On memberships and donations to bring you programs. Also, consider being a member. Structure you are 1844ng in was built around. That is when the fry house was built. Farmers lived and worked here prior to the battle of antietam. Union army took over their property. The structure was a Field Hospital where hundreds of Wounded Soldiers were treated by surgeons in the days and weeks following the battle. Us, Daniel Vermilya to discuss his new book. I will have to read from this because i could not memorize all this. Dan is a civil war historian and the author of several books including the battle of james a. Mountainand garfield and the civil war. He previously worked as a park field,at the antietam and he currently works at the historicr National Site in gettysburg, pennsylvania. Before i handed over to dan, cspan is here today. We will have a question and and their answer section. Please wait for a member of cspan to ask the question. We will also have a book signing. A copy of dans book. If you have a copy, he will sign it there. All right. Here is dan. [applause] mr. Vermilya thank you very much. Thank you, rachel. Thinks to be cspan folks for coming up and being your today. Its really a treat for me to be here with all of you. As rachel said, i currently work at the Eisenhower NationalHistoric Site in gettysburg. That is my day job. Atrs ago i used to work Antietam Battlefield. Its nice to be back in familiar environments and surroundings and a place i love very much and see familiar faces here as well. Its great to be here to talk ofut my book on the battle antietam. It came out last year as part of the emerging civil war series. The idea of the series is these books are providing introductions, perhaps a gateway to these stories of the american civil war. Great bookst many that point to an introduction to the battle and thats what i hope to provide with this volume here not just an introduction to the battle, but a fresh look to antietam. And name so many are familiar with, but we may not understand it all that well. We may not understand its complexity. We may not understand its full weight and important and the story of our country importance in the story of our country. That is what we will do, take a look at the spread tell and that field of, live take a blood,that field of take a new look. And if you are one hoping to dive deeper into the history of willtam, hopefully this help. I would like to start with a quotation. A volunteer in the infantry. Ive, myself i, myself, am from ohio, originally. Typically in my books i quote a lot of ohioans. I want to tell everybody that upfront. I love featuring the boys from my buckeye state. Kennedys quote is a beautiful one because it introduces us to this story of antietam. Upon this field of antietam was brought one of the most desperate battles of the word the rebellion, upon which the outcome hung the destinies changedy dramatically not only the course of these civil war, but American History is off. To dive deeper into this, we need to begin a few months before the battle. In washington, d c, president Abraham Lincoln holds a meeting telling his cap members that he has decided it was time to issue an emancipation proclamation, on rebellion. He was open to their input as to how they would issue this document. The measure was discussed. It was secretary of state William Seward who advised president lincoln to wait for a Union Victory so he would be issuing it from a position of strength. Lincoln took that advice and decided to wait. That will provide a lot of the background, a lot of drama for this upcoming campaign. With lincoln having decided to wait, that victory did not come right away. 1862, the war was on the doorstep of washington, d and theobert e. Lee army of virginia fighting and winning the second battle of manassas, one of the finest battles of the civil war. And with the proclamation still sitting and awaiting the light realized that an opportunity had presented itself. And in september, he would famously note, it was the most propitious time to move north of the Potomac River and bring his Confederate Army into the state of maryland to read this whole campaign is being driven by robert e. Lee and the army of Northern Virginia. With lee and his army fresh off of the victory, with momentum on their site, yes, they were tired. Pushing north of the union soil, they have many things they hope to accomplish. If i have to sum it up in one thing, they are hoping to accomplish a victory over union forces on union soul. Lee understands the longer the war goes on, the greater the north has a chance of victory. Coming into maryland has advantages for lee and his army, but overall he is hoping to defeat union forces on union. Oil what about the other commander in this campaign . It is fitting we will talk a little bit more about George Mcclellan in our talk today, with robert e. Lee spending the night in the price house a stones throw from where we are in the price house pry house born. This is the exact opposite for the army of the potomac which really did not exist, especially as constituted here at antietam. The union forces in washington in total disarray, president lincoln was looking for a commander who could revive this army and do it very quickly. Despite the wishes of his cabinet and many officers, lincoln turned to mcclellan to reorganize this army, to give him a Second Chance at command, George Mcclellan having attempted to seize virginia in peninsulassful campaign. Mcclellan is getting a Second Chance. But before he can confront lee in maryland, yes to build an army he can use in the field. Opposing vehicles, robert e lee has a pickup truck that is a little worse for wear, miles on its tires, but he knows it will run. And George Mcclellan is a beaten up car, the