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Taken at the Flood: Robert E. Lee and Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 Hardcover – September 10, 1999
Antietam has languished in the long, obscuring shadow cast by Gettysburg. Harsh advocates rethinking the Maryland campaign and promotes the argument that Antietam was one of the most interesting, critical, and potentially enlightening episodes in U.S. history.
- Print length649 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherKent State Univ Pr
- Publication dateSeptember 10, 1999
- Dimensions6.5 x 2 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-100873386310
- ISBN-13978-0873386319
- Lexile measure1460L
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About the Author
Joseph L. Harsh is a professor and former chair of history at George Mason University. He is the author of Confederate Tide Rising: Robert E. Lee and the Making of Southern Strategy, 1861-1862 (The Kent State University Press, 1998).
Product details
- Publisher : Kent State Univ Pr; 2nd Printing edition (September 10, 1999)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 649 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0873386310
- ISBN-13 : 978-0873386319
- Lexile measure : 1460L
- Item Weight : 8.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 2 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,573,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,130 in Civil War Campaigns & Battlefields History
- #30,270 in U.S. State & Local History
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We hear much more of what Lee actually said.
Interesting details emerge: Stuart was lax in scouting the Federal army, there is the on-going lack of cohesion in Confederate operations due to poor staffing protocols, Lee, finally hits the tone that he never dropped; 'I (we) were beaten by numbers that became ever larger,' certainly not by a more and more savvy set of Union commanders, by a better trained and equally well led cavalry service, by more and more intelligent strategy. Left only touched on is Lee's on-going refusal to grant any consideration to initiative or skill by Union commanders, much less any aggressive instinct of its soldiery. In this case, if Harper's Ferry is such a prize, Lee must hold the South Mountain line, then proceed.
He hopes to turn the Union right at the end of the day's fighting at Antietam? Expose the immediate and entire flank and rear of his army to a pursuit by McClellan? Its as if the other side is merely a prop that will always perform as expected.
However, the flood tide moment did indeed extend beyond September 1862, the author downplays the degree of collapse of the army of the Potomac after the Fredericksburg Campaign. Emancipation created an on-going crisis in the North. Read 'Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant' by Piston to hear Longstreet's ideas of how to proceed after 1862.
We see Lee here at the peak of his generalship that he matched at Spotsylvania, hands-on, in sight of his men, steel nerves when the army is threatened. But the haziness of thought when on the offensive, the love of the 'Hail-Mary,' essential details left to the guesses of subordinates, all shown in spades in this campaign AND Gettysburg: part tactical genius and yes, part warlord swinging his sword wildly above his head.
Starting with a full review of the CSA position after Pope's army escapes into the Washington forts to the return to Virginia on the 21st, the author display an astounding knowledge of this campaign. What he has to say about the Lee and McClellan will challenge many of the historical assumptions and make you think.
This is not an "easy read" BUT it is one that every student of the Civil War needs to read.
