Booknotes: The Lower Battlefield of Antietam

New Arrival:

• The Lower Battlefield of Antietam: The Forgotten Front of America's Bloodiest Day by Robert M. Dunkerly (Arcadia Pub and The Hist Press, 2025).

The action around Burnside's Bridge and A.P. Hill's Light Division saving the day for Lee's army are pretty iconic episodes in the Battle of Antietam, so collectively labeling those parts of the battlefield a "forgotten front" is almost surely just a way to draw a line between the differences in general understanding between events in those sectors and the more popular lore surrounding "The Cornfield," the West Woods, and "Bloody Lane."

From the description: "While Antietam remains one the most famous engagements of the Civil War, history largely overlooks the lower end of the battlefield. 

Only here did the Confederates use Antietam Creek as a barrier, so it was the only place where Union troops had to force their way across. Here the Union army waged its final attack, and the Confederates launched their last counterattack led by A.P. Hill’s division. It might as well have been a different battle entirely from the more famed northern field."

More: "Using dozens of journals, diaries, newspaper accounts and reports," Robert Dunkerly's The Lower Battlefield of Antietam: The Forgotten Front of America's Bloodiest Day "examines the action in detail and explores the gradual preservation of this oft-neglected portion of America’s bloodiest battle." Firsthand perspectives drawn from sources referenced above populate every page of Dunkerly's narrative. Quite a large number of well-framed modern photographs provide visual reinforcement of notable landmarks and vistas described in the text. Additionally, a half-dozen detailed tactical maps, along with a bunch of archival sketches, supplement the action. It's a very attractive package.