Customer Reviews

ONE CONTINUOUS FIGHT: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863

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For many years, there were few full-length studies of the retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia following its defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 -- July 3, 1863). But two outstanding books have recently been written to fill this gap. In 2005, Kent Masterson Brown published his "Retreat from Gettyburg." Brown's book focuses on the logistics of the retreat and on how Lee was able to mask his intentions, slowing Meades's pursuit. It also views Lee's goal in the Gettysburg campaign as primarily a raid -- an attempt by the Army of Northern Virginia to secure needed foodstuffs and other goods from Northern soil. With that objective in mind, Brown discusses the retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, and implicitly the battle itself, in the context of the entire campaign. He finds that the campaign partially met its objectives.

I was eager to learn more about the retreat after reading Brown. His book has been followed by a new (2008) study of the retreat: "One Continuous Fight" by three noted students of the Civil War: Eric Wittenberg, David Petruzzi, and Michael Nugent. Wittenberg and his coauthors have written extensively on Gettysburg and they have focused on the role of the cavalry. This focus on cavalry operations is critical in understanding the retreat.

Wittenberg and his co-authors give a detailed tactical study of the retreat from both Union and Confederate perspectives. They offer a detailed military discussion of the over 20 engagements that occured between the beginning of Lee's retreat on July 4,1863, and Lee's crossing over into Virginia on July 14. The book includes many stories, quotes and anechdotes from and about participants on both sides of the line. "One Continuous Fight" is an excellent study in its own right of the retreat and a worthy complement to Brown.

Many people think, when they consider the retreat, of Meade's alleged failure to pursue Lee's army. The title of this book "One Continuous Fight" should dispel that misaprehension. Wittenberg shows that there was continuous and severe fighting throughout the retreat. He describes in detail the engagements at Monterey Pass, Hagerstown, Boonsborough, and Funkstown, among other engagements. He also describes the fighting at Williamsport when on July 6, Confederate General Imboden led a heroic defense by his wounded soldiers and teamsters against a Union cavalry attack. The book offers detailed descriptions of the movements of the armies and of the results of little-studied battles.

Wittenburg gives a full picture of the strong defenses Lee constructed at Williamsport in the face of the flooded Potomac River which hindered his crossing. For three days, Meade and the Union Army failed to attack the position. When Meade at length wanted to attack on July 14, Lee's army had slipped away into the night. The hazardous crossings at Williamsport and Falling Waters are described in full detail.

The major issue surrounding the retreat is whether Meade could have done more in stopping Lee, won another victory, and perhaps ended the war. Wittenburg's study shows the complexity of this question, which in fact folds several discrete issues into one. Meade would have taken an enormous risk by attacking the fortified Confederate position at Williamsport with his exhausted and ill-provided army. His decisions to refrain from attack until the Confederate position had been fully reconnoitered was probably sound. But the Union pursuit of Lee, Wittenburg argues, was flawed in several respects. He is somewhat critical of Meade but places most of the responsbility on Meade's cavalry chief, Pleasonton, for dividing his forces and not following the retreating Army in an agressive, coordinated manner. In contrast, the individual cavalry commanders for the Union, especially Buford, get high marks for their efforts during the retreat as do Stuart, Imboden, and, generally, the entire Confederate cavalry. Lee's conduct of the retreat receives high praise.

Unlike Brown's study, Wittenberg's book gives little attention to the goods the Confederates carried back with them to Virginia. In fact, with Wittenberg's emphasis on the privations of the retreat, he doesn't seem to think the goods secured through foraging were a factor. Wittenberg also, in contrast to Brown, sees the Gettysburg campaign as a dismal failure for the Confederacy in terms of loss of life and loss of leadership. Overall, the impression is that Lee was fortunate to get away, and that the supplies of food he may have carried with him were of scant consolation for the large military defeat at Gettysburg.

This book is clearly written with good portrayals of the complex fighting. It offers good maps and includes two lengthy driving tours, one for the route followed by Imboden and his train of Confederate wounded, the other for the route followed by Lee's army. This book will appeal to serious students of the Civil War with a good background knowledge of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg campaign.

