The York Civil War Round Table will feature Edward H. Bonekemper, III at its monthly meeting on September 16, 2009. The topic of the evening will be "Antietam: A Calamity of Mistakes by Lee and McClellan". The talk will commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Antietam which occurred on September 17, 1862, an engagement often described as the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. The author of books on both opposing generals, Bonekemper will examine how each officer in turn lost what could have been major opportunities for success, and will argue that in reality neither man could be considered a victor.
The meeting will be held at 7:00 PM on Wednesday evening in the auditorium of the York County Heritage Trust at 250 E. Market Street in downtown York, Pennsylvania. There is no charge for admission and the public is welcome! Parking is also free.
Edward H. Bonekemper, III is the author of four Civil War books: How Robert E. Lee Lost the Civil War, A Victor, Not a Butcher : Ulysses S. Grant's Overlooked Military Genius, McClellan and Failure: A Study of Civil War Fear, Incompetence and Worse and Grant and Lee: Victorious American and Vanquished Virginian. He is a dynamic, controversial, and informative speaker who will both inform you and challenge you to dig deeper into the always interesting subject of the Battle of Antietam. He will be available to autograph copies of his books.
Ed Bonekemper. author of four controversial Civil War books, will discuss his views on calamitous Union and Confederate generalship leading up to and at the Battle of Antietam.
Ed's views:
In the Maryland or Antietam Campaign,Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan demonstrated the weaknesses that characterized their Civil War careers. Lee launched an unapproved strategic offensive that may have lost the war, placed his army in what should have been a death-trap, failed to entrench, allowed fatal counter-attacks that decimated his force, and risked his weakened army by leaving it on the battlefield for an extra day for no explicable military reason.
On the Union side, McClellan's performance was probably even worse. He failed to aggressively pursue Lee in Maryland, allowed a large Union force to be captured by Stonewall Jackson at Harper's Ferry, squandered his massive manpower advantage for days at Antietam, attacked in piecemeal fashion, failed to use his cavalry effectively, left a huge reserve force unused, and failed to destroy the Rebel army Lee had left so vulnerable for an extra day at Antietam.
