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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pickett's Charge, November 4, 2003
For many people, Pickett's July 3, 1863 charge up Cemetery Ridge is the climactic event of the Battle of Gettysburg and the defining moment of the Civil War. Earl J. Hess has written a detailed, scholarly account of Pickett's charge which draws copiously upon contemporary sources. His book is clear and easy to follow, given the subject matter, and is poignant to read. I found myself riveted to his account.I found a major virtue of the book was the manner in which Hess shifted his focus back and forth from the Confederate to the Union side of the line. The book begins with a discussion of the planning of the charge, focusing on the interactions between Lee and Longstreet. This is followed by two chapters dealing with, respectively, the disposition of the Confederate troops before the attack and the Union lines before the attack. I found this invaluable in helping me understand the events of the day and their sequence. Hess follows this discussion with a discussion of the Confederate cannonading barrage, and the Union response, that proceeded the infantry advance. Again, he shifts his focus from the Confederate side of the line, and the effect of the cannonading on the Union, to the Union response and its effect on the Confederacy. He spends a great deal of time explaining the decision of the Union artillerists to hold their fire and the disagreement this decision provoked with General Hancock. This theme pervades the book and is well-treated. Hess concludes that the cannonading was about one hour in duration before the infantry charge,(i.e. from about 1:00p.m. to 2:00p.m.) contrary to some other accounts which make it substantially longer. There are detailed discussions of the Confederate infantry advance to the Emmitsburg Road, to the Stone Fence, and, for a small number of intrepid southern soldiers, over the wall and into the Union lines. We learn about the Union artillery and infantry responses and about their effect on the charge at each stage. There is an excellent but somewhat brief chapter on the repulse of the charge and on the subsequent Confederate retreat back to Virginia. There is an excellent chapter discussing the careers of the principle protagonists of the battle following the events of July 3 through the end of the War and beyond. The book lays a great deal of emphasis on the topography of the battlefield, the hills, ridges, swales, and fences which played a major role in the fighting of July 3. But the key emphasis on the book is on the fighting men on both sides -- on their determination and their heroism. Hess argues that the activities of the troops and their immediate commanders were more important to the results of the day than the decisions of the generals. Hess has many thoughtful things to say about the attack, its planning, and about its possibilities for success. He finds the attack a long chance indeed but is able to present a convincing case about why Lee believed he needed to try. Hess is highly critical of James Longstreet for the manner in which he deployed the attacking divisions and for his failure to provide support to the attack. But he does not believe the attack would have succeeded even if Longstreet had carried out his responsibilities more aggressively. I learned a great deal from Hess's study. This book will help the reader understand the events of July 3. It shows why Pickett's charge, with its suffering, its folly, and its glory retains its hold on the imagination of many Americans.
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