Robin Friedman

The Battle of Gettysburg is the battle of the American Civil War. Its' importance can be disputed but the place it occupies in our history cannot. The retreat and pursuit of Lee's army often receives scant coverage in Gettysburg histories. Most often, this coverage is Lincoln's disappointment over the escape of the Army of Northern Virginia and General Meade's problems because of this. Very few books have attempted an in-depth look at the military campaign that July. The campaign did not end with Pickett's Charge. It ended about 10 days later with the AoNV safe in Virginia. This book covers, in detail, those days as a military campaign. It is the often-overlooked history of a series of movements, engagements and battles occurring as the armies struggle south. There are nearly two dozen separate distinct engagements, many mapped at about one mile to the inch. An updated campaign level map always seemed to be there just as I needed it. The Area of Operations map inside the front cover is for quick reference and reorientation. These maps make it all but impossible to get lost and are worth the effort put into them.
This book concentrates on the army not on Imboden's retreat with the supply train and wounded. While covered in one chapter, it is not slighted. For instance, there are three pages on the civilian attacks on the train in Greencastle. About 300 pages cover July 4 to 14 as the armies struggle south, clash, rebound and repeat. The authors allow the participants to contribute their stories, keeping this from being a dry history. Those who have read Wittenberg and/or Petruzzi know how well they do this. If you have not read them this is an excellent introduction. Eric Wittenberg posses and in-depth understanding of Cavalry operations, the strengths and weakness of that arm. J. David Petruzzi understanding of Gettysburg complements this. Both men are the author of several books on Civil War Cavalry and/or Gettysburg. They co-authored "PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND" in 2006. Michael Nugent is the new member of this team. He is a speaker on the Civil War circuit and an expert on the Gettysburg Campaign.
I sometimes skip the Preface. Do not skip this one! Noah Andre Trudeau has written a thought provoking essay on Meade vs. Lee that needs to be read. It made me hope for a follow up history that would cover from August 1863 to Grant's arrival in the East.
Did I mention the Driving Tours? After you read a good history, do you want to see the land and stand in those spots? This book has detailed driving tour of the Wagon Train of the Wounded and the military operations. It is an extra that more histories need to consider including.
Was Meade derelict? Did Meade, working under impossible conditions, conduct as good a pursuit as possible? Did Meade move to slowly, star struck by Lee and feeling lucky to have won a battle? Did Meade make a reasonable decision in not attacking Lee's entrenchments? Was Meade the victim of politics and robbed of what he earned? Did Meade lack a killer instinct? The chapter "Conclusions" provides a balanced look at these questions and gives real answers.
This is a "must have book" for a Gettysburg library. It is an intelligent, readable, enjoyable history. I don't think we can ask more of a book.

I recently finished the book and am glad to see that this part of the Gettysburg Campaign has finally received the recognition that it deserves. The authors have given us a full blown history of the battles that occurred as Lee's army retreated from their loss at Gettyburg. It's a day by day travelog that shows just how each army reacted to the aftermath of the fighting at Gettysburg.

The authors have shared stories of the heroism on both sides as they found themselves involved in the 10 days described in the aftermath of the most significant battle of the Civil War that took place in the Eastern Theater. They have delivered a fascinating tale of those in the ranks, whether on foot or riding a trusted horse as they dealt with the horrible weather and the lack of sleep.

My favorite chapter deals with the events of July 8, 1863, as I was born 100 years after that date. The events at Boonsboro and what Lee and Longstreet were doing that day provided this reader with a glimpse in to the Civil War that I have rarely come across. I had no clue that on that day 145 years ago, a son of NJ, Judson Kilpatrick received 3 cheers from his men. This son of NJ was happily surprised reading that, as in all my reading on Kilpatrick I have not come across "Kilcavalry" being cheered like that.

Highly recommend this book for those who are interested in the Gettysburg Campaign. It's a fascinating and well written treatise on what happened after the battle. As others have mentioned, take advantage of the tours listed at the end of the book. It's well worth your time following in the footsteps of those who walked the walk 145 years ago. You will not be disappointed.

