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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Historiography, January 9, 2003
The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond edited by Gary Gallagher is a nice relatively short volume of historiographical works on the last day at Gettysburg and it's immediate aftermath. The book is not without its problems. In his chapter "Lee's Army Has Not Lost its Prestige" Gallagher asserts that the defeat at Gettysburg was not a crushing defeat for the Confederacy and the defeat at Vicksburg was a much larger defeat for the CSA and its people. While this conclusion is interesting, it's completely at odds with Gallagher's later assertion in his book The Confederate War, that Lee's army was of paramount importance to the people of the CSA. His conclusion that the populace was not as concerned about Gettysburg based upon analysis of letters and diaries needs more study. However, his conclusion that Gen. Lee originally did not regard the defeat at Gettysburg as a crushing blow is well grounded as is his conclusion that Lee's soldiers were not crushed by the defeat which they attributed to the Union army simply having the advantage of better ground and "not fighting a fair fight." Their confidence was certainly not crushed and they believed they did inflict a blow to the Union army in the previous three days fighting. William Garrett Piston's chapter "Cross Purposes" on Gen. Longstreet and his orders for the final days fighting which ended up causing Lee to order the ill fated, and misnamed, Pickett's charge is also quite interesting. Piston fails to convince however that it was in fact Longstreet not following Lee's orders that caused the disaster. However he does acknowledge ultimate blame falls on Lee for not following through with Longstreet's plan once in motion, he didn't have to order the ill fated charge. However, after these two chapters the book starts to take a turn and not for the better. Carol Reardon's chapter on Pickett's Charge focuses on the historiographical conflicts waged after the war concerning the responsibility for the failure of the charge. While this is interesting, it really doesn't have much to do with the actual aftermath of the conflict or the charge itself. It only includes a small discussion of which account of the charge and the responsibility for its ultimate failure, is correct. Perhaps the most interesting chapters are the last two in the book. Robert L. Bee includes the wartime correspondance of Sgt. Ben Hirst's account of the fighting and its aftermath, as well as mentioning his accounts of other battles. Hirst's letters detail the horror of war in a very intense way that brings the action to life for the reader. A. William Greene conclusively demonstrates that the charges against Gen. Meade of not pursuing Lee after the battle are completely baseless. Bad weather as well as the fact the Confederate army was not as defeated and lacking supplies as Lincoln and many historians after the battle would have one believe, demonstrate had Meade gone after the Confederate army his own army, lacking sleep, food and shoes, would likely have been repulsed on the banks of a swollen Potomac by an angry, well supplied, Confederate Army with many of its soldiers looking for another fight. These charges also ignore that Meade's actual orders were to protect Washington and Baltimore, and force him away from the Federal capital and out of Maryland, not attempt a crushing defeat of Lee which would have taken him and Lee much closer to Washington. Given Lincoln's paranoia about protecting the Federal capital, had Meade spoiled for a fight nearer Washington, Lincoln likely would have criticized him for putting the capital in jeopardy. The consequences of such a battle for the Union had Lee's army been successful would have been desasterous. Overall, this is a decent historiography that loses its way in the middle with Reardon's chapter and Robert K. Krick's chapter on two Virginia Confederate soldiers. Had those chapters been replaced by ones more germane to the fighting the last day at Gettysburg, this would have been a better book.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent supplement to the study of Gettysburg, June 16, 2000
This review is from: The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond (Military Campaigns of the Civil War) (Paperback)
Part of the Military Campaigns of the Civil War series and the third of three books on Gettysburg, Gallagher presents a series of essays on the 3d and 4th days of the Battle of Gettysburg and the immediate aftermath. A key point is that these are essays - the volume does not present a history of the battle. Instead, each essay reviews a particular moment or theme. A strong point of an essay series is that the authors can lay differing interpretations of key events or points without the necessity of retelling the entire story of the battle. For instance, Gallagher's own essay discusses the difficulties Meade faced in launching a pursuit of the Confederates and what he actually managed to accomplish. Little has been written on this since Coddington's The Gettysburg Campaign. Other essays focus on skirmishing by the 14th Connecticutt prior to Pickett's Charge, the importance of Gettysburg to the overall Confederate war effort and some other topics. The essays are uniformly well-written and interesting, if not always completely convincing. I'd recommend that anyone interested in Gettysburg beyond the most basic level read this volume as well as the previous two.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful Essays about 3rd day at Gettysburg and aftermath, May 29, 2002
This review is from: The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond (Military Campaigns of the Civil War) (Paperback)
This book follows the standard format of all Gary Gallagher Military Campaigns of the Civil War books. It contains six essays about various aspects pertaining to the last day at Gettysburg and the immediate aftermath of the battle. Overall the book is solid in that it discusses some of the latest scholarship and academic findings about Gettysburg, and covers a wide range of topics. I enjoy this in depth analysis of battles, while others may find this type of history book slighly dry. Gary Gallagher's essay about the impact the loss at Gettysburg had on the Confederate Army and civilian population is very interesting, and probably the best essay from the book. I did not realize that Vicksburg was considered a much greater loss for most Confederates. Not until Lincoln's address does the magnitude of what happened really sink into the hearts and minds of both sides. Both, Piston's essay about the relationship between Lee and Longstreet during the battle, and Reardon's essay about Pickett's charge, are well researched and written. Robert Krick's essay about the shared history between Generals Armistead and Garnett is a bit long and somewhat boring. Robert Bee's essay conveys a very personal view of the Battle through the letters of one of the participants. I find these types of eye witness accounts fascinating. Finally, Greene argues that Meade was not overly cautious in his pursuit of Lee. Greene presents some decent arguments, but I was not convinced that Meade did not prolong the war through his slow advance towards the defeated Confederate Army. Of course, all this changes once Grant is put in command over Meade. I recommend this book for anyone who is very interested in the Battle of Gettysburg. If you are looking for fresh, relevant, and current material about the third day of the battle, then you will enjoy this book. For those who have read other books in the campaign series and liked them, you will most likely enjoy this one also.
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