Landscape Turned Red : The Battle of Antietam

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: This book is simply outstanding. It is one of the best Civil War books I have read. Stephen W. Sears has written a well researched and well written book.

The first couple of chapters were probably the most difficult for me to follow. Sears takes a brief walk through the months leading up to the battle of Antietam. He documents McClellan's inability to follow up success on the Peninsula and his delusions of grandeur he labored under throughout his Civil War career. He writes of Lee's assumption of command and of his success at Second Bull Run. Surrounding this battle, Sears also lays out the McClellan 'slows' - his inability to move at anything other than a glacial pace. The only reason that these chapters were harder to follow for me is that they go back and forth through time, they are not written chronologically.

Once Sears writes of the Maryland campaign itself the book becomes very easy to understand and enjoyable to read. Lee is clearly presented as a general whose chief ability is to know his opponent and exploit his weaknesses. McClellan is presented as a delusional general, oblivious to anything of any import, preferring to spend time on engineering questions rather than moving his army at any speed and supporting any success. In the end, Sears documents McClellan's inability to really win - even after the Lee's full plans fell into his own hands! Sears shows how many opportunities for absolute victory McClellan threw away. As Sears writes of him, he was "so fearful of losing that he would not risk winning" (p. 303). The real hero is the infantrymen, primarily the men of the Army of the Potomac who, under often inept leadership, proved their ability and courage after a string of losses in battle and threw themselves savagely into the fights at the Sunken Road, in the Cornfield and at the Rohrbach bridge. Their courage stands out clearly from this text.

His relating of what was actually going on in the battle was easy to follow. The maps were excellent, though it took me a chapter to realize that the maps are in the middle of the chapter for the events described in that chapter. He relates the events chronologically (McClellan's inability to launch a simultaneous offensive clearly makes this an easier task!) and he rolls the battle down from the north all the way to the south - from Hooker to Burnside/Cox. He included many details of what it felt like to be there and in the fight, recollections from journalists and the fighting men themselves and even some of the town people whose lives were dramatically changed that day. The sheer courage of the men who wore blue and gray was dramatically shown. The battle came alive for me.

Overall this is an excellent book. I think it is probably the definitive text on this battle and I see little need for it to be improved. I would recommend it to anyone seeking a fuller understanding of this battle, which more and more (as Sears has helped me to understand - whether that was his point or not) was the true hingepoint of the Civil War.