Customer Reviews

Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg (U.S. Army War College Guides to Civil War Battles)

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I generally agree with the other reviewers that this guide book is informative and useful. I have had it in had twice when I visited Gettysburg. A solid resource with some very interesting historical exerpts from after action reports etc.

I would also encourge people considering this book to take a look at Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide by Mark Grimsley. (ISBN 0803270771) In my opinion the Grimsley book is a bit clearer on some of the more confusing parts of the battle - the fighting in the Wheatfield for example.

All things considered both books are quite good.

These series of books from the U. S. Army War College are the best available resource for conducting ACW battlefield tours - assuming that your purpose in touring battlefields is to study and understand the applicable tactics, strategy and terrain and to develop an appreciation for the objectives and efforts of the participants. If you go to ACW battlefields to gawk and gossip as an everyday tourist then an investment in these guides is unnecessary. If you have an active interest in ACW history, military history in general or fascinating chapters in human history, then these guides are remarkable values, "Best Buys". Helpful maps illustrate troop engagements and key terrain features, excerpts from the Official Records provide first person commentary from the participants at each "Stop" on your tour and concise analysis is provided to tie the story together. Thorough but not intimidating, insightful and objective, with no deficiencies noted.

This is one of the entries in a series of battlefield books/guides by the U. S. Army War College (AWC). AWC is an important institution in the American military. One effort undertaken since its founding in Carlisle PA has been assisting in (Page iv) ". . .in the historical research and then benefited from the results by taking extensive staff rides over the old battlefields, discussing leadership, decision making, tactics and strategy."

The organizational structure of the book is straightforward. Primary sources are used to illustrate from commanders reports from the field, day by day for the three days' carnage on the battlefield at Gettysburg. Then, some reflections from the authors on infantry, artillery, and cavalry. The final two sections? The "order of battle," in which the units involved and brigade commanders and above (up to the commanding generals--George Meade and Robert E. Lee) are listed. Last, casualty estimates (Page 231).

Officers' reports can often be misleading, but they do provide a sense from those on the ground as to what happened. As such, this volume represents officers' views of what was happening, day by day.

Some of the entries are well stated. One of my favorite quotations is from Brigadier General John Buford (who called Rock Island, IL, near my home town, as his residence for a time), as he wrote (Page 5): "I had gained positive information of the enemy's position and movement, and my arrangements were made for entertaining him until General Reynolds could reach the scene."

Other quoted from Day One at Gettysburg: Henry Heth, commanding a division in A. P. Hill's corps that began the attack on Buford's forces; James Hall, leader of the Second Maine Battery, ordered to use his artillery to slow the Confederate advance; Rufus Dawes, Colonel of the 6th Wisconsin regiment, as he sprung a trap at the unfinished rail cut--at heavy expense to his force; Robert Rodes, one of Ewell's division commanders, on the beginning efforts at flanking the Union position. . . .
And so on.

On Day Two, it is interesting to look at the various views of participants, such as McLaws' report on a disagreement between James Longstreet (commander of the First Corps) and Lee himself. And on the events at Little Round Top, including Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's rendition.

And then the third day. . . .

All in all, a useful volume. Maps and suggested movement by readers on the battlefield itself make this a useful work if one is visiting the battlefield. It can be part of an interactive and educational effort. I wish that I had had this with me when I visited the battlefield this summer. It would have added to the experience.

So, if you are interested in primary sources, a sense of the battlefield itself, and some reflection on strategy and tactics, this could prove a useful little volume for the reader.