foot is up, steam coming out of the engine, and it is up on cinderblocks. The first thing you have to do is get a car that is capable of moving. Build something out of this disassembled mess and washington, d. C. Referred to this week as the crisis of our fate. Confederate forces moving north, army,lan rebuilding his and what we have here is mcclellan in the center, some of his army remnants from the peninsula campaign. Some of his army will be constituted of the remnants of john popes army and the second is built out of divisions committed by this gentleman here, ambriz burnside. This settlement, jacob cox, and , isaacntleman down here stevens. This is a brandnew amalgamation of the army of the potomac in 1862 and this is the army that would carry through and fight a famous battle. It was really built in Early September at the outset of this campaign and there are a lot of ashs about George Mcclellan a commander. His is a name that is met with scorn and derision by many, especially historians. We label him slow moving. , but not aanizers great deal general. Lets look at the army he built. Not to go too far in the wee son this, but is important to understand each polls mcclellan is operating to go too far in the weeds on this, but it is important to understand the tools mcclellans operating with. About 50 of the confederate soldiers at antietam had fought and three or more major battles. This is a veteran about force. The union army is not very close. Lets go to the bottom. No combat experience. At least 20 of the Union Soldiers had never been in battle before. You can say that almost every soldier hadderate been in one or more major engagement. What about command experience . In the Confederate Army, significantly more experience among the highranking officers. If you are an officer leading a brigade, a division, or a wing, which we will call army corps for the purposes of comparison, always are you have led a unit of that size in battle before. In combat in the american civil war, a lot of decisions that drive the avenue and flow of battle are made of the brigade command level. Three out of every four confederate brigade commanders have led a brigade in combat before. You can say that for less than 30 of Union Brigade commanders. What does this all mean . What am i getting at . When these armies are moving into the state of maryland, they are two very different forces. They are each going to have issues during the campaign. Each army will lose thousands of roads straggling on the of maryland. This is not an easy campaign for and sometimes historians seem to suggest the union army was too big to fail or a force that was so strong, anyell the together that other general could have ended the war here. Thats not necessarily the case, as we will see and talk about further. But by september, both armies are in the field advancing into maryland. There is frederick on a map. The union army catching up with them by september 12, september 13. They are finding the confederates moved west. As lee came into maryland, he had a problem at Harpers Ferry. At the confluence of the shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. With Harpers Ferry at the northern end of the shenandoah have a lee could not Confederate Army in maryland with a union for sitting right behind him. That was kind of a problem. So lee decided he would divvy up acrossces, let them maryland, to try to get rid of the Union Garrison there and he did that with what is known as special orders 191. The union forces arrived in september 12, september 14. They come across on september 13. Just by a short pants, and how many people have heard of this before, the lost orders . A great many of you have. Typically this is described as intelligence coup of the war and mcclellan has this High Definition picture of where the Confederate Forces are and knows exactly how to smash the Confederate Army. At one of the reasons it is known as that, if ownread mcclellans i haves, he says, aha, the confederate plans. Is theim that this intelligence find of the war, thats not exactly what they really were. At the reality of these orders known as the lost orders first of all, it was not a rarity that a copy of enemy marching orders would fall into your hands. This is not the only time in the campaign that marching orders would fall into your hand. Essentially what he has is a orders leaves marching from one day earlier, which indicated they were expired, or at least out of date, the operation to remove union forces from Harpers Ferry should have been wrapped up. 100 rders were no longer accurate. Hightially, rather than a definition picture, it gives mcclellan a blurry portrait, telling him that the confederates are divided. With these orders in mind, a plan andormulates a tax part of leahs army on south mountain. S army on south mountain. It was a turning point in this campaign. There is a great book on this by a good friend of mine. I would encourage you to check that out if you want to learn more about it. Union forces attacked several mountain gaps trying to push these confederates act, to push west of the mountain and it results in a Union Victory. And leemy is divided thinks, i have to head back into virginia. So on the morning of september , confederates in the army of Northern Virginia come marching down the bloombergs pike, but they go a little past the pry farm. Before he withdraws to virginia, he was to wait and hear what happened to the Confederate Forces. It is there that he hears from his trusted subordinate Stonewall Jackson that the union forces have surrendered. It tells lee, you know what . The campaign is not over yet. I can stay in maryland. I can reunite my army and i can fight the battle i came here looking to fight. Fields around sharpsburg, maryland or