Crossroads of Freedom. Antietam: The Battle that Changed the Course of the Civil War (review)

This book is part of a new series being published by Oxford University Press called "Pivotal Points in American History." Its thesis is clearly outlined in the title. McPherson clearly regards Antietam (or Sharpsburg, for those south of the Mason-Dixon Line) as the crucial event of the U.S. Civil War.

McPherson's work here is a short but broad history of the Civil War from its beginning until the immediate aftermath of what has always been called "America's bloodiest day." Consequently, given the length of the book, there is very little about the engagement at Antietam in the book, aside from a relatively short (34 pages out of 156 pages of text) description of Robert E. Lee's invasion of Maryland and the battle itself. Rather, what McPherson tries to do, and very successfully at that, is to put the campaign within the broader context of the war up to the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation. McPherson's thesis holds that the defeat of the Confederate offensives mounted in Maryland, Mississippi, and Kentucky in the late summer of 1862, was really the turning point of the war. The battles of Corinth, Perryville, and Antietam, with the latter being the most important of the three, ended any real possibility of British or French intervention on the side of the Confederacy. It also revealed Confederate hopes of bringing Kentucky and Maryland into the Confederate fold to be illusory. Finally, it gave Abraham Lincoln the political clout he needed to issue the proclamation, in itself a courageous thing, given the political opposition it generated.

To be sure, there is nothing here that would really be "new" to any serious student of the war. Indeed, McPherson notes that the idea of Antietam as a turning point goes back to the writings of some of the more perceptive observers who had been participants in the war, including Winfield Scott and James Longstreet. The book's real value is that it fills a nice niche, roughly midway between Perry Jamieson's useful Death in September, which is a good primer on the battle itself, and the detailed operational and tactical studies produced by James Murfin and Stephen Sears. McPherson is particularly good at discussing the battle's importance in relation to Union politics, especially the 1862 elections. Although a slim volume, it is well researched, and as we have come to expect from McPherson, it is a wonderfully crisp, fast-paced read. An excellent bibliographic essay is also included.

The biggest problem I have with the book is its price. The book would make an ideal assigned reading in a college-level course on the Civil War. Its price, however, may give instructors qualms about assigning it. If it ever makes it into paperback, however, it should become standard reading for any student just starting to make his or her way into the study of the Civil War.