The Third Day at Gettysburg & Beyond

by Gallagher, Gary W.

• ISBN13: 9780807847534
• ISBN10: 0807847534
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

The six essays in this volume testify to the enduring impact of the Civil War on our national consciousness. Covering subjects as diverse as tactics, the uses of autobiography, and the power of myth-making in the southern tradition, they illustrate the rewards of imaginative scholarship--even for the most intensely studied battle in America's history. The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyondbrings current research and interpretation to bear on a range of pivotal issues surrounding the final day of the battle, July 3, 1863. This revisionist approach begins by expanding our knowledge of the engagement itself: individual essays address Confederate general James Longstreet's role in Pickett's Charge and Union general George Meade's failure to pursue Lee after the fighting. Other essays widen the scope of investigation to look at contemporary reactions to the Confederate defeat across the South, the construction of narratives by the participants themselves--from Confederate survivors of Pickett's assault to Union sergeant Ben Hirst--and the reverberations of Pickett's final momentous charge. Combining fresh evidence with the reinterpretation of standard sources, these essays refocus our view of the third day at Gettysburg to take in its diverse stories of combat and memory. The contributors are: Gary W. Gallagher, William Garrett Piston, Carol Reardon, Robert K. Krick, Robert L. Bee, and A. Wilson Greene.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
The Impact of Gettysburg on the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate Home Front: Lee's Army Has Not Lost Any of Its Prestige	p. 1
Notes	p. 22
Longstreet, Lee, and Confederate Attack Plans for July 3 at Gettysburg: Cross Purposes	p. 31
Notes	p. 51
The Convergence of History and Myth in the Southern Past: Pickett's Charge	p. 56
Notes	p. 85
The Parallel Lives of Two Virginia Soldiers: Armistead and Garnett	p. 93
Notes	p. 124
Sergeant Ben Hirst's Narrative of Important Events, Gettysburg, July 3, 1863: Fredericksburg on the Other Leg	p. 132
Notes	p. 156
Meade's Pursuit of Lee: From Gettysburg to Falling Waters	p. 161
Notes	p. 194
Bibliographic Essay	p. 203
Contributors	p. 207
Index	p. 209
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