write about here on this map, by the way where we are now. Of northernate Army Virginia begins to set up on these ridges, on these hills, on this high ground so lee can await the nearby union army in battle. Is this a risk for robert e. Lee . Absolutely. He is a risk taker. Feature of the movie is as a commander. This is a risk for him. However. He does not want to abandon this campaign entirely just yet. This is the goal that he came here for. He is going to give it a try. And again, for lee, i think what , lee is typically when we talk about his west battles of the war, typically we talk about chancellorsville or lee make somes big mistakes. On september 17, i would argue that lee has one of his finest days as a tactical commander. The union forces are gathering. Thereupon the eastern side of the creek and begin setting up around here, the fields and between tvs will and antietam creek itself. As to whyemerge didnt the union army of attack . Had, had come u p. If you are mcclellan looking out to the fields, it is hard to formulate a battle plan when you cannot see where the enemy is. His land andl form the battle will begin. As for the battle of antietam , the typical battle on antietam is it is a battle fought in three separate cases. Have you folks are that before . Three separate phases . I want you to a race that from your mind. It was not fought in three separate phases. It was bought in two phases. There was a northern phase and a southern phase to the battle. From these fields around us, union forces began to move into place. The First Army Corps crossed into antietam creek. Later that night, the 12th army corps would cross over into antietam creek and the battle would begin with attacks and to the left flank of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. If these are two boxers, the union army is opening the battle jabs. Ight wing test lees left, knowing all the while, mcclellan wants to launch a right hook into the left blank. While these attacks are underway with the confederates diverging their attention northward, mcclellan wants to send an attack across on the southern end of the field hoping a hopefully weekend confederate right flank. It is a battle fought in two phases. Boneshing north of the still turnpike, the northern phase of the battle. Everything south is the southern phase of the battle. It thatif we look at way, it makes more sense to discern what mcclellans thinking was during the battle and thus it was on september 16, union forces start moving into case. Into place. There was firm astonishing. Cavalry and forces in the east woods outside of sharpsburg. A few casualties fall. As the dust settles, both armies in close proximity and each has a pretty clear sense that on the morning, there is going to be a major engagement phot. Sometimes major battles corrupt without either army knowing full well they are about to iraq. I think if you asked robert e. Lee and George Gordon meade if the largest, bloodiest battle of the civil war was going to start that day, i think each of them would have said, absolutely not. On the morning of the 17th, both armies are pretty well understanding that a major battle is about to begin. Of imposing dread, of something that was about to come permeated the ranks of both armies. Of theufus dawes wisconsin 16th wrote, there was a drizzling rain and with the prospect of conflict on the morrow, the night was dismal. Nothing can be more solemn than waiting for the summons to battle impending. Sergeant andrew of the first georgia wrote, at night we stretch ourselves on the ground to sleep off the pangs of hunger. No one knows what a day may bring, that from the appearance tonight, thousands of poor soldiers will have no use for rations tomorrow night. One of the most eloquent writers of the civil war were at of that evening, september 16 and die for ait meant to flag or a phrase or a man or an dream was rousing with them, the soldiers, waiting for don. While this is going on, we must c back to washington, d washington, d. C. Where lincoln is awaiting news. Lincoln resolved that if the confederates were defeated and pushed back that would be the defeat he needed to issue his emancipation proclamation. It was not just the eight of the campaign, but the fate of freedom for the united aids, the freedom of millions of individuals. There was a lot in play. And as the sun and on, private Frederick Krause noted that the or ang had a stillness calm that precedes a terrible storm. He read from the 91st psalm, which reads 1000 may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. Later that wounded day but he survived that wound. The opening salvos of antietam of antietam were the bloodiest, not just of the civil war, but in American Military history. The fighting began early that morning with artillery fire back and forth from confederate positions from sharpsburg, from the first several hours of the battle were the most confusing, the most chaotic, and the bloodiest. They took place in and around david millers cornfield. The north woods the eastwards, the westwood. Field. A perfect killing there was artillery from each side zeroed in on. Not only to subject going up against other infantry close range, in some instances, but crossfire from artillery. It was devastating fighting. Of all the maps in this book thiswere really well done, one give some sense of the confusing nature. This is the first hour and a half or so of fighting in the cornfield. Its very instructive to how confusing this was. Sometimes people ask, how many times did the cornfield change hands. I have so many different answers. I do not have a precise number. With general just of hookers army advancing to the south. In the first hour, there was roughly one casualty per second on the morning of september 17. On