Two New Antietam Titles From Savas-Beatie

This will be brief. Not because these two new books from Savas-Beatie don’t deserve blogspace, but because they are each parts of series’ which I’ve talked about before and which are familiar to most of my readers. Brad Gottfried’s The Maps of Antietam is the third entry from him in the now four-volume atlas series. The layout is the same: facing pages of text and maps, breaking the Maryland Campaign down into action sequences. Again, the maps are clear and uncluttered, which is a good thing if you’re looking for a nice smooth narrative. Not such a good thing if you’re a map geek, but then I don’t think this series targets you anyway. The number: 122 maps, covering the campaign from Sept. 2 through Sept. 20. I spoke briefly with Prof. Bradley at Antietam this past weekend and got him to inscribe my copy, however I forgot to ask what is next for him. Look for more details on this one in my upcoming review in America’s Civil War.

Next is volume 2 of Dr. Thomas Clemens’s edition of the Ezra Carman papers, The Maryland Campaign of September, 1862. Like volume 1, this one has the same thorough, insightful notes that can only be provided by one of the foremost authorities – arguably THE authority – on the 1862 Maryland Campaign. Different this time around is the incorporation of the Carman maps into the text, and rather than placing all maps at the beginning of the book they are inserted in the corresponding text sections. Volume 1 took us through South Mountain, and Volume 2 covers the battle of Antietam. Big news: there will be a volume 3 that will feature the close of the campaign after Sept. 17 including the Battle of Shepherdstown as well as some selected correspondence from Carman’s files. So, we got that going for us, which is nice. Unfortunately this one was in the mail when I left for Antietam on Saturday, so even though we spent the weekend hanging out I wasn’t able to get Tom to sign it. But I expect I’ll be seeing him again at the Save Historic Antietam Foundation work day on November 17. You should come down to the battlefield, help us out, and get your copy inscribed as well!