Gettysburg S Bloody Wheatfield

The fight for the Wheatfield at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, has long been one of the most confusing and misunderstood engagements of that famous battle until now. Gettysburg’s Bloody Wheatfield provides readers with a blow-by-blow description of the fight where one out of every three soldiers was a casualty.

The fight for the Wheatfield at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, has long been one of the most confusing and misunderstood engagements of that famous battle until now. Gettysburg’s Bloody Wheatfield provides readers with a blow-by-blow description of the fight where one out of every three soldiers was a casualty.

This gripping narrative is an in-depth study of the valiant men of General John Caldwell’s Union Division during the Gettysburg Campaign. Caldwell’s Division made a desperate stand against a tough and determined Confederate force in farmer George Rose's nearly 20-acre Wheatfield. Ready for harvest, the infamous Wheatfield would change hands nearly six times in the span of two hours of fighting on July 2, becoming a trampled, bloody, no-man's land for thousands of wounded soldiers. Smith examines the lives of the Union soldiers in the ranks—as well as leaders Cross, Kelly, Zook, Brooke, and Caldwell himself. From Colonel Edward Cross’s black bandana, to the famed Irish Brigade's charge on Stoney Hill, to a lone young man from Washington County whose grave is marked in stone nearby, James Smith’s Storming the Wheatfield goes deep into the lives the soldiers, evoking a personal connection with the troops. Smith painstakingly contacted nearly one hundred descendants of Caldwell's soldiers, producing one of the most extensively researched narratives to date.

What was it like to fight in the swirling violence of The Wheatfield at Gettysburg? What was it like to be wounded and treated in a makeshift Civil War hospital? What was it like to suddenly become a nurse to hundreds of badly wounded boys? In this new novel a young lady and a Union soldier face challenges that confronted thousands of young people during the battle. Mark, the young soldier, ran away at the battle of Chancellorsville, just one month ago. Can he find the courage to help drive the rebels away from his home state? Annie, the young lady, has a young son whose father has been killed in this war. Can she build a new life for herself and her son? She befriends a young black woman and her son. Will she be able to keep them safe? Both Annie and Mark must face the consequences of choices they made in the past. He is helped by a poet, just gaining fame. She is comforted by a famous man as he tours the battlefield. See if they can find love as they confront the random violence of war. Much of the action takes place in or near a field where thousands of men fought and suffered and died. Today that field is a famous landmark at Gettysburg, known to millions as "The Wheatfield."

Winner of the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History An Economist Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year The Battle of Gettysburg has been written about at length and thoroughly dissected in terms of strategic importance, but never before has a book taken readers so close to the experience of the individual soldier. Two-time Lincoln Prize winner Allen C. Guelzo shows us the face, the sights and the sounds of nineteenth-century combat: the stone walls and gunpowder clouds of Pickett’s Charge; the reason that the Army of Northern Virginia could be smelled before it could be seen; the march of thousands of men from the banks of the Rappahannock in Virginia to the Pennsylvania hills. What emerges is a previously untold story of army life in the Civil War: from the personal politics roiling the Union and Confederate officer ranks, to the peculiar character of artillery units. Through such scrutiny, one of history’s epic battles is given extraordinarily vivid new life.

A first-hand account of the Battle of Gettysburg from a 15-year old girl who was on a farm behind Union lines, later used as a field hospital.

The Address was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

A “fascinating illumination of little-known accounts and personalities” by two experts on the Battle of Gettysburg (Civil War News). The historiography of Gettysburg’s second day is usually dominated by the Union’s successful defense of Little Round Top—but the day’s most influential action occurred nearly one mile west along the Emmitsburg Road, in farmer Joseph Sherfy’s peach orchard. This is the first full-length study of this pivotal action. On July 2, 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered skeptical subordinate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to launch a massive assault against the Union left flank. The offensive was intended to seize the Peach Orchard and surrounding ground for use as an artillery position to support the ongoing attack. However, Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles, a scheming former congressman from New York, misinterpreted his orders and occupied the orchard first. What followed was some of Gettysburg’s bloodiest and most controversial fighting. General Sickles’s questionable advance forced Longstreet’s artillery and infantry to fight for every inch of ground to Cemetery Ridge. The Confederate attack crushed the Peach Orchard salient and other parts of the Union line, threatening the left flank of Maj. Gen. George Meade’s army. The command decisions made in and around the Sherfy property influenced actions on every part of the battlefield. The occupation of the high ground at the Peach Orchard helped General Lee rationalize ordering the tragic July 3 assault known as Pickett’s Charge. This richly detailed study is based on scores of primary accounts and a deep understanding of the terrain. The authors, both Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guides, combine the military aspects of the fighting with human interest stories, in a balanced treatment of the bloody attack and defense of Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard.