The Antietam Campaign (review)

book reviews357 "appear as victims or as noble charity cases" (xvii). African Americans were portrayed in a patronizing if sympathetic light, at least in Northern publications. Lessons of War is divided into eight chapters. The first addresses the efforts to build a "literary community" for children. Editorials and correspondents' letters furnish examples of contemporary adult attempts to explain the war and its suffering to children. The second chapter focuses on the work of William T. Adams, who used the pen name Oliver Optic. Adams edited the popular The Student and the Schoolmate and wrote a vast range of editorials, articles, and also several children's novels. His work embraced didactic sermons, factual descriptions, and escapist fantasies, all aimed at a repeated and comprehensive message of patriotic duty, honorable sacrifice, and perseverance. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 deal respectively with how the magazines treated play activity and the war, war imposed sacrifices on children, fictional and real life relations between children and soldiers, and, finally, children's contributions to the war effort. Marten, in the commentary for the last chapter, identifies two recurring types of child-characters: one type that is naturally generous and selfsacrificing , and another type that possesses such traits but must first master selfishness and mobilize his or her inner character. Chapter 7 addresses wartime literature for Southern children, both white children in the Confederacy and freed children in Union occupied areas. Only one publication is excerpted for each; it is unfortunate that Southern primary sources are apparently so sparse. Marten mentions, but alas does not include, a story by Joel Chandler Harris that was published in a white children's journal. Chapter 8 contains suggestions Northern writers made to children regarding the lessons to draw from the war. The epilogue discusses some local magazines produced by young people for their peers. Once again, this is a case of communication enclosed within a middle class milieu. Marten includes a suggested readings section containing secondary sources as well as an annotated bibliography of the magazines he used. This excellent collection gives a valuable glimpse of how the evolving mass culture industry responded to the Civil War and what white middle class adults expected of their young. Lessons ofWar is useful both as a presentation of texts set within the war and also as a source for understanding the childhood socialization of the succeeding generation. M. Stephen Pendleton Buffalo State College The Antietam Campaign. Edited by Gary W. Gallagher. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Pp. xv, 335. $32.50.) This latest volume in the Military Campaigns of the Civil War series continues the tradition of excellence established with its first publication. "The Net Result of the CampaignWas in OurFavor: ConfederateReaction totheMarylandCampaign," the opening essay by editor Gary Gallagher, sets the tone for those that follow. 358civil war history Gallagher argues that most Confederate civilians saw the campaign as "at worst a bloody standoff, at best a narrow tactical success" (5). Robert E. Lee's soldiers were pleased with their actions, and the bond between them and their commander became much stronger. Brooks Simpson concludes in "General McClellan's Bodyguard: The Army of the Potomac after Antietam" that the Union troops were as reluctant as their commander to renew the fighting on September 18. They needed time to rest and resupply. Most of the soldiers resented political interference and pressure to conduct a winter campaign. Oppressive measures by the Northern government against Confederate sympathizers in Maryland reinforced the South's belief that the Confederacy was fighting Northern tyranny. William A. Blair's essay, "Maryland, Our Maryland: Or How Lincoln and His Army Helped to Define the Confederacy," explores the reactions of soldiers and civilians alike. Keith S. Bohannon's "Dirty, Ragged, and Ill-Provided For: Confederate Logistical Problems in the 1 862 Maryland Campaign and Their Solutions" delves into the shortcomings of the Confederate supply network and shows how reforms began to develop after the campaign. McClellan's army included about twenty thousand men who had never been in combat before. D. Scott Hartwig's "Who Would Not Be a Soldier: The Volunteers of '62 in the Maryland Campaign" describes how these troops hindered the Federal offensive...