The Battle of Antietam

Misha Glenny and guests discuss The Battle of Antietam, the single deadliest day of the American Civil War. The battle took place on 17th September 1862, less than 100 miles from Washington D.C. The conflict had been going on for over a year, and there had been a string of successes by the rebel Confederate Army against Union forces. The Confederates were a group of Southern States that had seceded from the United States of America over their right to continue the institution of slavery. This secession was rejected by US President Abraham Lincoln, who was committed to maintaining the Union. Despite heavy Union casualties, Antietam has been called the ‘crossroads of freedom’ by historians. It played a crucial role in the release of the Emancipation Proclamation against slavery, which was described by Lincoln as ‘the great event of the 19th Century’.

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Guests

• Karen Salt 3 episodes
  Professor of Culture, Place and Communities at Manchester Metropolitan University
• Susan-Mary Grant 4 episodes
  Professor Emerita of American History at Newcastle University
• Robert Cook 2 episodes
  Emeritus Professor of American History at the University of Sussex

Reading list

• Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs
  Alfred J. Bollet (Galen Press, 2002) Google Books →
• Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
  David W. Blight ( 2018) Google Books →
• Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America
  Allen C. Guelzo ( 2006) Google Books →
• The Antietam Campaign
  Gary W. Gallagher (ed.) ( 2008) Google Books →
• I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign
  D. Scott Hartwig ( 2023) Google Books →
• The War for a Nation: The American Civil War
  Susan-Mary Grant ( 2006) Google Books →
• Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America
  Allen C. Guelzo ( 2004) Google Books →
• Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations
  Howard Jones ( 2010) Google Books →
• Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam: The Battle that Changed the Civil War
  James M. McPherson ( 2003) Google Books →
• Clara Barton: Professional Angel
  Elizabeth Brown Pryor ( 1987) Google Books →
• A Field Guide to Antietam
  Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler ( 2016) Google Books →
• Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam
  Stephen W. Sears ( 2003) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m0032r4c

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0032r4c

Auto-category: 973.7 (United States history—Civil War period, 1861–1865)