This book was written by Lieutenant William N. Wood, published in 1956, the narrative is 132 pages and is illustrated with black and white photos and drawings. Pickett's charge at Gettysburg probably has been the theme of more writing than any other action of the Civil War. Common soldiers, nurses, surgeons, journalists, foreign observers, local residents and generals have all recounted their experiences and impressions. But relatively few company commanders who participated in that grand but futile assault have left a record of what they saw and did. Indeed, and especially on the Confederate side, the role of junior officers as told by themselves, constitutes a major gap in Civil War literature. Because of this fact, William Nathaniel Wood's reminiscences of Gettysburg and the dozen other major battles in which he participated is of considerably greater value than the usual memoir. Wood entered the Monticello Guard of Charlottesville , Company A, Nineteenth Virginia Regiment, on July 20th, 1861, the evening before the first Battle of Manassas, and had his baptism of fire the next day. He was soon promoted to Lieutenant, and for much of the later part of the war, was in command of Company A. At the Battle of Gettysburg, after Captain Culin was wounded, he commanded the company, and led it to the stone wall, and what is more wonderful, he went back under the most terrific fire from the stone wall and the flanks. His clothing was riddled with shot, but he escaped with a slight scratch under one arm. Wood was, I think, in every encounter in which his company was engaged during the whole war, and he, with what was left of it, was captured at Sailor's Creek just before Lee's surrender. This hard back book is in very good condition, but has no dust jacket.

Item # AA2226