A Day in September: The Battle of Antietam and the World It Left Behind by Stephen Budiansky

I’m betting that of the various armed conflicts that the US have been involved, the Civil War is one that captures our imaginations. Budiansky is a writer of historical non-fiction. In this book he notes a bit of trivia I’d not considered: There has been more written about the Civil War than about the rest of American wars combined. Never considered that. He also notes that one of the most requested items by soldiers was centered around writing materials so soldiers could correspond with home. Hadn’t considered that either.

Given that kind of interest, be it academic or for readers, my guess is that most readers have a particular occurrence that catches their imagination. There are almost too many from which to choose. I grew up in Maryland. In elementary school, my dad and I went up to Sharpsburg for the day to tour the Antietam battlefield. Since then, Antietam has been my battle of interest. Been there multiple times and want to return. Something about Antietam.

This book isn’t a step-by-step explanation of the actions of Lee vs. McClellan. The book goes into some of the background of both the major players as well as the soldiers. One resource are the writings of one Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston physician and his son who was a union Captain (and eventual Supreme Court Justice) who was in the medical service at Antietam.

By reviewing copious letters written in the days before and after the battle, Budiansky has ‘humanized’ September 17, 1862 in a way I’ve not experience in other books. And he details things most of us wouldn’t have thought about.

Now we all (ok, maybe not ‘all’) know that the battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history. Still is. Over the course of 12 hours:

·      there were 22,720 killed, wounded, or missing . . .(if you want to see something truly humbling, visit the battlefield on the first Saturday of December each year. Local historical types place luminaries along the roads of the battlefield. One for each casualty. Search for 'Antietam Illumination' for more information. I've been there. Looks like a cemetery where each tombstone is lit. The sight can be unsettling portrayal of the slaughter of that day).

·      That the casualties of the civil war exceeded that of all the known wars at that time . . .

·      In total, it’s estimated that cannon-fire continued mostly non-stop firing at a rate of 1 shot every 2 seconds . . .

·      around 1 million Minie-balls were fired . . .

·      at the end of the battle, if walking along the sunken road (aka ‘Bloody Lane’) one would not have touch the ground for all the casualties . . .

·      the water of Antietam Creek that flowed through the northern half of the battlefield ran red

·      that a particular personality trait of McClellan (‘no lack of confidence in himself’) contributed to how that battle was fought or remembered . . .

·      the stench of the battlefield from the evacuated bowels/bladders of human and animal casualties combined with the putrification of decaying flesh over the following days . . .

·      the courage of the soldiers suffering in the ‘acceptance of unendurable conditions’ to kill an enemy he didn’t hate, he just wanted to kill.

The public isn’t going to run out to buy a book like this. People who are interested in the civil war are the target audience. For those who choose to read this book, it’ll transport you to the middle of those ‘unendurable conditions.’

ECD