Steve Basic

Who knows anything about Lee's retreat from Gettysburg? Despite copious amounts of literature dedicated to the opening portions of the campaign and the battle itself, very little has been written (and hence read) about Lee's difficult withdrawal across the South Mountain range to Williamsport and Falling Waters, and the eventual retreat across the flooded Potomac River, all while actively facing the pursuing Army of the Potomac. After the fact, many in the North, including President Lincoln, were deeply critical of George Meade for "allowing" Lee's army to escape to fight another day. In One Continuous Fight, authors Eric Wittenberg, J.D. Petruzzi, and Michael Nugent set out to reassess the performance of many generals during this little-studied section of the campaign, document the numerous small battles which flared during the retreat, and generally challenge many commonly held assumptions.

The Gettysburg Campaign was not even close to being over as the two tired and battered Eastern armies licked their wounds and glared at each other across the battlefield on July 4, 1863. Instead, a long and tense retreat to the Potomac River lay ahead for Lee's wounded but still dangerous Army of Northern Virginia. The Army of the Potomac, nearly as wounded but expecting reinforcements, would follow and make that retreat as difficult as possible. Over the next ten days, Lee's army used several routes to retreat to Williamsport, Maryland, forming a defense line there before finally crossing the Potomac River and escaping into Virginia to fight another day.

Much has already been said about One Continuous Fight, almost all of it overwhelmingly positive. If you are looking for that trend to be broken here, you will be disappointed.

Among the misconceptions which sprang up around these ten days is the belief that there was very little fighting done. The authors ably counteract that belief by penning a detailed tactical narrative which completely lays this fallacy to rest.

The description of the retreat, from John Imboden's handling of the Confederate "Wagon Train of Wounded" to the numerous skirmishes and battles are well written, informative, and entertaining. The book reads like a novel in some places, as there was drama aplenty packed into these eleven days.

Wittenberg, Petruzzi, and Nugent obviously spent a lot of time researching this one. The prodigious number of primary sources was especially impressive, and it shows throughout the book. Men who were there are often allowed to offer their own insight into what had happened. This proved especially useful while discussing the job Meade did in pursuing Lee to the Potomac.

The authors cover the various camps of thought on that topic thoroughly in the conclusion. Some of their findings definitely go against the commonly held thought that Meade was too passive in trying to cut off Lee. In the end, they believe Meade probably did as much as could be expected with a tired army reinforced by only very green units.

Wittenberg, Petruzzi, and Nugent instead find others more culpable for the escape of Lee's army, especially Union cavalry chief Alfred Pleasonton. The leader of the Army of the Potomac's Cavalry Corps receives major blame for not massing his three divisions and interfering with Lee's retreat in a more meaningful way. Especially egregious, according to the authors, was his failure to even involve Gregg's Division in the pursuit. This third of the Union cavalry never even fought in any of the engagements along the retreat route.

Sometimes you have to look at the opponent's conduct as well, and One Continuous Fight commends the handling of the retreat by Robert E. Lee, John D. Imboden, and J.E.B. Stuart. The authors believe Stuart's performance made up in large measure for some of his failings prior to the battle of Gettysburg.

The book could have easily ended as most campaign studies do, with an epilogue and maybe an appendix containing an order of battle. The order of battle is here all right, just as you would expect in a Savas Beatie volume. But the two appendices which really add quite a bit of extra usefulness are the tour guides following the Gettysburg Retreat (Appendix A) and the Confederate Wagon Train of the Wounded (Appendix B). The tours include detailed directions including GPS waypoints at every stop, descriptions of the importance of those stops, and numerous black and white photos of the sights to be seen along the way. An overview map of each drive is included with each tour. Craig Swain of To the Sound of the Guns recently used One Continuous Fight to take the Gettysburg Retreat tour. In any case, you simply do not see tour guides of this length in a typical campaign study. As Craig pointed out, many publishers would have chosen to print the tour guide portion in its own book simply to make more money. I applaud Savas Beatie's decision to include the tours within this book instead.

