Barksdale's Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863 by Phillip Thomas Tucker

Phillip Thomas Tucker’s has written a well researched, very readable book titled "Barksdale's Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863".

Dr. Tucker’s book makes the premise that at the Battle of Gettysburg General Barksdale's charge is more significant that General Picket’s charge. The author presents detail after detail.

The book gives a wonderful history of the Mississippi Brigade. He points out they are tall, straight shooters, and brave. I found the book redundant at points.

The author makes good arguments for Barksdale’s charge being more important than Pickett’s. If Barksdale had lived and expended the same energy that Pickett did in defending his actions, we think more highly of his Mississippi brigade’s contributions. Interestingly, the point of view presented was almost exclusively southern apologetic.

The book was an enjoyable read. The history of the Mississippi brigade and its contributions is worth the purchase price. I think the historians have already decided Pickett charge was more important than Barksdale’s, but it made me reevaluate.

I am well read on the subject of Gettysburg having read more than twenty books and memoirs on the battle. I am a trained historian by education who studied military history. I am a former US Army infantry officer who has studied the battle in detail in my military science curriculum. All this said; I can examine the premise, but respectfully disagree with it.

---

Jimmie Aaron Kepler is a novelist, poet, book reviewer, and award-winning short story writer. His work has appeared in over twenty venues, including Bewildering Stories and Beyond Imagination. When not writing each morning at his favorite coffee house, he supports his writing, reading, and book reviewing habit working as an IT application support analyst. He is a former Captain in the US Army. His blog Kepler's Book Reviews was named a 100 best blogs for history buffs in 2010. You can visit him at http://www.jimmiekepler.com.

Barksdale's Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863 by Phillip Thomas Tucker

Phillip Thomas Tucker’s has written a well researched, very readable book titled "Barksdale's Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863". 

Dr. Tucker’s book makes the premise that at the Battle of Gettysburg General Barksdale's charge is more significant that General Picket’s charge. The author presents detail after detail. 

The book gives a wonderful history of the Mississippi Brigade. He points out they are tall, straight shooters, and brave.  I found the book redundant at points.

The author makes good arguments for Barksdale’s charge being more important than Pickett’s. If Barksdale had lived and expended the same energy that Pickett did in defending his actions, we think more highly of his Mississippi brigade’s contributions. Interestingly, the point of view presented was almost exclusively southern apologetic.

The book was an enjoyable read. The history of the Mississippi brigade and its contributions is worth the purchase price.  I think the historians have already decided Pickett charge was more important than Barksdale’s, but it made me reevaluate. 

I am well read on the subject of Gettysburg having read more than twenty books and memoirs on the battle. I am a trained historian by education who studied military history. I am a former US Army infantry officer who has studied the battle in detail in my military science curriculum.  All this said; I can examine the premise, but respectfully disagree with it.

Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg: My Experiences with the 20th Maine Regiment on Little Round Top by General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

"To the front for them lay death; to the rear what they would die to save." These words describe the events that take place in this magnificent book of remembrances. In July 1863 around the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg was staged the greatest conflict ever fought on American soil. There for three days the battle raged and brave men on both sides died. It was here the Confederacy reached its zenith.

Following the battle of Gettysburg the Confederate States of America could only gather their broken forces and dread the certain end. The outcome of the battle was not decided until the third day and the disaster of Pickett's charge where 6600 men had died. Each succeeding day's battle had been more desperate than the one before. On the first day only a part of each army was engaged. July 2 witnessed the inferno of the Peach Orchard and the Round Tops. The last day was the most thrilling in our history. In this one battle was enough glory of heroism to immortalize the American soldier.

"Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg: My Experiences with the 20th Maine Regiment on Little Round Top" by General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain deals with the Second day, when the slopes of the Round Tops were bathed in blood. The author, then colonel of the Twentieth Maine, was later given the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of these vital positions. It was the pivotal battle and point of the United States Civil War. The little book is a must read for every person with interest in the battle of Gettysburg and the US Civil War. It is a primary source document that gives the story of the second day at Gettysburg from the Union point of view focusing on Little Round Top.

The book reads both like an after action report and yet shows the scholarship of Chamberlain who was a Professor of Rhetoric at Bowdoin College in Bangor, Maine. Chamberlain was fluent in 9 languages (Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac), had a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College and a master's degree from Bangor Theological Seminary. After the war he served as both president of Bowdoin College and four terms as governor of the state of Maine.

The material in this book was originally published in "Maine: Her Place in History" (1877), originally prepared as an address at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, Nov. 4, 1876, and was published in "The Passing of the Armies" (1915), a book of reminiscence dealing with the final campaigns of the Army of the Potomac all by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Read and reviewed by Jimmie Aaron Kepler.

In the Hands of Providence: Joshua L. Chamberlain and the American Civil War by Alice Rains Trulock

“In the Hands of Providence: Joshua L. Chamberlain and the American Civil War” is a masterful biography of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Chamberlain was one of the great Americans of the nineteenth century. He was one of the most heroic and hardest fighting U.S. Army officers of all time.

The author, the late Alice Rains Trulock, presents a well researched, thoroughly documented, and in depth portrait of this intelligent and courageous man. She traces Chamberlain's early life and career. She begins looking at him as a student, and later as Professor of Rhetoric at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Chamberlain's military career is covered in detail. We see his rise from command of the 20th Maine to general officer rank in the Union army. We learn of his outstanding leadership and valor during some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the Civil War, including Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. His experience at Five Forks, Virginia is chronicled with some of Trulock's liveliest and most exciting prose.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is best known for his actions as Colonel of the 20th Maine Volunteers at the Battle of Gettysburg. Here Trulock describes in detail the events of July 2, 1863. On that date he led his 380-man regiment in its successful defense of Little Round Top. This is arguably the most critical engagement in the most critical battle of the war. His leadership and actions saved the Union army from a crushing defeat, and ensuring his own place in the pantheon of American military heroes.

