Series statement from publisher's website.

The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history, and Wisconsin played a vital role. The Second, Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin Regiments served in the Iron Brigade, one of the most respected infantries in the Federal army, and fighting by their side in Maryland was the Third Wisconsin. The mettle of the Badger State was sorely tested and proven on South Mountain and on the bloody Miller's Cornfield. The Third alone lost more than half its men to death or injury, and the Iron Brigade, too, suffered extraordinary losses. Yet Wisconsin's sacrifices at Antietam rebuffed the Confederate incursion into Northern territory and enabled the Emancipation Proclamation. Civil War historian Cal Schoonover sheds new light on the exploits of Wisconsin soldiers in this turning point to secure the Union.

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The author masterfully blends intellectual, economic, and military history into a fascinating discussion of a great moral question for generations of Americans: Can some individuals rightly profit during wartime while other sacrifice their lives to protect the nation?

The Iron Brigade is one of the most celebrated military organisations of the American Civil War. Although it is primarily known for its remarkable stand on the first bloody day at Gettysburg, its stellar service from the earliest days of the war all the way to Appomattox Court House is routinely ignored. The Iron Brigade in the Civil War is based on decades of archival research and includes scores of previously unpublished letters, photos, journals, and other primary accounts. This well researched and written tour de force, which includes reunion and memorial coverage until the final expiration of the last surviving member, will be the last word on the Iron Brigade for the foreseeable future. "When we were young", explained one Black Hat veteran many years after the war, "we hardly realised that we had fought on more fields of battle than the Old Guard of Napoleon, and have stood fire in far greater firmness." Here, at long last, is the full story of how young farm boys, shopkeepers, river men and piney camp boys in a brigade forged with iron helped save the Union. AUTHOR: Lance J. Herdegen is the award-winning author of several books on Civil War topics. His latest work, Those Damned Black Hats: The Iron Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign, won the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award. Lance is the former director of the Institute for Civil War Studies at Carroll University and presently chairs the Wisconsin Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. He was recently inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club's Hall of Fame and lives in Spring Prairie, Walworth County, Wisconsin. SELLING POINTS: The first book-length account of this legendary combat unit from Bull Run to the grand march up Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington ILLUSTRATIONS: 68 b/w photographs & 15 maps

“An outstanding read for anyone interested in the Civil War and Gettysburg in particular . . . innovative and thoughtful ideas on seemingly well-covered events.” —The NYMAS Review The largest land battle on the North American continent has maintained an unshakable grip on the American imagination. Building on momentum from a string of victories that stretched back into the summer of 1862, Robert E. Lee launched his Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on an invasion of the North meant to shake Union resolve and fundamentally shift the dynamic of the war. His counterpart with the Federal Army of the Potomac, George Meade, elevated to command just days before the fighting, found himself defending his home state in a high-stakes battle that could have put Confederates at the very gates of the nation’s capital. The public historians writing for the popular Emerging Civil War blog, speaking on its podcast, or delivering talks at the annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge in Virginia always present their work in ways that engage and animate audiences. Their efforts entertain, challenge, and sometimes provoke readers with fresh perspectives and insights born from years of working on battlefields, guiding tours, presenting talks, and writing for the wider Civil War community. The Summer of ’63: Gettysburg is a compilation of some of their favorites, anthologized, revised, and updated, together with several original pieces. Each entry includes original and helpful illustrations. Along with its companion volume The Summer of ’63: Vicksburg and Tullahoma, this important study contextualizes the major 1863 campaigns in what was arguably the Civil War’s turning-point summer.