars. I cannot recommend it highly enough." -- Ethan S. Rafuse, author of McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union and Antietam, South Mountain, and Harpers Ferry: A Battlefield Guide

From reading the manuscript and Clemens's expert editing, one easily sees why modern Antietam scholars lean heavily upon Carman's pioneering work. One wishes all Civil War battlefields had been likewise gifted with such a worthy and dedicated veteran sponsor. Soon, with the completion of the pair of volumes comprising The Maryland Campaign of 1862, all readers will have easy and affordable access to a classic of Civil War historiography, as well as a mammoth editorial project of significant scho...

Genres: Civil War, Historical, History, American Civil War

576 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Colonel Ezra Ayers Carman was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, commanding a New Jersey infantry regiment and a brigade.

Reviews

[Matthew Bartlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much has been written about the Maryland Campaign surrounding the Battle of Antietam, but there have always been the classics. As it is with classics, especially classics which were written right after the war, they run out of print and are quite difficult to get your hands on. For the longest time, I had heard of the great narrative which Ezra Carman had written on the entirety of the Maryland Campaign but was never able to get it. That was, until Thomas G. Clemens and Savas Beatie released the work in an annotated fashion.
Ezra Ayres Carman was born in Oak Tree, New Jersey and attended the Western Military Academy in Kentucky. During the Civil War, he fought with New Jersey units and faced some of the fiercest fighting throughout the war including the Battle of Antietam. After the war, he was appointed to the Antietam National Cemetery Board of Trustees and the Battlefield Board. Thomas G. Clemens has spent years studying the Maryland Campaign and gained his doctorate at George Mason University. He has written a myriad of magazine articles and has appeared in documentaries along with being a licensed tour guide at Antietam National Battlefield. Also, he is an instructor at Hagerstown Community College and also founded the Save Historic Antietam Foundation.
I should make one thing clear about this work. It is not a reprint. So many times when classics are reprinted, that it all they do, but this one is not one of those works. Clemens annotates the whole document with modern sourcing and extensive footnotes. Published in two volumes, the first deals with the Battle of South Mountain and some of the preliminary details of the campaign while the second deals with the Battle of Antietam. The annotations throughout not only give us an up to date look into the Maryland Campaign with modern sources, but a look into the mind of Carman as he was writing the work. Clemens tells us who Carman was more likely to paint in a greater light because of his experiences in the war and the politicking going on between Lincoln and McClellan throughout. While Carman states that this was not just a battle against armies, but a battle between the high command in Washington, Clemens adds that to tell us that not all was easy for the commanders. One of the aspects of the campaign which is largely ignored is the action taken at Harper’s Ferry before the Battle of Antietam and here, Carman places it in his narrative. The details of the capture of Union soldiers at the garrison is greatly important to the study of the campaign and here, it is given explicit detail through both the narrative of Carman and the annotation of Clemens.
The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 Volume I: South Mountain is a great addition to any Civil War library and is highly recommended for any reader. The excellent map system used in the book is a great aid to the narrative and the annotations are second to none. This is an excellent printing of this classic and goes to show that there is more to write about when it comes to the Maryland Campaign even if it is through annotations. Thomas G. Clemens has done a fantastic job and has performed a labor of love by pouring his knowledge into this text. Highly recommended!

Matthew Bartlett - Author, Gettysburg Chronicle

[William Guerrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

After he wrote it in the 1890's, General Ezra Carman's 1800-page manuscript, the most thoroughly researched history of the 1862 Maryland campaign, languished in the archives of the Library of Congress for over a century--known by few and read by fewer. Thanks to historian Tom Clemens and his publisher this important work is now being made available and a great read it is. Aside from the detailed history of the campaign, in which Carman benefited both from his own knowledge and on the ground research as well as from hundreds of letters and personal interviews with other veterans, this first volume also includes a valuable and unexpected (by me) political history of events in Maryland during the Secession Crisis. This is an excellent book and resource, made much more valuable by Clemens' annotations and commentary--thus combining the talents of the 19th and 21st centuries' foremost experts on this subject.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. The Battle of South Mountain happened in my neck of the woods. I pass over South Mountain going to and coming from work every day. Ezra Carman was an officer in the Union army and participated in this engagement. As such, he can offer an insight into what happened that is flavored by his recollection as well as the recollections of those he contacted when he wrote his manuscript. Thomas Clemens, who annotated this manuscript provides a modern insight into what was going on in Carman's mind when he wrote this book. He is extremely knowledgeable and makes an interesting story all the more so.
I also have Volume 2 of this series which deals with the battle of Antietam and I will be starting that read soon.

[Michael Noirot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Clemens did a superb job editing Ezra A Carman’s journals in this epic narrative of the start of the Maryland Campaign of 1862. His fantastic footnotes make this book what it is - awesome!