If you have read any book by Eric Wittenberg, you know the man does his research. One Continuous Fight does not disappoint in this regard. The book, containing nearly four hundred pages of text, is solidly backed by fifty-four pages of notes and nearly forty pages of sources! The numerous manuscript sources are located all over the United States, and the sheer number of primary sources used tells the reader that the authors are not content to simply rehash old findings. They prefer, as it ever should be, to find out the answers to their questions by looking back to the original information. The index is serviceable and works well. Eric once remarked he hates doing the indexing on his books, so I always laugh when it comes time to take a look at the index of a Wittenberg-penned tome, wondering if he slaved away at it on his own or simply paid the publisher to take care of the distasteful task for him!

As is almost always the case with books published by Ted Savas, the maps in One Continuous Fight are numerous and helpful. Sixteen maps in all cover the area in which the retreat occurred, the various skirmishes and engagements fought during the retreat, and tour maps of the area.

I am sure some of the more well-read Civil War bookworms out there are wondering how this book compares to Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign. Interestingly, the authors touch on this in the Introduction to the book. I've taken the liberty of excerpting the relevant passage here as it gives readers an answer far better than this reviewer could:

"So how does the book you hold in your hands differ from Kent Masterson Brown's? Whereas Brown's book masterfully details and highlights the complex logistical aspects of the Retreat, the main subject of this book concerns the fights and skirmishes, both large and small, that erupted as predator chased still-dangerous prey back to and across the Potomac River. With a combined forty-plus years of studying those ten days following the Gettysburg carnage, we had uncovered scores of "new" untapped resources that much more fully told the stories of the men whose fighting was not nearly finished. It is our humble belief that the combination of these two books gives the reader the full story of the Retreat, with each providing its own specialty of purpose."

One Continuous Fight sets out to correct some long held notions about Meade's performance in the Army of the Potomac's pursuit of Lee after the Battle of Gettysburg. Authors Wittenberg, Petruzzi, and Nugent succeed marvelously in this endeavor. In the process, they also managed to shed some very detailed light on a much-neglected series of little-known battles for the first time. Researched in great detail, well-written, and entertaining, One Continuous Fight is a book all Civil War readers will want to have in their collections. This is the type of book you get when you mix dedicated, knowledgeable authors with a dedicated, intelligent publisher. At $34.95, the book is competitively priced as well. Buy early and buy often from these authors, and make sure you take a look at the many other Savas Beatie offerings available.

Addendum: Eric Wittenberg recently blogged about a third book in the authors' Gettysburg "trilogy", which will focus on the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac from July 15 to August 1, 1863. I will be looking forward to this little-studied period, one which this reviewer admittedly knows little detail about.

I have never understood why the public then at large, and the Lincoln Administration, thought George Gordon Meade should have immediately made the exact same mistake Robert E. Lee had just made: Attack across the open fields of Gettysburg and destroy the Union Army in the process, just as Lee had destroyed the Confederate Army's offensive capability one day earlier. All of the then arm chair quarterbacks and today's historians blame Meade, who had assumed command on the eve of the battle, for having let Bobby Lee escape. The fact that Meade was badly mauled and that the three day battle generated 50,000 casualties on both sides appears irrelevant to almost all observers. The fact that Meade refused to immediately annihilate his army and that Lee was hoping and more than ready for just such a chance seems to have escaped everyone who has ever written about or reported on the immediate aftermath of the battle.

Mr. Wittenberg has written a remarkably good account of not what should have happened in a perfect world, but what actually did happen in the immediate aftermath of Gettysburg and during Lee's arduous retreat into Virginia. Both armies had mountains to cross and/or move around. Lee's army possessed the interior lines we hear so much about; they had materially less distance to travel, less than half. The Union's cavalry was spread over 60 miles of countryside, on the battlefield and North, South and East of it, with no immediate point of convergence for resupply. Washington was issuing independent orders, moving around Meade, their brand new field commander. Communications were a shambles. Logistics were a mess. Commands were torn apart. Worse, the chain of command was compromised. But no one, as it is alleged, sat still.

The Union cavalry was in motion almost immediately doing its best to strike through mountain passes held by Confederate infantry and block Lee's escape. Buford's troops, recovering at Fredrick, Maryland, took to the field almost immediately. Custer's and Gregg's cavalry, who fought Jeb Stuart to a standstill 6 miles east of Gettysburg on July 3rd, were immediately engaged and so it goes. This is a masterful retelling of those events, one that puts the battlefield situation in a materially better light and gives the reader a materially better understanding of the terrain, the shattered commands on both sides and the very long distances that had to be marched on foot or ridden on horseback. It was, in fact, exactly what the title states: One Continuous Fight.

