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Decisions at Antietam: The Fourteen Critical Decisions That Defined the Battle (Command Decisions in America’s Civil War)
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About Decisions At Antietam: The Fourteen Critical
Product Description The Battle of Antietam has long been known as the bloodiest day in American military history with more than twenty thousand soldiers either dead, wounded, or missing. The Confederacy, emboldened after a conclusive victory at the Battle of Second Manassas, launched the Maryland Campaign and considered a decisive battle on northern soil as a lynchpin to their objectives. As Gen. Robert E. Lee pushed his veteran Army of Northern Virginia deeper into Maryland, Gen. George B. McClellan hastily assembled a refurbished Army of the Potomac. After engagements at South Mountain and Harpers Ferry, Lee concentrated his forces near the small village of Sharpsburg. On September 17, 1862, McClellan attacked at dawn, igniting a battle that raged until sunset. By the end of the following day, Lee’s battered army began its withdrawal. The eventual Confederate retreat provided the Lincoln Administration a much sought after victory. President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation just four days later, dramatically altering the very nature of the war. Decisions at Antietam introduces readers to critical decisions made by Confederate and Union commanders throughout the battle. Michael S. Lang examines the decisions that prefigured the action and shaped the contest as it unfolded. Rather than a linear history of the battle, Lang’s discussion of the critical decisions presents readers with a vivid blueprint of the battle’s developments. Exploring the critical decisions in this way allows the reader to progress from a sense of what happened in these battles to why they happened as they did Complete with maps and a guided tour, Decisions at Antietam is an indispensable primer, and readers looking for a concise introduction to the battle can tour this sacred ground—or read about it at their leisure—with key insights into the battle and a deeper understanding of the Civil War itself. Decisions at Antietam is the ninth in a series of books that will explore the critical decisions of major campaigns and battles of the Civil War. About the Author For 35 years, MICHAEL S. LANG has worked as manager for FedEx, while also becoming a successful photographer. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. As is the case with the other volumes in the Command Decisions of the American Civil War series, Decisions at Antietam applies critical decision methodology. This methodology asserts that as we study the course that a particular campaign or battle took, we need to ask, “Why did these events happen the way they did?” We often believe that history is a series of random events all mixed together to make up the past. As a matter of fact, history is almost always determined by human beings’ conscious and deliberate decisions. The Battle of Antietam is a perfect example of this phenomenon. A study of the critical decisions requires us to look at a particular series of events and then contemplate why they happened or what caused them to happen. We also have to ask, “What might have changed had this decision not been made in favor of another?” When this critical decision concept is understood, it can be applied to any battle in any war. During the course of any historical event as complicated as the Battle of Antietam, actors on both sides of the conflict made thousands if not tens of thousands of decisions. Most of these are typical of any battle. While many of these choices can be considered significant, only a handful of them are considered critical. Critical decisions are not only momentous in their own right but also so important that they substantially shape the decisions and events that follow, thus forming the course of history. These criteria essentially define the characteristics of a critical decision. Simply stated, the study of critical decisions examines the why of a historical event as opposed to the what. Studying these critical decisions quickly reveals that they
