*Weaves the lives and careers of all 6 generals into one entertaining and educational narrative.
*Includes pictures of the generals and important people, places, and events in their lives.
*Includes Bibliographies of each general for further reading.
Despite the fact that the Civil War began over 150 years ago, it remains one of the most widely discussed topics in America today, with Americans arguing over its causes, reenacting its famous battles, and debating which general was better than others. Americans continue to be fascinated by the Civil War icons who made the difference between victory and defeat in the war's great battles.
No battle fascinates Americans quite like Gettysburg, the most famous and biggest battle of the Civil War. Careers were tarnished, legacies were immortalized, and the Confederacy had reached its high water mark. Since the dust settled there, historians and interested scholars alike have dissected every decision and movement made by the leaders of the battle, arguing over who to credit and who to blame.
Of all the battles Robert E. Lee led in, he was most criticized for Gettysburg, particularly his order of Pickett's Charge on the third and final day of the war. Despite the fact his principle subordinate and corps leader, General James Longstreet, advised against the charge, Lee went ahead with it, ending the army's defeat at Gettysburg with a violent climax that left half of the men who charged killed or wounded.
After the South lost the war and Gettysburg came to be viewed as one of its biggest turning points, former Confederate generals looked to that battle to find scapegoats to blame for losing the war. Two of them were JEB Stuart and James Longstreet. Stuart's roundabout cavalry raid deprived Lee of his eyes and ears, leading to an inadvertent clash at Gettysburg, and Longstreet was charged with being slow to attack on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, allowing the Union to man Little Round Top.
Naturally, George Meade is best known for defeating Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg in July 1863, although he's not nearly as well remembered as his Confederate counterpart, and he has even been eclipsed in popularity by some of the men he commanded at Gettysburg, like Joshua Chamberlain. Chamberlain had a respectable Civil War career and life, but he had been largely forgotten in the decades after the Civil War, with the focus on more influential commanding generals and their principal subordinates. Then a remarkable thing happened with the 1974 publication of Michael Sharaa's The Killer Angels, a Pulitzer Prize winning historical fiction that focuses on the Battle of Gettysburg and its influential generals and leaders. In one fell swoop, Michael Sharaa breathed life back into the reputations of men like John Buford and Joshua Chamberlain, cast as the Union heroes of Day 1 and Day 2 respectively that made victory at Gettysburg possible.
At Gettysburg, Hancock was the commanding general in the field on Day 1, as Meade and the rest of the Union army arrived later that night. On Day 2, Hancock's men assisted Sickles' III Corps when Sickles disobeyed orders and moved it forward, creating a gap in the Union lines. And on Day 3, Hancock's greatest day of the war, he was seriously injured and nearly bled to death while leading his men in their decisive repulse of Pickett's Charge.
Leaders of Gettysburg comprehensively covers the decisive command decisions made by the leaders at Gettysburg, but it also chronicles the lives and careers of all six men and analyzes their lasting legacies. Along with bibliographies and pictures, you will learn about the Leaders of Gettysburg like you never have before.