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Tom Clemens edited two books about the Maryland Campaign at Antietam, "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. I & II," written by Ezra A. Carman. (By Ric Dugan/Staff Photographer / February 18, 2013) |
Name: Thomas G. Clemens
Age: 62
City in which you reside: Keedysville
Day job: retired professor emeritus, Hagerstown Community College; licensed Battlefield Guide at Antietam; president, Save Historic Antietam Inc., a battlefield preservation nonprofit corporation.
Book title: "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. I & II," written by Ezra A. Carman, edited and annotated by me.
Genre: Civil War history, nonfiction
Synopsis of book: Ezra Carman, a veteran of the Battle of Antietam and the battlefield's first historian, wrote an 1,800- page manuscript of the entire campaign during his tenure on the Antietam battlefield Board from 1894 to 1904. These books are a typescript of Carman's original manuscript, with notes and comments identifying, critiquing, and elucidating his work, by me.
Publisher: Savas-Beatie LLC, El Dorado Hills, Calif.
Price: $37.50 per volume.
You edited two volumes of Ezra A. Carman's work titled "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862." The first volume, which focused on the Battle of South Mountain, was published in 2010. The second volume, which focused on Battle of Antietam, was published in 2012, in time for the battle's 150th anniversary. Tell us who Carman was and why his work is so important to historians and students of history.
Brevet Brig. Gen. Ezra Ayres Carman commanded the 13th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry in the Battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. Thirty-two years later he was appointed the "historical expert" to the Antietam Battlefield Board, which was charged with laying out and marking the battlefield. As part of his duties he wrote this manuscript, although it far exceeded his charge to "create a pamphlet to guide Congress in future decisions" about the battlefield. He graduated from a military school and was well established in life when the war broke out, but felt compelled to offer his services to the Union cause. Ultimately he was in 23 battles from Virginia and Maryland to Georgia and the Carolinas, during the war.
After the war, he held several appointed government posts, and was active in veterans groups, especially the Antietam National Cemetery Board. When the Congress authorized the Antietam Battlefield in 1890, Carman lobbied for a position on the board of that organization. Serving on it from 1894 to 1904, he was transferred to Chickamauga Battlefield in 1905, where he died in 1909.
His work is important for historians and enthusiasts for two main reasons. First, he was a participant in the battle and solicited accounts from hundreds of surviving participants, North and South. Second, he used those accounts and many published works to create the most detailed account of the campaign and battle of Antietam that has ever been assembled. Virtually every author who has written about Antietam has used, and cited, Carman's manuscript to tell the story of the battle. They do this because Carman had information not found in any other source.
By the way, there will be a third volume. Carman included a chapter on the battle at Shepherdstown Ford Sept. 19 and 20, and several chapters about the politics in the army and government, especially among McClellan, Halleck and Lincoln. It will also have a biographical dictionary of everyone mentioned in the manuscript, and perhaps copies of some of the veterans' letters, so people can experience the immediacy of these men struggling to recall events 30 or more years ago. I expect to release it later this year.
As a professor and noted historian of the Civil War, how familiar were you with Carman's work before you began editing his manuscript into the two volumes?
I knew of the manuscript for quite some time, but its size, and the fact that there was no typescript made it a daunting task to use it. My mentor, Joseph L. Harsh, a native of Hagerstown and well-known Civil War scholar, called my attention to it when he was writing his trilogy on Confederate strategy in the Maryland Campaign, and we discussed it often. It was he who encouraged me to finish his typescript of the manuscript and publish it. We both were bothered that Carman often stated events as fact with any attribution and Dr. Harsh wanted me to verify things Carman had written.
It is Carman's maps that are some of the most interesting additions to both books. In particular, the ones in the second volume that focus on Antietam. What do you think is the most important aspect these maps teach us about the battles?
Carman put a lot of effort into these maps, all 14 of them, showing troop positions on all parts of the field from dawn on Sept. 17 until 5:30 that afternoon. They represent a huge amount of research and effort. The Battlefield Board put huge emphasis on asking veterans to mark a "stock" map exactly where their regiment was located during the battle. Carman, along with Col. Emmor B. Cope, created a base map showing topographical elevations, wood lots, crops in the various fields and even the types of fencing in place at the time. Nothing like it has ever been done, and the maps are vital to understanding the battle. Because the maps show the terrain and elevation, readers can get a sense of how those factors shaped and directed the outcome of the battle. It is tremendously difficult to translate three-dimensional terrain onto two-dimensional maps, but Carman and Cope did it about as well as it can be done. Again, anyone who has created maps of the battle since Carman has based their maps on those created by Carman and Cope. The map, when paired with Carman's manuscript, make Antietam the most thoroughly documented battle of the Civil War. Cope worked on a similar project at Gettysburg, Pa., and maps were done there too, but those of Antietam are far superior.