Trulock also details Chamberlain's post-Civil War career as Governor of Maine (1867-1871), President of Bowdoin College (1871-1883), and as a semi-successful businessman.

The book gives well researched and beautifully written descriptions of Chamberlain's military, political and business accomplishments. "In the Hands of Providence" also gives the reader a balanced and objective look at Chamberlain's personal life. Particularly enjoyable and enlightening are the descriptions of his relationships with his wife Fannie, his daughter Grace and son Harold Wyllys (yes, the spelling is correct – it is pronounced like Willis), and his brother Tom. The author does a brilliant job of allowing the reader to get to know Chamberlain the patriot, scholar, college professor and president, military hero, and Governor of Maine as well as the warm hearted and loving family man.

Published in 1992 by the University of North Carolina Press, “In the Hands of Providence: Joshua L. Chamberlain and the American Civil War” is the best modern biography of one of the most extraordinary and gifted Americans of the nineteenth century. I highly recommended these 592 pages of information and entertainment. Reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

If you have the slightest interest in the Civil War, don't fail to read the late Michael Shaara's book The Killer Angels. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1974. For some reason this book had never crossed my path. It wasn't until Father's Day this year that I was even aware of its existence. My 27 year old son gave me a DVD that had both Gods and Generals and Gettysburg on it. In reading the jacket of the DVD I saw the movie was based on this book. After watching the movie, I headed off to the library. I was not disappointed.

This volume shows both the courage and determination of the Union and Confederate soldiers. It examines the story from both viewpoints. You are told the story through the key leadership of the battle. You will read about Robert E. Lee. You will learn what his decisions were based on. You will see why he was so beloved by his army. The book allows you to be present as Lee struggles with decision after decision from his headquarters. You can feel the frustration of Longstreet as he tries to convince Lee that defense is a better choice. You will get a picture of the flamboyant Pickett. You will feel Lee's and Longstreet's frustration with J.E.B. Stuart. I met a new hero in the book - Joshua Lawrence Chamberlin as I read about the 20th Maine Regiment and Chamberlain who with a bayonet charge on Little Big Top held the end of the Union line. Another new hero I encountered was General John Buford. You will experience his anguish as he decides to engage Rebel forces. He knows that he was seriously outnumbered. He is determined to save the only high ground in the area.

I was emotionally involved in the book from the beginning to the end. This is the book that blurs the line between historical fiction and creative non-fiction. It is simply great reading. While the movie was good, the book is great. Michael Shaara had the vision, did the research, and wrote one of the best books ever. Thank you! Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler.

Stars in Their Courses : The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863 by Shelby Foote

“Stars in Their Courses : The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863” " is an extended excerpt on the Gettysburg Campaign from Shelby Foote's absolutely superb three volume narrative history of the Civil War. The Gettysburg Campaign is a gripping story in its own right, the central impressive thread of which is Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s general's aura of invincibility.

The background for what would become the sixty day montage known as the Gettysburg campaign, Foote explores the Southern decision to invade Pennsylvania. Backed by Lee himself, the general's aura of invincibility proved irresistible and awe inspiring even to one not easily impressed, Jefferson Davis. Setting the honorable tone for the ensuing conflict, Lee said to his soldiers: "It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men...and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemies, and offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose favor and support our efforts must all prove in vain."

Before Gettysburg Lee's four major engagements in the prior ten months against superior Union forces had yielded three spectacular victories. Now, on the eve of battle, the Union's improbable appointment of Meade made the Pennsylvanian the fifth different commander to oppose Lee in as many tries.

From the beginning, however, Stuart's bizarre reconnaissance delay disadvantaged Lee of important information regarding enemy position and troop strength, and he found himself in the unknown position of waging battle at a time and location not of his own choosing.

The ending of the three day conflict which concluded with Pickett's unfortunate charge, was ordered by an inflexible Lee, executed by a unwilling Longstreet, and carried out by a multitude of fearless soldiers in the wake of the greatest concentration of artillery ever amassed on the continent. Longsreet's reserve at the undertaking was shared by many of the commanders, with the notable exception of Pickett, who was "entirely sanguine of success in the charge." Commanding another flank of the attack was Pettigrew. Fluent in most of the European languages and a scholar in Greek and Hebrew, he presided over a Southern peculiarity: Four of his regiments, despite a well-earned history of valor, and a four to one numerical advantage, abruptly defected in the midst of a Union assault as bold as it was unexpected.

The University Greys, made up entirely of students from the State University, were part of a Mississippi regiment that managed to nearly reach the Union line but paid the staggering price of a tabulated 100% loss. In all, the courageous efforts of 11,000 of Lee's finest men were repulsed, and Union forces were to witness the devastation of Fredericksburg in reverse.
"This has been my fight, and upon my shoulders rests the blame," Lee explained to a downhearted Pickett. He continued, "Your men have done all that men can do." As he expressed the same emotion to his troops up and down the line, they responded to the tableau of the great general, and expressed their near common unchanged support in kind. The historic Gettysburg campaign had come to an end, and the two armies returned to their respective approximate starting positions. As was the Union custom, Meade did not pursue his advantage.

"Stars in Their Courses" provides a meticulous treatment of the details that comprised the events surrounding Gettysburg. Yet, such treatment is necessary, and in Foote's skilled hands, welcome. It is so well written that you do not realize it is exerted from Foote’s Trilogy. Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler.