To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862

by Robert Orrison, Kevin Pawlak

Overview

“The present seems to be the most propitious time since the commencement of the war for the Confederate Army to enter Maryland,” wrote Robert E. Lee following his army’s stunning success at Second Manassas.

Confederate armies advanced across a thousand mile front in the summer of 1862. The world watched anxiously—could the Confederacy achieve its independence?

Reacting to the Army of Northern Virginia’s trek across the Potomac River, George B. McClellan gathered the broken and scattered remnants of several Federal armies within Washington, D. C. to repel the invasion and expel the Confederates from Maryland. “Everything seems to indicate that they intend to hazard all upon the issue of the coming battle,” he said of the invading force.

Historians Robert Orrison and Kevin Pawlak trace the routes both armies traveled during the Maryland Campaign, ultimately coming to a climactic blow on the banks of Antietam Creek. That clash on September 17, 1862, to this day remains the bloodiest single day in American history.

To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862 offers several day trip tours and visits many out-of-the-way sites related to the Maryland Campaign. Chapters include:

Confederates Enter Maryland
The Federals Respond
The Investment of Harpers Ferry
The Battle of South Mountain
The Battle of Antietam
Return to Virginia

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611214093
Publisher:	Savas Beatie
Publication date:	09/28/2018
Series:	Emerging Civil War Series
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,072,081
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Rob Orrison and Bill Backus both researched and led the interpretation for the Bristoe Station battlefield. Rob, a contributor to Emerging Civil War, has been working in the history field for more than 20 years. He currently oversees day-to-day operations of municipal historic site program in Virginia.

Kevin Pawlak is the Director of Education for the Mosby Heritage Area Association and works as a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association and the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Kevin also serves on the advisory board at Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute and Shepherd University’s George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War. The History Press published his first book, Shepherdstown in the Civil War: One Vast Confederate Hospital, in 2015. He is a 2014 graduate of Shepherd University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in History with a concentration in Civil War and Nineteenth-Century America. Kevin is a regular contributor to Emerging Civil War.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments viii

Touring the Battlefields x

Prelude to the Campaign xv

Chapter 1 Lee Moves North 1

Chapter 2 McClellan Responds 27

Chapter 3 Battle of Harpers Ferry 53

Chapter 4 Battle of South Mountain 85

Chapter 5 Battle of Antietam 117

Chapter 6 Return to Virginia 133

Chapter 7 Conclusion 165

Suggested Reading 170

About the Authors 172

Editorial Reviews

"The newest addition to the simply outstanding 'Emerging Civil War Series" from Savas Beatie, "To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862" is a valued and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library American Civil War collections and supplemental studies reading lists."

Midwest Book Review, Volume 18, Number 11 - Carl Logan