The Gettysburg Nobody Knows

By Gabor S. Boritt

Book Overview

On the first three days of July in 1863, more than 160,000 Union and Rebel soldiers fought a monumental battle in Gettysburg, a bloody contest that has been hailed as "the turning point of the Civil War." It is without a doubt the best known engagement of the war and may in fact be the best known battle in American military history. It is certainly the most studied battle Americans have ever fought in. And yet, for all its prominence, this singular moment in our history still stirs heated debate. Did Jeb Stuart's absence leave General Lee blind? Should Ewell have attacked Cemetery Hill? Was Joshua Chamberlain really the hero of Little Round Top? How close did the Confederates come to winning at Gettysburg? And if the Confederates had won, how would history have been different?
Now, Gabor Boritt, the director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, has invited nine leading authorities to shed new light on the greatest battle in our history. Following the example of Richard Nelson Current's acclaimed history The Lincoln Nobody Knows, the contributors focus in particular on the unknown, the controversial, and what might have been. Readers learn, for instance, that though Jeb Stuart's cavalry provided no intelligence to the rebel army for several key days, Lee knew from other sources the location of the Army of the Potomac and he was able to concentrate his army before General Meade arrived at the battlefield in strength. Readers are treated to a fresh account of "the most celebrated forty minutes in all of American military history"--Pickett's Charge--watching that famed encounter from a perspective rarely described: the point of view of Union soldiers. There are careful analyses of the battlefield actions of General Ewell (whose failure to attack Cemetery Hill has been blamed for the South's loss at Gettysburg) and of General Daniel Sickles (whose dangerous repositioning of troops on July 2nd has been credited with stopping Longstreet's advance): Ewell is exonerated here, Sickles criticized for probably causing more Union losses than necessary. And throughout the volume, there is much vivid writing, such as a stirring account of the moment when General Winfield Scott Hancock ordered the First Minnesota to "take those colors," sending the Minnesotans into a desperate struggle that would cost most of them their lives but would help save the day for the Union.
Well over a century has gone by since the guns fell silent at Gettysburg. Yet every year millions of tourists make the pilgrimage to this venerable site, to see for themselves the spot where thousands died so that the Union could be preserved. The Gettysburg Nobody Knows offers a marvelous reconsideration of this epic event. It will be must reading for the legions of Civil War buffs around the country and for everyone interested in American history.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195102231
• ISBN13: 9780195102239
• Release Date: November 1997
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Thoughtful Essays on Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-13, 1863 and ended the Confederacy's second invasion of the North. It was the bloodiest battle fought in North America. (The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single day.) Although there are many outstanding narrative accounts of the battle, the literature which carefully examines aspects of the battle and their significance is less extensive. Gabor Boritt's collection "The Gettyburg Nobody Knows" (1997) consists of nine essays by outstanding scholars which elucidate the battle and its consequences. Each essay is accompanied by notes and by comments by each author suggesting further reading. The book derives from presentations at the annual summer Civil War Institute in Gettysburg. Professor Boritt is the Director of the Institute. There is a wonderful tone of scholarship and of the desire to learn that pervades this volume. One of the authors reflects that all the participants in the seminars -- and the readers as well -- are students trying to learn rather than experts with all the answers. This attitude is one that could well be emulated in scholarship and intellectual activity of all kinds. It is a joy to have it presented in this book.The essays cover a great variety of topics. The first essay by Joseph Glatthaar discusses the role of the common soldier in the Gettysburg campaign and points out how the Confederate Army may have been at once tired, overconfident, and undisciplined in its movement to the North. Glenn LaFantasie follows this essay with a discussion of Joshua Chamberlain, the hero of Little Round Top which endeavors to separate the facts from the myths that have grown around Chamberlain. To my reading, Chamberlain still emerges from the essay as a highly impressive figure.Harry Pfanz has written three extensive narratives on the Battle of Gettysburg. In this volume, he contributes a slim but succinct essay on the Confederate General Richard Ewell. Pfanz largely exonerates Ewell from the criticism he has suffered in many quarters for failing to advance on Cemetery and Culps Hills on the first day of the battle.Kent Gramm's essay on the First Minnesota is an outstanding meditation on the hazards and chances of war and of the role of individual responsibility and action. It also has a great deal worthwhile to say about the Generalship of Lee, Meade, Longstreet, and Sickles. This is highly reflective, thoughtful historical writing.Emory Thomas's essay examines the role of JEB Stuart's cavalry in the battle and the impact of his absence. Unlike many studies, it focuses on the fighting on East Cavalry on the third day and his some insightful thoughts about the importance of that action and why it turned out the way it did.There are three essays which focus in different ways on the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg and its significance. Carol Reardon is a highly-regarded student of Pickett's Charge. Her essay focuses on the Union side of the line and on the difficult

Stories that you will not hear about anywhere else

You won't hear anywhere else about what happened to Joshua Chamberlain after the war, about what on earth JEB Stuart was doing (and why, to some degree), about the effects of Stonewall Jackson's absence, and more troumendously interesting subjects. This book WILL give you a different perspective on the battle. The book is full of minute details that may only be interesting to the Civil War buff. But, I can't imagine why not everybody in the world is a Civil War buff. This book also has a very good chapter on the Northern perspective of Pickett's Charge. Required reading for a Civil War buff, I emphasize. The authors are all splendid historians. They include Harry W. Phanz, Richard M. McMurry, Carol Reardon, and others.

This fresh examination of facts dispells many of the myths.

Myths about the Battle of Gettysburg persist, but this fresh examination allows a deeper understanding of the events which took place those hot July days back in 1863. The book clarifies myths about Ewell, Chamberlain, Pickett and Lee. It's informative and quite fun.

Different aspects of the battle with a twist

I particularly enjoyed this book in which several essays are presented on different aspects of the battle because it addresses the issue that battles are fought in real time and cannot be changed by historians years later. Richard B. McMurray in his essay entitled "The Pennsylvania Gambit and the Gettysburg Splash" hit home with me because I have felt for a long time that Gettysburg did not win or lose the war for either side. McMurrays belief and I concur is that the war was won in the west by the western armies and his essay addresses the invasion of Pennsylvania in light of the siege of Vicksburg and other operations in the west in 1863. I am glad to have purchased this book for my Gettysburg collection.

Yet another amazing work from Dr. Gabor Boritt.

Here is yet another fantastic piece from Dr. Gabor Boritt, arguably one of the greatest Lincoln historians of our time. This time around, Dr. Boritt has chosen as his focus Gettysburg - the location of the battle which many view as the turning point in the Civil War. This work draws from many different historians, and paints a marvelously interesting portrait of the battle. The writings Dr. Boritt has complied also gives the reader viewpoints of various aspects of the battle which have been hitherto overlooked. A recommended read for anyone seriously interested in the Batttle of Gettysburg.