"New Book on Gettysburg" Topic

I Just finished reading Dr. Allen Guelzo's new book, "Gettysburg: The Last Invasion". I've read a lot of books on Gettysburg, Coddington, Pfanz, Sears, to name a few, and I have to say that Guelzo's book is probably the best of all of them. This is a highly readable book that provides an amazingly smooth and coherent description of the events of the campaign and the battle. Using primary sources it covers both the big picture and the small. There are lots of eyewitness accounts covering almost every aspect of the battle along with very intelligent analyses of many of the key (and controversial) points. Guelzo looks at the personalities of the commanders, from the snake-pit of political factions that made up the Union command to the tentative and loosely controlled Confederate headquarters, operating in three corps for the first time. Guelzo, does not ignore the tactical aspects either and frankly, he has a better grasp of the realities of Civil War era combat than any of the historians I've named above. He answers several questions I've had about the battle, from the small (why didn't the Confederates send pioneers forward to cut gaps in the fences along the Emittsburg Road during Pickett's Charge? Answer, they did, but Union skirmishers kept them at bay until it was too late) to the large (was Dan Sickles a hero or an idiot? Answer, well, read for yourself:)

All in all, this is a marvelous book. It has many good maps and was a real pleasure to read.

Highly recommended!

I enjoyed it when it first came out last year.

thanks Scott, sounds like something up my alley!

Thanks Scott for the review. Guelzo has been in my reading stack for a long time. I need to make an effort to get it to the top of the heap.

Scott;
Thanks for that. Based on your recommendation, I'll add it to the list…

It was good to see you at Fall-In and even better to finally be able to buy some of your product, too.

All the best;
Eric

Just bought the Kindle edition. Thanks for the head's up.

Ah jeez. Another book to add to the pile. It's like my lead pile. I get through some and add more.

Sigh.

Quite the recommendation. I may have to check that one out.

I suppose I should warn that if you are a big fan of General Meade you should probably avoid this book. The author deals with him fairly (IMHO) but not too kindly. I noticed that of the 400 or so reviews on Amazon, nearly all are 5-stars, but the handful of 1-star reviews all seem to be by outraged Meade fans :)

Actually, if you are a big fan of Lee you might want to give this a miss, too. Dr. Guelzo is fairly critical of him (and a lot of the generals on both sides, come to think of it), too.

Have heard good things about this book, independently from here.

Hello Scott,

What makes this book better than Sears? I'm just curious. Does Guelzo spend more time on the leadership, thought processes, and choices of the commanders? You make it sound like that may be the case.

That may be part of it. I don't think I can point to any specific thing and say "this is better than Sears' book", but for me it just seemed to flow better and be more complete. Somehow it seems to cover just about every aspect of the campaign I can think of without being excessively long. Others may disagree.

Thank you. I enjoyed Sears very much, and respect your opinion on the new book and why. Sounds like a future read.

ScottWashurn: I would like to second all of your remarks concerning this book. Read it immediately after purchasing it, was very favorably impressed, and I can be a very critical reader when it comes this kind of material. Thanks, John Miller

Hi Scott,
I'm currently reading this book as well and I have to second your assessment. It might be the best battle study I've read in a very long time (and personally I'm not the biggest fan of Sears--I take issue with much of his analysis of Federal high command, esp. at Antietam and Chancellorsville). But I think Guelzo's book is superb. I'm really excited about the direction military history has taken with authors like Guelzo, Glatthaar, and Brian Jordan.

One of the really interesting points he made was that he downplayed the importance of Little Round Top. In fact he argues that by diverting troops from Sickles, Warren endangered the Union position more---he argues that the fights at the Wheatfield, Peach Orchard, and along Cemetery Ridge were far more significant in Longstreet's sector. I thought that was a really novel analysis and makes me want to read Tucker's Barksdale's Charge which I think advances a similar analysis.

Finally, he has a passage on 276-282 that describes the experience of the common soldier in combat--I don't think I've read anything like it.

Yes, I was kind of surprised at his treatment of Chamberlain and the 20th Maine and Little Round Top. A couple of pages and it's done. And he does have a point. Even if the Confederates attacking Little Round Top had succeeded, they had no one backing them up and they would have been totally spent in the effort. They wouldn't have been able to exploit their success. What was going on farther up the line was probably more important and it was fascinating to read about just how close the Confederates came to breaking the Federal line north of the Peach Orchard.

stdiv62: I wonder if you would consider posting your opinions of the Tucker book on Barksdale's Charge if you read it? I was very disappointed in it but it seems that that was just me. Thanks, John Miller

Ya, for sure. I found it kind of refreshing. I mean I think Sears didn't give the old Maine professor too much attention either, but it was good to hear Guelzo actually address the Chamberlain phenomenon: give credit where credit is due but admit its been overblown.

His theory actually made me think about that heated discussion between Longstreet and Hood. We all know that Hood insisted on maneuvering around the Round Tops, and that pouting Old Pete wanted to vent his frustration at Lee by following his orders precisely rather than adapting to changing circumstances. But maybe Longstreet was more aware that the key to a successful attack was still to move up the Emmitsburg Road as Lee instructed (or at least in a similar fashion).

John Miller,
Ya, I haven't actually read Tucker's book yet so I can't really say too much about it. Your criticism of the book makes me slightly skeptical as well. I just thought it might be similar to Guelzo's analysis of Longstreet's attack if Tucker places significance on Barksdale's assault. Guelzo seems to highlight the Mississippians' breakthrough at the Peach Orchard and their turn northward as one of the significant moments on July 2nd. But I'm curious: what did you find disappointing about Tucker's book?

The whole issue about Sickles was debated here (multiple times) and again not long ago. But Guelzo presents a lot of evidence which (at least in my mind) pretty well settles the matter. Sickles seriously screwed up. The really fascinating thing is that on the morning of July 2, Lee simply had no idea that the 2nd, 3rd, 5th or 12th corps were anywhere near Gettysburg. He thought he was only facing the 1st and 11th corps on Cemetery Hill and Culps Hill. Longstreet's attack, as originally planned, would have seen him wheeling through the Peach Orchard with Hood's right far short of the Round Tops, exposing his flank to the unseen 3rd Corps. It was only the presence of the 3rd Corps in the Peach Orchard that caused Longstreet to shift his whole line farther to the south which caused Hood's division to end up moving through the Wheatfield, into Devil's Den, and up the Round Tops.

Something to add to my Amazon wish list.

Thanks for the review. I was at Remembrance Day last Saturday and I still have Gettysburg on my mind.

stdiv62: I was expecting an in depth tactical study after reading the front flap, but was disappointed that it is more like a conglomeration of veterans memories, (nothing wrong it that), but not what I was looking for. I guess, because the author is a retired military officer, my expectations were different. Thanks, John Miller

Do I really need another Gettysburg book? Read the above posts. Decided I might. Found it new and cheap in paperback. The rest is history! :o)

My cousin gave me this one for Christmas, so glad he did (thanks Moe), just finished it.

Outstanding, I loved it, very well written, an easy and enjoyable read.

Learned several new things about the battle, that's never a bad thing.

Highly recommended.