The discovery of Robert E. Lee’s Special Orders No. 191 outside of Frederick, Maryland, on September 13, 1862, is one of the most important and hotly disputed events of the American Civil War. For more than 150 years, historians have debated if George McClellan, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, dawdled after receiving a copy of the orders before warily advancing to challenge Lee’s forces atop South Mountain. In The Tale Untwisted, authors Gene Thorp and Alexander Rossino document in exhaustive fashion how “Little Mac” in fact moved with uncharacteristic energy to counter the Confederate threat and take advantage of Lee’s divided forces, seizing the initiative and striking a blow in the process that wrecked Lee’s plans and sent his army reeling back toward Virginia. This study is a beautifully woven tour de force of primary research that may well be the final word on the debate over the fate and impact of the Lost Orders on the history of the 1862 Maryland Campaign.
Honest, insightful, funny - a brilliant memoir about writing and teaching and life from one of Australia's most loved children's authors. In the telling of his own tale, children's author and screenwriter Paul Jennings demonstrates how seemingly small events can combine into a compelling drama. As if assembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle he puts together fragments, memories and anecdotes to reveal the portrait of a complex and weathered soul. The accounts of the trials and joys of turning his stories into episodes of the television program Round The Twist will be of special interest to the millions of fans of this series. Untwisted is revealing, moving and very funny. Paul Jennings has crafted perhaps his most masterful story yet ...the story of his life.
With the magical flair and wit of Ella Enchanted and the humor and sisterhood of The Parent Trap, this fantasy middle grade novel will appeal to every girl who dreams of being both the princess and the hero of her story. After triumphing over the curse threatening their mother's life and revealing the truth behind the treacherous magical prison the Twists, Princesses Flissa and Sara knew the fight to return magic to the kingdom of Kaloon had only just begun. Not only did they have to oust treacherous magical citizens, the former prisoners of the Twists would have to adjust to life in the kingdom. Months later, everything seems to be going better than anyone could have hoped. But when the princesses go to Maldevon Academy with the other children of the kingdom, both magical and non-magical, the remaining tensions among the people become clear. While navigating school life for the first time, Flissa and Sara begin to drift apart as they continue to embrace their individual identities, leaving Flissara behind them. And when strange happenings suggest someone isn't happy with the unification the academy represents, Flissa and Sara find themselves at odds over the possible culprits. To preserve the newfound peace in Kaloon, the princesses will have to learn to trust each other again and uncover the truth before it's too late.
In the kingdom of Kaloon, nothing is quite as it seems.... "Y-y-y-you," he stammered, and Flissa turned to see he'd gone ashen. "T-t-t-two of you!" Uh-oh. Flissa reached up and checked. Sure enough, her hood had fallen off. Their secret was out. Princesses Flissa and Sara are even closer than most twins. In fact, most of the kingdom thinks they're the same person. When magic was outlawed in Kaloon generations ago, twins, black cats, and other potentially -magical beings were outlawed, too. Since they were born, Flissa and Sara have pretended to be one princess, Flissara, trading off royal duties like attending glamorous balls, participating in fencing exhibitions, and making friends with other young nobles, all while hiding in plain sight. But when the first magical attack in years puts their mother's life in danger, the girls must break the rules that have protected them to save her. With a brave servant boy and his plucky black kitten as their guides, they set off on an epic quest to the Twists—a forbidden place full of dark magic—to find the evil mage who cursed the queen. With a case of mistaken identity, a wickedly powerful exile out for vengeance, and time running out for their mother, the twins might just need to make their own magic to save the day. In the first book of this new series, author Elise Allen brings to life a fantastical world filled with high-stakes adventure, incredible twists, and all the spark and humor of sisterhood.
The award–winning author of Brandywine examines a pivotal but overlooked battle of the American Revolution’s Philadelphia Campaign. Today, Germantown is a busy Philadelphia neighborhood. On October 4, 1777, it was a small village on the outskirts of the colonial capital—and the site of one of the American Revolution’s largest battles. Now Michael C. Harris sheds new light on this important action with a captivating historical study. After defeating Washington’s rebel army in the Battle of Brandywine, General Sir William Howe took Philadelphia. But Washington soon returned, launching a surprise attack on the British garrison at Germantown. The recapture of the colonial capital seemed within Washington’s grasp until poor decisions by the American high command led to a clear British victory. With original archival research and a deep knowledge of the terrain, Harris merges the strategic, political, and tactical history of this complex operation into a single compelling account. Complete with original maps, illustrations, and modern photos, and told largely through the words of those who fought there, Germantown is a major contribution to American Revolutionary studies.
