7/27/2005

Judge rules against Porter's battlefield

One of the clarifying moments in Civil War history occurs after Antietam when Lee's artillery chief tells him that the pursuing McClellan has captured all of the ANV's reserve artillery:
"All?" Lee said, starting bolt upright.
"Yes, General, I fear all."
"McClellan's pursuit of Lee after Antietam," does not compute for the reader of Centennial histories; the drama of potentially losing all your army's reserve artillery to a general famous for not pursuing makes even less sense. The better reader takes the clue, tosses the Centennials and heads for the stacks.

Other readers merely cope with the dissonance. Which may be why this article about Shepherdstown uses the wording "acres that some people contend are part of a Civil War battlefield."

That could refer to the siting of those acres or it could refer to the crazy idea that there was a Battle of Shepherdstown after Antietam.

In any case, this new battle has been lost by the preservationists. The judge has greenlighted housing.

Bad history can have bad consequences.