Tell us why visitors to Antietam National Battlefield might also benefit from Carman's work.
Age: 62
City in which you reside: Keedysville
Day job: retired professor emeritus, Hagerstown Community College; licensed Battlefield Guide at Antietam; president, Save Historic Antietam Inc., a battlefield preservation nonprofit corporation.
Book title: "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. I & II," written by Ezra A. Carman, edited and annotated by me.
Genre: Civil War history, nonfiction
Synopsis of book: Ezra Carman, a veteran of the Battle of Antietam and the battlefield's first historian, wrote an 1,800- page manuscript of the entire campaign during his tenure on the Antietam battlefield Board from 1894 to 1904. These books are a typescript of Carman's original manuscript, with notes and comments identifying, critiquing, and elucidating his work, by me.
Publisher: Savas-Beatie LLC, El Dorado Hills, Calif.
Price: $37.50 per volume.
You edited two volumes of Ezra A. Carman's work titled "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862." The first volume, which focused on the Battle of South Mountain, was published in 2010. The second volume, which focused on Battle of Antietam, was published in 2012, in time for the battle's 150th anniversary. Tell us who Carman was and why his work is so important to historians and students of history.
Brevet Brig. Gen. Ezra Ayres Carman commanded the 13th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry in the Battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. Thirty-two years later he was appointed the "historical expert" to the Antietam Battlefield Board, which was charged with laying out and marking the battlefield. As part of his duties he wrote this manuscript, although it far exceeded his charge to "create a pamphlet to guide Congress in future decisions" about the battlefield. He graduated from a military school and was well established in life when the war broke out, but felt compelled to offer his services to the Union cause. Ultimately he was in 23 battles from Virginia and Maryland to Georgia and the Carolinas, during the war.
After the war, he held several appointed government posts, and was active in veterans groups, especially the Antietam National Cemetery Board. When the Congress authorized the Antietam Battlefield in 1890, Carman lobbied for a position on the board of that organization. Serving on it from 1894 to 1904, he was transferred to Chickamauga Battlefield in 1905, where he died in 1909.
His work is important for historians and enthusiasts for two main reasons. First, he was a participant in the battle and solicited accounts from hundreds of surviving participants, North and South. Second, he used those accounts and many published works to create the most detailed account of the campaign and battle of Antietam that has ever been assembled. Virtually every author who has written about Antietam has used, and cited, Carman's manuscript to tell the story of the battle. They do this because Carman had information not found in any other source.
By the way, there will be a third volume. Carman included a chapter on the battle at Shepherdstown Ford Sept. 19 and 20, and several chapters about the politics in the army and government, especially among McClellan, Halleck and Lincoln. It will also have a biographical dictionary of everyone mentioned in the manuscript, and perhaps copies of some of the veterans' letters, so people can experience the immediacy of these men struggling to recall events 30 or more years ago. I expect to release it later this year.
As a professor and noted historian of the Civil War, how familiar were you with Carman's work before you began editing his manuscript into the two volumes?
I knew of the manuscript for quite some time, but its size, and the fact that there was no typescript made it a daunting task to use it. My mentor, Joseph L. Harsh, a native of Hagerstown and well-known Civil War scholar, called my attention to it when he was writing his trilogy on Confederate strategy in the Maryland Campaign, and we discussed it often. It was he who encouraged me to finish his typescript of the manuscript and publish it. We both were bothered that Carman often stated events as fact with any attribution and Dr. Harsh wanted me to verify things Carman had written.
It is Carman's maps that are some of the most interesting additions to both books. In particular, the ones in the second volume that focus on Antietam. What do you think is the most important aspect these maps teach us about the battles?
Carman put a lot of effort into these maps, all 14 of them, showing troop positions on all parts of the field from dawn on Sept. 17 until 5:30 that afternoon. They represent a huge amount of research and effort. The Battlefield Board put huge emphasis on asking veterans to mark a "stock" map exactly where their regiment was located during the battle. Carman, along with Col. Emmor B. Cope, created a base map showing topographical elevations, wood lots, crops in the various fields and even the types of fencing in place at the time. Nothing like it has ever been done, and the maps are vital to understanding the battle. Because the maps show the terrain and elevation, readers can get a sense of how those factors shaped and directed the outcome of the battle. It is tremendously difficult to translate three-dimensional terrain onto two-dimensional maps, but Carman and Cope did it about as well as it can be done. Again, anyone who has created maps of the battle since Carman has based their maps on those created by Carman and Cope. The map, when paired with Carman's manuscript, make Antietam the most thoroughly documented battle of the Civil War. Cope worked on a similar project at Gettysburg, Pa., and maps were done there too, but those of Antietam are far superior.
Tell us why visitors to Antietam National Battlefield might also benefit from Carman's work.
