Kevin R. Pawlak – författare

Two renowned historians delve into the often-overlooked Second Manassas Campaign and its part in the dramatic evolution of the Civil War.In late June 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee''s Army of Northern Virginia drove back Maj. Gen. George McClellan''s Army of the Potomac from the gates of the Confederate capital. Richmond was safe—at least for the moment.Another threat soon emerged when the Army of Virginia, a new command under Maj. Gen. John Pope, moved toward Fredericksburg, threatening Confederate communications, supply points, and Richmond. Pope, who had a reputation as something of a braggart, had scored victories along the Mississippi River at New Madrid and Island No. ten. President Lincoln was hopeful he would replicate that success in Virginia. Pope brought with him a harder philosophy of war, one that would put pressure not just on Lee''s army but on the population of Virginia. Alarmed and offended by "such a miscreant as Pope," Lee began moving part of his army north to counter and "suppress" the threat.In Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August twenty-eight–thirty, 1862, historians Dan Welch and Kevin R. Pawlak follow Lee and Pope as they converge on ground bloodied just thirteen months earlier at First Bull Run (Manassas). Since then, the armies had grown in both size and efficiency, and any pitched combat between them promised to dwarf the earlier battle. For the second summer in a row, Union and Confederate forces clashed on the plains of Manassas. This time, the results would be far more terrible.

A fully illustrated narrative of the Maryland campaign 1862, culminating in Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American military history. By the late summer of 1862, it appeared as though the United States would be permanently split in two, and by the beginning of September, General Robert E. Lee''s Army of Northern Virginia was on the doorstep of Washington, D.C. Panicked and defeated Federal soldiers huddled behind the capital''s defenses. Rather than attacking the city, Lee turned his attention north into Maryland, seeking a decisive battlefield victory to influence public opinion at home and diplomatic opinion overseas. Major General George B. McClellan led the reorganized Army of the Potomac into the state to meet Lee. Over a span of 18 days, the two armies fought four significant battles, including the climactic engagement along Antietam Creek outside Sharpsburg on September 17, 1862. The battle there still holds the distinction as the bloodiest single day in American military history. Forced from Maryland, Lee withdrew into Virginia, leaving President Abraham Lincoln free to follow up this strategic victory with the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a measure that changed the nature of the American Civil War. Copious illustrations and maps paired with a detailed text, this account of the Maryland campaign will have wide appeal.