The Gettysburg battlefield guide is the first of many Civil War guidebooks and set the standard for the other books. The book covers the largest battle of the American Civil War and our most visited Battlefield Park. This is one of a multitude of guidebooks on the battle and can be an option to employing a guide or purchasing a park driving tour.
The series format is directions to a point on the field, orientation, a general lesson on what happened in your view, followed by first person accounts of the action. These guides are designed using the general staff training concept of a Staff Ride. This is when a class is taken to a historic location, discuss what happened and see how the terrain influences the event. Staff Rides are designed to be intensive "on the ground" training couple with physical observation in the hopes students will gain experience for later use.
I am not saying this to frighten you away from this guide but to tell you this is not a walk about and look at the monuments type of guide. This guide will have several pages devoted to the action at this point. It may contain a critique of the local commander's actions with possible alternates.
My experience is that reading the book prior to my visit works best. This allows me more time observing the field and less time reading the book. Of the tour options, a professional guide is usually the best but most expensive choice. The park driving tour is the best choice for a quick trip through the field to get the kids passport stamp. This book is the best choice for a serious student of the battle looking for a detailed explanation.

I just returned from my first Antietam visit after reading many books about the battle. The Staff Ride Guide gave me a thoroughly detailed, comprehensive, fascinating look at the battle. I brought along my father, not a Civil War buff, and he got a lot out of it as well. Good clear driving directions, great choices of accounts from both the O.R. and individual letters and diaries. Superb. I can't wait to use the other battlefield guides.

I bought this book on the suggestion of Matt Spruill's book and have no regrets. I visit Gettysburg every several years and find the guides to be invaluable to the process of learning the complexities of what happened on that battlefield in 1863. My personal opinion is that it was truly the critical turning point of the Civil War and as Lincoln said, "...the birth of a new nation." In visiting the battlefield and seeing first hand the ground it was fought on many of my decades long questions as the why things went the way they did have been answered. If one plans to visit the battlefield I can highly recommend this book as a reliable resource.

Gettysburg is the first battlefield I've ever visited. I have no actual military experience, though I fancy myself a military and general history buff. I was not sure of what my reactions would be. Just a "ho-hum", looking over some fields were men had battled for their lives more than a century ago? A sense of reverence that so many men were willing to put themselves in harm's way to protect the Constitution and the Union? Something else? I didn't know.

This marvelous, relatively slim volume helped set the tone for my visit. The tour most people take at Gettysburg is in their own automobile with designated stopping points along the way. The National Park Service provides a simple, attractive map, which does not have a lot of history in it and certainly not a detailed analysis.

"Guide to the Battlee of Gettysburg", prepared for the U.S. Army War College provides a topographic map of the military operations for each of the stops, a brief military analysis of the action(s) that transpired at that particular point and, variously, military reports and documents, diaries, letters and other materials from participants in the battle.

The book is a marvelous companion to your tour of the battlefield. It adds a richness to the experience that is, frankly, somewhat indescribable. To read of the action at The Peach Orchard, for instance, to review the topographical map and the contemporaneous military reports is to understand the (arguable) foolishness of General Sickles in disobeying orders and moving his troops - while being as well to comprehend why he believed to the end of his life that he made the correct decision.

It is quite a book. I don't know of it is the "best", because I have not reviewed every offering - but it certainly made my Gettysburg more profound and far richer than it might otherwise have been.

Jerry

I have read and participated in the AWC staff rides of the battlefields and from that light these book can be instructive at they relate to events and field conditions. They are not for the casual reader or tourist. It is essential that the reader be versed in both the theory and tactics of the time before visiting the site and that you are to read these books while standing on the actual grounds.

These books supplement case studies at the AWC in tactical and strategic thinking. Observe the battleground as a military officer would and try to put yourself in the mind of the writer. What you will be reading are the after action reports written by the officers assigned to write them, of their viewings of events on the field. Beware sometimes these reports can be self serving so take that in mind.

Reading the reports and standing on location will help to give you an incite into field situations and problems that the military officer must see, recognize and solve. One key point to remember is that of communication is not what it is today. The field of battle only existed as far as the individual officer could see. He generally knew nothing of events occuring several hundred yards away let alone a mile or so away in real time. All he knew what what was right in front of him. He never sees the big picture that today's communications can provide or seek instant clarification of orders.

With this in mind and a knowledge of the methods of Civil War fighting these books are very instructive.