If you ever wondered what happened to Robert E. Lee's army of northern Virginia in the ten days following its defeat at Gettysburg on Pennsylvania July 3, 1863, look no further than One Continuous Fight. Herein, Jeb Stuart is redeemed in the eyes of Lee for poor scouting reports prior to July 1st. Meade explains why he didn't intercept Lee's broken army during the retreat. Learn of the twenty or so skirmishes between Southern and Northern cavalry in places like Funkstown, Boonsboro and finally Falling Waters, suffer with the slow moving, 17 mile long Confederate wagon train carrying the wounded and the lame, including captured union soldiers for ten days from Gettysburg to Williamsport, Maryland.

Never before have I seen such broad range of resources, from diaries to documents, letters, newspaper accounts, military, civilians along the route of retreat, Confederate and Union.

This truly is work of epic proportions, taken on by three well known Civil War historians and experts on cavalry action. There is even a detailed modern driving tour for those of you who can still afford gasoline, from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Williamsport, Maryland.

Richard N. Larsen
Reviewer

Gettysburg. Say it and one is immediately reminded of the cataclysmic three day battle between the Army of the Potomac, commanded by George Meade, and the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E. Lee. Three days, July 1-3, 1863, that changed American History forever. Thousands of books and articles have been written about the battle which took place in the tiny hamlet of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I dare say you could fill an entire room in a library with nothing about books devoted to this one battle alone.

But what happened after the battle? Lee's retreat from Gettysburg, and Meade's failure to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia before it crossed the Potomac River to the safety of Virginia is sometimes given the briefest of mentions, but more often is treated as a single chapter, or epilogue in a work covering the battle or the whole of the Gettysburg Campaign. Books devoted entirely to the retreat itself can easily be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Eric J. Wittenberg, J. David Petruzzi and Michael F. Nugent have successfully corrected this omission from the historical library with their book, "One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863." Drawing on a wealth of first hand accounts: letters & diaries, many of which until now have remained unpublished for 145 years, as well as contemporary newspaper articles and previously published primary and secondary sources, the trio of authors have written a dynamic and engaging volume, that is easily read and hard to put down.

During its retreat the Army of Northern Virginia clashed in nearly two dozen skirmishes & major engagements with the Army of the Potomac, including fighting at Granite Hill, Monterey Pass, Hagerstown, Williamsport, Funkstown, Boonsboro and Falling Waters. There was so much fighting going on between the opposing forces that Privet L. T. Dickinson of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry to described the ten day retreat as "one continuous fight."

The book covers in detail the movements of the armies; however the first chapter is devoted entirely to Imboden's "Wagon Train of the Wounded," which I found compelling to read.

Meade has often been accused of letting Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia slip from his grasp at the moment when he had the ability to crush them in the palm of his hand. After the titanic three day struggle on the fields of Gettysburg, was Meade derelict in not following up on his victory? Did he move too slowly or too cautiously? Could Meade have done more? Or was the blue-clad Army of the Potomac as used up as their brothers clad in butternut and gray? From the title of their book alone, the authors dispel nearly 145 years of finger pointing, and accusations and in their conclusion they give a fair and balanced view of exactly who, if any one, was at fault.

Included at the end of the book are two driving tours: The Retreat from Gettysburg and The Wagon Train of the Wounded, both contain GPS coordinates and detailed driving directions so the reader can follow in the footsteps of history. Of course, if you want the full experience, I'd encourage you to don a wool uniform, strap on a backpack, pick up your rifle and walk the routes in the ninety degree heat of July. If you chose to do so I'll wave at you from the comfort of my air conditioned car as I drive by.

Are there too many books about the Gettysburg Campaign? In a word, yes. Is there still anything left unwritten about the campaign & battle? Absolutely, and this book is but one example. It is a must have for any student of the Civil War, and especially for a student of the Gettysburg Campaign.

