Fredericksburg: A Novel of the Irish at Marye's Heights [Hardcover]

Kirk Mitchell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996

A fictional retelling of the brutal fight for the Fredericksburg wall follows the experiences of the soldiers under General Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Potomac and the Irish Brigade.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in 1862 was the Union's most costly and humiliating defeat of the Civil War. In this powerful account of the conflict, Mitchell (Shadow on the Valley) chronicles the fates of the Irish soldiers who fought for both sides. Approaching his subject as Michael Shaara did in his 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels, Mitchell starkly showcases real-life generals, captains, sergeants and privates as they fight and struggle to survive. On the frozen slopes of Marye's Heights, Union General Thomas Meagher commands the tough Irish Brigade. Ailing from wounds and troubled by Union delays and blunders, he gallantly leads his Yankee Irishmen as they vainly charge across open ground to reach Rebel entrenchments. Hidden within a sunken road and behind a stone wall, meanwhile, the Confederate Irishmen of Colonel Robert McMillan's 24th Georgia Volunteers nervously wait for the massive Yankee assault. Sgt. Michael Sullivan, McMillan's orderly, is steadfast and true, while across the line, William Tyrrell, a Yankee color sergeant, struggles with fear and self-doubt, hoping for a wound that will prevent him from running away. Through this compelling tale of valor, hardship and sacrifice, Mitchell demonstrates that the Civil War Irish fought like demons, but that their courage was no match for the flaming walls of cannon and musket fire that consumed them utterly.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

On December 13, 1862, the Confederate and Union armies clashed in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in a savage battle. Mitchell shows the progression of "Bloody Sunday" through the eyes of six Irish soldiers, three on each side. Mitchell switches viewpoints frequently. Subheads offer time and place of segments, which shorten as the pace of battle heats up and grow longer as it wanes. The result is choppy and confusing, leaving the reader to wonder where he is and to root for both sides at once. Still, readers of war stories may enjoy the battle scenes, which are realistic and full of blood and body parts. Mitchell's previous book, Shadow on the Valley (LJ 1/94), also a Civil War novel, was praised for its excellent historical detail, which Fredricksburg also exhibits. Buy for Civil War buffs.
Andrea Lee Shuey, Dallas P.L.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 364 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312139748
• ISBN-13: 978-0312139742
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,163,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting tale of the Irish at Fredericksburg, December 21, 1999

By 

Ironmike (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fredericksburg: A Novel of the Irish at Marye's Heights (Hardcover)

Mr. Mitchell has written a compelling and entertaining novel of the Irish units during the bitter battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. The characters were a nice collection of personalites, the unit information was well handled, the factual figures were done well, and the dialog between the fictional and factual characters were superb. But the central characters needed to be fleshed out a bit more. Some of them, I couldn't relate to or feel much compassion. But, the author captured the brutality of combat, the fear, the mud, the physical discomfort, the death and chaos of battle. Good details on the terrain, weather and history of the region. Having stood behind the stone wall at Marye's Heights recently, one can only imagine what the Union soldiers must have thought as they stormed repeatedly into a virtual hail of hostile ordinance.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, would make a better movie than G&G, May 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Fredericksburg (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is an excellent novel on the Civil War. Being my major, and having read many accounts of the war, both fiction and non-fiction, I would rank this with some of the great fiction accounts of the war. It is not Red Badge of Courage, Shiloh, or the Killer Angels, which are considered the pinnacle of the genre, but it is a good read, encompassing a wider range of POVs than most of the other works. It takes elements from each of the works I have mentioned, and uses them to create a story in which it is easier to see how these people were.
Fredericksburg is often compared with Gods & Generals... I can only say that I believe that Fredericksburg would make the better movie, if kept faithful to the book (unlike G&G, which was bogged down by civilian drivel for a good portion of the movie). But, considering Hollywood and the lukewarm reception recieved by many Civil War movies, I would not want to see how this good piece of war fiction would be mutilated.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book - expands on film Gods and Generals, February 28, 2003

By 

Michael R. Bowker (Delran, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fredericksburg (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a well written work that tells the story of the Irish at Fredericksburg. This is a battle that is often overshadowed by the battle of Antietam in September 1862 and Gettysburg in July 1863. Despite this tendency to forget this battle it stands as a bloody testament to the courage of the Federal forces that were forced to charge into destruction.

The film Gods and Generals (released 2/21/2003) features a dramatic picture of the Irish sacrifice at this battle. Over 1200 men of the Irish Brigade went into battle and only 250 came back.

It is against this backdrop that author Kirk Mitchell sets his work. It is an excellent tale of the brave men of Eire that battled against each other 140 years ago. It is well written and is very much like the style of Michael Shaara in The Killer Angels. I suggest that anyone with an interest in the Civil War pick up a copy of this novel before it is not available anymore.