Guide To The Battle Of Gettysburg

In this lively guide to the Gettysburg battlefield, Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler invite readers to participate in a tour of this hallowed ground. Ideal for carrying on trips through the park as well as for the armchair historian, this book includes comprehensive maps and deft descriptions of the action that situate visitors in time and place. Crisp narratives introduce key figures and events, and eye-opening vignettes help readers more fully comprehend the import of what happened and why. A wide variety of contemporary and postwar source materials offer colorful stories and present interesting interpretations that have shaped--or reshaped--our understanding of Gettysburg today. Each stop addresses the following: What happened here? Who fought here? Who commanded here? Who fell here? Who lived here? How did participants remember this event?

"Here in one compact volume is a day-by-day and hour-by-hour account of the Battle of Gettysburg. Along with the numerous illustrations, photographs, and diagrams, this book provides features the official reports and physical observations of the commanding officers in their own words. These original source documents from bother Southern and Northern leaders provide a startling sense of reality and drama. This book takes you through a documented and ordered progression. Twenty-five stops are arranged in the order of the actual battle as it unfolded in 1863. Easy-to-follow maps show all significant troop positions and related terrain detail"--Page 4 of cover.

Here in one compact volume is a day-by-day and hour-by-hour account of one of the bloodiest and most momentous battles in history. The Battle of Gettysburg--fought on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863--changed the course of an epic war. Unlike other volumes on Gettysburg, this guide provides a unique blend of documentary sources and terrain descriptions with 25 stops arranged in the order of the actual battle as it unfolded. It combines official reports and observations of the commanding officers in their own words to recreate one of the pivotal encounters of the Civil War.

"America's bloodiest day"—the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862—left more dead American soldiers in its wake than any other 24-hour period in history. Antietam and the related battles of the Maryland Campaign that led up to the lethal confrontation did not result in decisive defeats for either side. But they did serve as a brutal warning to an out-gunned, out-commanded, and out-organized Union army. Eyewitness accounts by battle participants make these guides an invaluable resource for travelers and nontravelers who want a greater understanding of five of the most devastating yet influential years in our nation's history. Explicit directions to points of interest and maps—illustrating the action and showing the detail of troop position, roads, rivers, elevations, and tree lines as they were 130 years ago—help bring the battles to life. In the field, these guides can be used to recreate each battle's setting and proportions, giving the reader a sense of the tension and fear each soldier must have felt as he faced his enemy.

Created by scholars who have walked the battlegrounds, consulted with local experts and park guides, and studied the testimony left behind by the participants, this guide is the ultimate guide to Gettysburg. 57 maps, figures & photos.

A battlefield guide to the sites and history of the climactic attack during the American Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg. 150 years after the event, the grand near-suicidal attack against the Union position on Cemetery Ridge still emotionally resonates with Gettysburg enthusiasts like no other aspect of the battle. On the afternoon of July 3, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered more than 12,000 Southern infantry to undertake what would become the most legendary charge in American military history. This attack, popularly but inaccurately known as “Pickett’s Charge,” is often considered the turning point of the Civil War’s seminal battle of Gettysburg. Although much has been written about the battle itself and Pickett’s Charge in particular, Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg is the first battlefield guide for this celebrated assault. After the war, one staff officer perceptively observed that the charge “has been more criticized, and is still less understood, than any other act of the Gettysburg drama.” Unfortunately, what was true then remains true to this day. The authors of this book—two of Gettysburg’s elite Licensed Battlefield Guides along with one of the Civil War’s leading cartographers—have corrected that oversight. Grounded in the premise that no better resource exists for understanding this unique event than the battlefield itself, Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg encourages its readers to explore this storied event from a wide variety of perspectives. For the first time, readers can march toward the Copse of Trees with Armistead’s Virginians, advance on the Confederate left with Pettigrew’s North Carolinians, or defend the Angle with Alonzo Cushing’s gunners and thousands of Union soldiers. There is much here to enrich the experience, including dozens of full-color original maps, scores of battlefield and other historic photographs, a unique mix of rare human interest stories, a discussion of leadership controversies, and a rare collection of artifacts directly related to the charge. Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg is designed for readers to enjoy on or off the battlefield, and will give Civil War enthusiasts an entirely new appreciation for, and understanding of, Gettysburg’s third day of battle. “Extremely well done . . . designed as a tour guide to the area of the battlefield where the famous July 3 1863 Confederate assault on the center of the Union Line took place...the heart of any tour guide is maps, and that feature is served up in exemplary fashion here . . . far more than just maps. The two text authors are battlefield guides and the detail provided is immense . . . strongly recommended.” —Civil War News

The Battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862, and still stands as the bloodiest single day in American military history. Additionally, in its aftermath, President Abraham Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation. In this engaging, easy-to-use guide, Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler allow visitors to understand this crucial Civil War battle in fine detail. Abundantly illustrated with maps and historical and modern photographs, A Field Guide to Antietam explores twenty-one sites on and near the battlefield where significant action occurred. Combining crisp narrative and rich historical context, each stop in the book is structured around the following questions: *What happened here? *Who fought here? *Who commanded here? *Who fell here? *Who lived here? *How did participants remember the events? With accessible presentation and fresh interpretations of primary and secondary evidence, this is an absolutely essential guide to Antietam and its lasting legacy.