The Union Army in the Civil War provides a tremendous example of how an institution can survive its own imperfections and turn itself into a successful organization. It was not easy, and it took awhile. Corruption and indolence under the Buchanan administration were endemic. Incompetence prevailed after the cream of the officer corps defected to the Confederacy. As with the present administration, its highest ranking officers were too often those whose skills lay in their politics.

Eventually, these people were filtered out, but the cost was tremendous,
and invariably paid by others.

This book is a marvelous addition to the common base of knowledge about the critical days after Lee's assault on Gettysburg. It may well lead to the conclusion that the entire battle should be viewed as comprising the first two weeks in July, 1863, rather than just the first three days. The scholarship is first rate, the logic and conclusions profound. If nothing else, we now have the reasons why Lincoln's intuition led to his shelving that famous unsent letter to Meade.

A book this important calls for a competent editor. Three writers working together turns this call into a scream. The occasional typographical error can be forgiven - even though the copy is overrun by the writers' spelling errors. Assaults on grammar are endemic. What I cannot forgive, and what inspires this review, is the frequent repetition of whole paragraphs.

I salute the publisher, Savas Beatie, of El Dorado Hills, California. I also beg them, and the authors, to insist on a competent editor before committing this volume to its well-deserved future printings.

"One Continuous Fight" is an excellent resource for anyone who has a serious interest in the Civil War. The main part of the book comprises a detailed description of a part of the Battle of Gettysburg that most people may not have considered - the retreat of the Confederate forces from Pennsylvania back into northern Virginia. While that topic may seem to be of relatively minor importance, it was pivotal event that made possible the continuation of the war for almost two more years during which many more Americans died. The three authors of this book present in great detail the exceedingly difficult, dangerous, and determined passage of two components of the southern forces back across the Potomac: (1) the 17 mile-long wagon train of wounded and (2) the main body of the army. Obviously based upon extensive research and on-site investigations, the book describes the path of retreat for these major components of Lee's surviving army as well as the futile attempts of northern forces to intercept them.

But the most fascinating aspect of the book is the detailed documentation that enables the reader to locate important sites and follow the exact paths of the retreating forces. Not only do the authors give detailed driving directions, they also provide highly accurate longitude and latitude readings for all necessary intersections, geographic landmarks, and other significant sites. By programming these data into a GPS device, anyone can find and follow every aspect of the retreat including the battles along the way and the incredible flight across the Potomac River at Williamsport, MD.

After purchasing the book, I couldn't wait to visit Pennsylvania again and try to find these routes myself, a trip I completed last week. I was not disappointed. The data provided in the book are amazingly accurate. I had no trouble in locating all the sites I had preselected to find. Needless to say, the experience has not only proved to be enlightening, it has greatly affected my appreciation for the tragedy of the event and the courage and tenacity of the people involved in this unfortunate chapter of American history.

Wittenburg is known for his exhaustive research on calvary battles and units during the Civil War (see his book on the Battle of Trevilian Station for example) but joined here by Petruzzi and Nugent, these authors provide he most detrailed writings of every major fight and skirmish in pusuit of the ANV then any other publication. Often using first hand accounts along with biographical sketches of key participants, the authors provide exciting descriptions of these encounters while including not only the strategic movement of Lee's retreating forces but also the Union calvary's attempts to delay and capture his trains. While Meade's main infantry forces were cautious initially in pursuit, the Union calvary was conducting forays and making aggressive attempts to captures wagons and cut off or impede Lee's army. The chapter on the Battle of Hagerstown is a typical example of the exciting battle descriptions
that details first hand accounts and movements of battle. Of note is the description of Captain Uric Dahlgreen's (of the infamous Dahlgreen Raid of 1864) supportive attack into the midst of Confederates resulting in his wounding and later loss of leg. The detail may be overwhelming for those less interested in detail but for the hard corps Civil war historian, particularly interested in the retreat that involved calvary operatons, this book will provide more detrail and sources then you need. The over 300 descriptive pages on the pursuit also includes an additional driving tour section complete with pictures. You may want to get a map of Pennsylvania and Maryland, there is a theater of operations map at the front of the book, while reading the book to get a greater complete appreciation for the immense task that Lee had to get his army on multiple roads back to safety while trying to protect these multiple routes from an aggressive and nimble Union calvary.