A Fierce Glory

Starred review from October 15, 2018
Martin (Genius of Place) avoids clinical military assessments and instead imbues the story of Antietam with small personal details about the very real people—from private to president—whose fates changed with the outcome. Drawing on a trove of personal accounts and powerful photographic images, Martin conversationally describes events at the Maryland battlefield and in Washington as Lincoln struggled intensely with the loss of his son and a desperate need for a military triumph. Martin argues intriguingly that the Union victory—snatched from stalemate only by the eventual Confederate retreat—served as the true turning point of the war, allowing Lincoln to finally plan his Emancipation Proclamation address and starting a trajectory that led to Gettysburg in 1863. Novelistic prose, supported by thorough documentation and photos, packs an additional wallop, bringing home the battle’s high human cost. While Lincoln and General McClellan bicker, it’s the devastated soldiers whose fates ground the story, such as a lieutenant colonel from Massachusetts who wrote to his mother while mortally wounded, and 13-year-old Charley King, who begged his parents to let him serve as a drummer and became the war’s youngest army casualty. Martin’s fantastic recreation of this significant battle, with its focus on humanity, will resonate with both Civil War novices and more knowledgeable readers.