Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded

by Jay Luvaas (Editor), Harold W. Nelson (Editor)

Overview

Here at last is the long-anticipated revised edition of one of the most respected and popular guides to the Gettysburg National Military Park. The authors have made significant changes to the guide, addressing alterations to the park during the past fifteen years and adding new information and improved maps that enrich park visitors' understanding of one of the bloodiest and most momentous battles in American history.

A compact but richly detailed volume depicting the events of the Battle of Gettysburg day-by-day and hour-by-hour, the guide retains its signature blend of official reports, commanding officers' observations, and terrain descriptions, as well as easy-to-use maps that allow park visitors to follow the battle as it actually unfolded. For the new edition, the authors provide double the number of maps-this time by master cartographer Steven Stanley-to effectively track directional changes for visitors driving through the park. They include new sections highlighting the strategic and operational context for the Gettysburg campaign and providing background about Lee's decision to invade Pennsylvania. They have also added new information about the cavalry battle on Day 3 and the decisions and actions of General Meade, and the "Capabilities and Doctrine" appendix now addresses more fully the evolution of cavalry tactics in the battle's aftermath. The new volume also features for the first time a useful appendix on logistics, which illuminates one of the army commander's most challenging tasks, sustaining the force during the campaign.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700618538
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	05/24/2012
Series:	U.S. Army War College Guides to Civil War Battles
Edition description:	Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

The late Jay Luvaas was a history professor at the U.S. Army History Institute and U.S. Army War College. Harold W. Nelson, a retired brigadier general, is a former U.S. Army Chief of Military History. Leonard J. Fullenkamp is professor of military history and strategy at the U.S. Army War College and director of its Staff Rides program.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

How to Use this Book

1. The Moves to Contact

Part I: The First Day, Wednesday, 1 July 1863

2. The Meeting Engagement on McPherson’s Ridge

3. The Second Assault

4. Initial Confederate Attacks North of the Railroad Cut

5. Ewell Enters the Battle

6. Union Defenses North Gettysburg

7. Barlow’s Knoll

8. Cemetery Hill

Part II: The Second Day, Thursday 2 July 1863

9. Deliberation over Lee’s Plan of Attack

10. Black Horse Tavern

11. Lee’s Terrain Appreciation

12. McLaws Cannot Execute His Orders

13. Hood’s Attack on 2 July

14. Law Moves Forward

15. Union Skirmishers on Big Round Top

16. Little Round Top

17. Devil’s Den

18. Kershaw’s Attack

19. 17th Maine

20. The Wheatfield: Union Responses

21. Stony Hill

22. Peach Orchard

23. Humphrey’s Reverse Slope Defense

24. McGilvery’s Artillery Line

25. Hancock’s Line Holds

26. Spangler’s Spring

27. Pardee Field

28. Summit of Culp’s Hill

29. Defense of Cemetery Hill

Part III: The Third Day, Friday 3 July 1863

30. Longstreet’s Assault

31. The High-Water mark

32. The National Cemetery

33. Benner’s Hill

34. East Cavalry Field

35. Gregg’s Attack

36. Stuart Withdraws

Appendix 1: Capabilities and Doctrine in the Civil War

Appendix II: Union Operational Logistics

Appendix III: Order of Battle

Appendix IV: Recapitulation of Casualties

Index

Editorial Reviews

Until you have walked the stone walls and trekked the woods along Seminary Ridge and then switched sides to gaze back across the fields from Little Round Top, you cannot truly understand what happened here from July 1 to 3, 1863. One of the best companions [for such excursions] is the U.S. Army War College’s Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg.”—New York Times

“These guides are the most thorough, detailed, and accurate books of their kind. Indeed, they are unique. I have used them to lead guided tours of several battlefields, with great success.—James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Era of the Civil War

“These guides bridge the gap between sound military history and battlefield touring literature. They can be enjoyed without ever leaving the easy chair or they can become indispensable companions on tramps over the scenes of the greatest engagements of the Civil War.”—William C. Davis, author of Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour and former editor of Civil War Times Illustrated

From the Publisher

Until you have walked the stone walls and trekked the woods along Seminary Ridge and then switched sides to gaze back across the fields from Little Round Top, you cannot truly understand what happened here from July 1 to 3, 1863. One of the best companions [for such excursions] is the U.S. Army War College's Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg.

New York Times