An ALA Best Book for 2010
A Junior Literary Guild Selection
Bank Street Best Books of the Year
In September 1862, two great Civil War armies faced each other across tiny Antietam Creek. General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army found itself vastly outnumbered, with retreat all but cut off by the Potomac River. His opponent was General George McClellan, who worried constantly that Lee would outfox him and annihilate his Union Army.
As the sun rose that morning, none of the soldiers knew that they were about to take part in an epic battle that would prove to be the bloodiest day in American history. Nor could they know that the future of millions of men, women, and children held in slavery hung in the balance while, in Washington, D.C., President Abraham Lincoln waited for the right moment to issue his Emancipation Proclamation. From that day onward, the phrase “All men are created equal” would take on a new and powerful meaning.
Using archival photographs, maps, and numerous first-person accounts, this book will sweep young readers into the chaos and confusion of battle – shoulder-to-shoulder with the generals and the soldiers who fought it. The result is a gritty, utterly engaging look at the battle that changed the lives of its combatants and the United States forever.