This book was written by George R. Stewart, published in 1991, the narrative is 291 pages and is illustrated with black and white photos and drawings. Stewart had long been interested in Pickett's charge, which historians consider the turning point in the American Civil War. Stewart's uncle John was a soldier for the Union army, who told stories of the Peninsular Campaign to his nephew. During his army service, Stewart was in a bivouac on the battlefield of Gettysburg, where he began researching the site of Pickett's charge. Finally, in the late 1950's he decided to write about the charge. Pickett's charge has long been debated by historians, both in terms of it's strategy and it's data. If you go to Gettysburg, and follow the path of the charge, you'll understand the questions about strategy. The Virginians under Pickett lined up and walked up a hill with no cover into intense fire from Union soldiers who had the shelter of a stone fence at the hilltop, a classic example of Napoleonic tactics. But those tactics were developed when ordnance, cannons and muskets, were much less accurate. Soldiers had some chance of survival under such conditions. By the time Pickett sent his men up the hill, 50 years later, highly accurate rifles and cannons meant there would be far more casualties if soldiers kept their straight line battle formation. The battle was later seen as heroic by some, foolish by others. Stewart didn't want to get into that argument, but he did want to make sure that the statics and research sources were accurate before he wrote his book. He discovered that much of the data was off, the often stated number of troops in the fight, for example, was based on an off hand remark by Confederate General Longstreet. This paper back book is in very good condition.

Item # AA2481