The Wheatfield

A recent conference on Lincoln at Gettysburg resulted in this remarkable book of essays by distinguished Civil War scholars and Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor, with an introduction by William C. Davis.

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.

This is the story of Melanie Ratleer, a judge who is approaching the peak of her career with the anguished awareness that she has long since abandoned herself to the comforting impersonality of her work. Paula Sharp is the author of "The Woman Who Was Not All There" and "The Imposter".

Originally published in 2002 by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Several generals were mortally wounded, and the fighting bogged down into a regiment-by-regiment, man-to-man engagement. When the smoke cleared and the fighting ceased on the evening of July 2, 1863, the 26 acres of wheat owned by George Rose had been destroyed, with the dead and wounded strewn all about.".

Parnello Moran buys a German romantic landscape at an auction, but then it's stolen from him. When he sets out to recover it he discovers all its recent owners met violent deaths. Gradually he uncovers a deeper past, and the biggest surprise of all - the secret of the soldier in the 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.

Parnello Moran buys a German romantic landscape at an auction, but then it's stolen from him. When he sets out to recover it he discovers all its recent owners met violent deaths. Gradually he uncovers a deeper past, and the biggest surprise of all - the secret of the soldier in the wheatfield.