The truth behind a Civil War controversy.“Anyone with an interest in the 1862 Maryland Campaign will find it a fascinating and illuminating read.” —D. Scott Hartwig, author of To Antietam Creek The discovery of Robert E. Lee’s Special Orders no. 191 outside of Frederick, Maryland on September 13, 1862 is one of the most important and hotly disputed events of the American Civil War. For more than 150 years historians have debated if George McClellan, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, dawdled upon receiving a copy of the orders before warily advancing to challenge Lee’s forces at the Battle of South Mountain. In this new digital essay, the first in the Spotlight Series to be published by Savas Beatie, authors Gene Thorp and Alexander Rossino document exhaustively how “Little Mac” moved with uncharacteristic energy to counter the Confederate threat and take advantage of Lee’s divided forces, striking a blow in the process that wrecked Lee’s plans and sent his army reeling back toward Virginia. The essay is a beautifully woven tour de force of primary research that proposes to put a final word on the debate over the fate and impact of the Lost Orders on the history of the 1862 Maryland Campaign. “Thorp and Rossino make a very persuasive case for McClellan having received the Lost Orders in mid-afternoon and sending his dispatch to Lincoln at midnight on September 13th, 1862. If I were writing my Antietam book today, I would follow their account.” —James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom
The loss of Robert E. Lee’s Special Orders No. 191 is one of the Civil War’s enduring mysteries. In this meticulous study, Alexander Rossino presents a bold new interpretation of the evidence surrounding the orders’ creation, distribution, and loss outside Frederick, Maryland, in September 1862. Rossino makes extensive use of primary sources to explore these subjects and other important questions related to the orders, including why General Lee thought his army could operate north of the Potomac until winter; why Lee found it necessary to seize the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry; what Lee hoped to accomplish after capturing Harpers Ferry; where Corporal Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana found the Lost Orders; and if D. H. Hill or someone else was to blame for losing the orders. The result is a well-documented reassessment that sheds new light while challenging long-held assumptions. Calamity at Frederick is the Confederate companion to The Tale Untwisted by Gene M. Thorp and Alexander Rossino, which told the story from the Union perspective.
After John Pope’s devastating defeat at Second Bull Run, George McClellan reconstitutes the Army of the Potomac and marches in pursuit of Robert E. Lee’s invading Army of Northern Virginia. The Confederates have pushed north of the Potomac River into the border state of Maryland in search of one more decisive victory that might bring about Southern independence. Fortune smiles on “Little Mac” when a lost copy of Lee’s orders falls into his hands, revealing the Rebel general’s plan to divide his army and capture the Union garrison at Harper’s Ferry. McClellan pushes his army and catches Lee by surprise at South Mountain, where he inflicts a decisive defeat that turns Lee’s plan on its head and his army back against the Potomac for a final stand at Sharpsburg on September 17. The resulting battle could decide the fate of the nation. Alexander Rossino brilliantly weaves together these momentous hours in The Guns of September: A Novel of McClellan’s Army in Maryland, 1862. Readers live the high-stakes drama through the gritty minutiae experienced by a host of historical characters—including a diligent General McClellan, the hard-fighting Joseph Hooker, a frustrated Ambrose Burnside, and the aggressive George Armstrong Custer. Rossino also displays a keen understanding of daily travails undergone by the common foot soldier, including experienced veterans from Ohio and greenhorns from central Pennsylvania. The Guns of September is a sweeping fog-of-war account about the 1862 Maryland Campaign. It is a masterful companion to Rossino’s earlier bestselling Six Days in September, which unfolded the day-by-day drama from a Confederate perspective.
Unique among Union army corps, the Ninth fought in both the Eastern and Western theaters of the Civil War. The corps’ veterans called their service a “geography class,” and others have called the Ninth “a wandering corps” because it covered more ground than any corps in the Union armies. With the same attention to detail that he gave to the First Corps in First for the Union, Darin Wipperman vividly reconstructs life—and death—in the Ninth Corps. The roots of the Ninth Corps lay in the early 1862 coastal expeditions in the Carolinas under Ambrose Burnside. After this successful campaign—a master class in Civil War amphibious warfare that turned Burnside into a star—Burnside’s units coalesced into a corps, part of which reinforced Pope’s Army of Virginia at Second Bull Run during the summer of 1862. The Ninth fought with the Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign in September 1862, first at the Battle of South Mountain and then, in its most famous action, at Antietam, where it suffered 25 percent casualties attempting to seize what became known as Burnside’s Bridge. Three months later, the corps was lightly engaged at the Battle of Fredericksburg, during which Burnside commanded the entire Army of the Potomac. After the disaster of Fredericksburg, the Ninth—again under Burnside—spent much of 1863 in the West with the Army of the Ohio, performing occupation duty in Kentucky and then in Grant’s campaign to take Vicksburg, Mississippi. It fought in Tennessee and helped take Knoxville before returning East, a shell of itself thanks largely to disease. Reorganized, the Ninth joined Grant’s Overland Campaign in Virginia, fighting—with horrifying losses—at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. It joined the siege of Petersburg, including the infamous Battle of the Crater in July 1864, and remained at Petersburg through the end of the war, where it participated in the assault that broke the siege in April 1865, forcing Lee’s army into retreat, and final defeat, at Appomattox. From the Carolinas to Maryland, from Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee to Virginia, the Ninth Corps sacrificed for the Union—and burnished its place in the annals of the American Civil War.
Among the thousands who fought in the pivotal Battle of Antietam were scores of Ohioans. Sending eleven regiments and two batteries to the fight, the Buckeye State lost hundreds during the Maryland Campaign's first engagement, South Mountain, and hundreds more "gave their last full measure of devotion" at the Cornfield, the Bloody Lane and Burnside's Bridge. Many of these brave men are buried at the Antietam National Cemetery. Aged veterans who survived the ferocious contest returned to Antietam in the early 1900s to fight for and preserve the memory of their sacrifices all those years earlier. Join Kevin Pawlak and Dan Welch as they explore Ohio's role during those crucial hours on September 17, 1862.
