Fields of Honor by Edwin C. Bearss is a book that shows in great detail many important battles of the U.S. Civil War. In the book, the main idea is that the battles shown influenced the outcome of the Civil War or were important to make the outcome what it was. One example in the text that shows this is when the author writes "perhaps as many as 28,000 of Lee's 75,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. For the moment, Lee's invasion of the North had been a costly failure." Here, the author is writing about the battle of Gettysburg. The author shows how Gettysburg helped make the outcome be what it was by showing how costly Gettysburg was to the Confederate cause, by showing that around a third of Lee's army was killed, wounded or captured. A second example is when the author says of the battle of Antietam: "Five days after Antietam, taking advantage of the Union victory, Abraham Lincoln issued his peliminary Emancipation Proclamation... The war to save the Union was now also the war to free the slaves." In this quote, the author shows the importance of the battle of Antietam by saying how it allowed Lincoln to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln being able to do so affected the outcome of the war because it changed the war from the goal of preserving the U.S. to that as well as emancipation of the slaves.
In the book, the author wants you to think about how important the battles were to the Civil War, and wants you to feel like you were there, in the battle. To accomplish these goals, the author uses several techniques. First of all, he uses a certain organization and uses information to make it more evident that these battles were the most important. For example, the author selected only certain battles, generally in which important things happened, to go into the book. As for organization, they are chronologically ordered so it makes more sense to the reader. To show the importance of battles, the author gives many facts and statistics. For example, in the text, the author writes "By sundown more than 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers are casualities in what had become the bloodiest day in American history." Facts and statistics like these help the reader understand the importance of these battles. By saying the number of dead and the fact that it was the bloodiest day in American history alerts the reader to the importance of the battle (In this case Antietam). To make you feel like you're in the battle, the author uses a variety of methods. For example, he uses the present tense and future tense to explain what's happening in the battle. One example is when the author says "The Sunken Road is a natural trench for the Confederates, but if the Yanks can gain and hold the high ground overlooking the right flank here... the Rebs are going to be in deep trouble." Quotes like these make you feel in the battle more because it sounds like it's happening at that moment, or will happen in the future, not in the past. This makes the reader feel like it's actually happening to them, instead of making them feel like it's already done. Another way the author helps the reader feel like they're in the battle is by providing maps with captions. This shows the reader more accurate views of the battlefields and troop positioning and movement, so the reader better understands what's going on, if the text is harder to understand. The visual of the battlefield helps a reader know where everything is, so when a place or unit is talked about in the text, the reader understands what's going on with it and where it is. These examples help readers think about the importance of the chosen battles, and feel more like it's happening in the moment.
When I read the book, I felt like I was learning a lot, and was thinking about what I was learning. The book is very detailed, so it gave me a lot of information about some battles that I definitely didn't know before. I think the author did a good job of making me feel in the moment and thinking about the importance, too- I definitely saw those while I was reading.
This is a great post! I could tell history really pleases you, but it's pretty impressive how you put your interest in it aside, and instead put your analytical skills to work. For instance, I like how you were able to break down the information in all the battles in the Civil War to find a main idea: "the battles shown influenced the outcome of the Civil War or were important to make the outcome what it was." Another thing that stirred me was that you were able to elaborate on the main idea by simply laying out facts and statistics that connect to it. Overall, this was a phenomenal post.
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