Prelude to Gettysburg: Encounter at Hanover : Story of the Invasion of Pennsylvania Culminating in the Battles of Hanover and Gettysburg June and Ju [Paperback]

Hanover Chamber of Commerce (Author), Historical Publications of Hanover Chamb (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: White Mane Pub; 4th edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942597702
• ISBN-13: 978-0942597707
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,244,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating source of historical detail, February 8, 2006

By 

F. H Meredith "alpslover" (Schoharie, New York United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Prelude to Gettysburg: Encounter at Hanover : Story of the Invasion of Pennsylvania Culminating in the Battles of Hanover and Gettysburg June and Ju (Paperback)

As a Hanover native, I was nine years old when I witnessed the 1963 re-enactment of the Battle of Hanover. School field trips to the Gettysburg Battlefield sealed my lifelong interest in the Civil War.

This book provides numerous, fascinating first-hand accounts of the events between June 27 and July 3, 1863. Dozens of photographs from that era and a battle map are included. It is a treasure trove of anecdotal bits that would be hard to find anywhere else. For that reason alone, I would recommend this book to ANY reader: casual or "fanatic." Much information is also given to the years before and after the Civil War, with particular attention given to the various remembrances in later years.

The epilogue includes some intriguing facts. My favorite: as of the 1962 publication date there were about 36,000 residents of the Hanover area, of which about 97% were native born. No wonder so many family names from the 1860's are still well represented in the area today. With increased college attendance, interstate highways, and the influx of Marylanders seeking tax relief, I wonder what the percentage of native-born residents is today?

There is one serious fault in the book. There is no index, which is especially necessary in this case because the book is not arranged chronologically. Due to the prevalance of individual accounts, the chronology of the book is quite disjointed. This may have been exacerbated by the fact that there is no attributed author, rather a publication committe of nine men (one of whom was my grandfather, C. Homer Meredith.) I get the impression that several different authors compiled their individual efforts with little concern for overlap -- which is a good thing in many ways, but disconcerting if one is expecting a more typical layout. Therefore, a thorough index would be extremely helpful. Hopefully, an index will be included in a new edition for the 150th-year commemoration in 2013.