One Sentence

Middle Bridge

One of the charms but also a great frustration of reading Carman is reading Carman.  The prose is not for the weak of heart.  I give you this one sentence as an example that is found in Chapter 5 (The Middle Bridge). It describes the advance of Captain John S. Poland's (USMA May 1861) Second and Tenth U.S. Infantry troops up the Boonsboro Pike toward the town of Sharpsburg.  This is part of the Fifth Corps advance that so many don't seem to acknowledge ever happened.  Consult the map below to see the Second and Tenth Infantry position at 4:20 PM.  Here in Carman's words is his description of Captain Poland's movement:

Carman-Copes 4:20 PM Map Fifth Corps area

These he [Poland] deployed on his right, in skirmishing order and the entire line, quite a long one, went forward, ascended the slope of a hill and under a heavy fire of canister from Squires' and Moody's guns in front, and some guns beyond the road on the right, and from Garnett's skirmishers pushed over the high ground, passed the haystacks, where some of Twigg's men and others of the 17th South Carolina were captured drove back McMaster, who at the same time was attacked on the right by the advance of Burnside and, reaching Sherrick's lane halted under the cover of the fence and became closely and sharply engaged.[1] 

I count 109 words...in one sentence.  Some people may never be able to get past this in terms of trying to read Carman.  However I enjoy reading it; but I have to go slow, re-read, and I often find myself chopping up the excruciatingly long sentences like this one, into more easily understandable ones.  Despite my grousing here, I don’t think I would want it any other way.  It forces me to read deeply and repetitively. I am facing this sometimes obstacle course of words - and learning.  When I need clarity and context, the hundreds of phenomenal footnotes offered by editor Tom Clemens provide it. 

If you are ready to read the next sentence and find out what happened to Captain Poland's advance toward Sharpsburg, read The Maryland Campaign by Ezra Carman, edited and annotated by Tom Clemens.

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[1] 

--> Carmen, Ezra A. The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 Vol. 2 South Mountain edited by Thomas G. Clemens. New York:  Savas Beatie, 2012 page 378.

The most sanguinary part of the whole field

From the Cornfield east of Miller's house looking northeast (1/19/13)

During the short winter days of January, I have been getting ready for the upcoming year at Antietam.  One book I am spending a lot of time with is Volume 2 of Ezra Carmen’s Maryland Campaign.  The outstanding editing by Tom Clemens adds a great deal of clarity to Carmen’s manuscript.  Every footnote is worth reading.

As anyone familiar with Carmen knows, he copies much of his prose from Official Record reports, magazine articles, and letters from participants of the battle.  But there are stretches where you see the landscape and battle from his eyes and in his words. 

Early in volume two, Carmen spends much of chapter 12 (The Field of Antietam) describing the terrain around the northern part of the battlefield.  While some of his syntax is aggravating,, pronoun use can mystify, and the sentences often run on making for a difficult read, (maybe like this one), Carmen nevertheless delivers some very evocative description of the roads, terrain, crops, and structures on the battlefield.  Here is a sample:

“North of the cornfield was a grass field of nearly 40 acres of higher ground than the cornfield and upon which the Union batteries were posted on the 17^th. In that part of this field, bordering the Hagerstown Road, stands the house of D.R. Miller, an apple orchard, north and east of it, a garden in front, and in the southwest corner of the garden, close by the road, a spring of delicious water, covered by a stone house.  Beyond the field where are Miller’s house and orchard, was another field, bounded on the north by the North Woods. South of the cornfield and bounded by the Hagerstown road on the west and by the East Woods and the Smoketown road on the east and south was a field of nearly 80 acres, most of it in luxuriant clover, some of it freshly plowed. In the East Woods and West Woods and the cornfield and grass field between them, is where the terrible struggle between the Union right and the Confederate left took place-the most sanguinary part of the whole field.”[1]

Sometimes there is a tendency to jump over the early chapters of Carmen to get to the meat of the action.  Don’t do that.  It is worth it to read the entire work thoroughly.  For someone like me who has been to this field many times, the careful reading of Chapter 11 painted yet another picture and perspective that I had not seen before.  I read this chapter last week.  Today I was on the field and the imagery of Carmen’s words came back to me as I viewed this ground today.  Pictures are worth a thousand words but sometimes a thousand words, carefully and perceptively read can produce an image that stays with us in an even more powerful way.

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[1] Carmen, Ezra. The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 Volume II: Antietam, edited and annotated by Thomas G. Clemens. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2012, page 11.