Twilight at Little Round Top: July 2, 1863--The Tide Turns at Gettysburg

Front Cover
Wiley, Feb 24, 2005 - History - 315 pages
THE BATTLE OF LITTLE ROUND TOP AS IT HAS NEVER BEFORE SEEN-THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT THERE

"Here is the real story of the epic fight for Little Round Top, shorn of the mythology long obscuring this pivotal Gettysburg moment. A vivid and eloquent book." —Stephen W. Sears, author of Gettysburg

"Little Round Top has become iconic in Civil War literature and American memory. In the emotional recollection of our great war, if there was one speck on the landscape that decided a battle and the future of a nation, then surely this was it. The story of the July 2, 1863 struggle for that hill outside Gettysburg goes deeper into our consciousness than that, however. The men who fought for it then and there believed it to be decisive, and that is why they died for it. Glenn W. LaFantasie's Twilight at Little Round Top addresses that epic struggle, how those warriors felt then and later, and their physical and emotional attachment to a piece of ground that linked them forever with their nation's fate. This is military and social history at its finest." —W.C. Davis, author of Lincoln's Men and An Honorable Defeat

"Few military episodes of the Civil War have attracted as much attention as the struggle for Little Round Top on the second day of Gettysburg. This judicious and engaging book navigates confidently through a welter of contradictory testimony to present a splendid account of the action. It also places events on Little Round Top, which often are exaggerated, within the broader sweep of the battle. All readers interested in the battle of Gettysburg will read this book with enjoyment and profit." —Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War

"In his beautifully written narrative, Glenn LaFantasie tells the story of the battle for Little Round Top from the perspective of the soldiers who fought and died in July 1863. Using well-chosen quotes from a wide variety of battle participants, TWILIGHT puts the reader in the midst of the fight—firing from behind boulders with members of the 4th Alabama, running up the hillside into battle with the men of the 140th New York, and watching in horror as far too many men die. This book offers an elegy to the courage of those men, a meditation on the meaning of war, and a cautionary tale about the sacrifices nations ask of their soldiers and the causes for which those sacrifices are needed." —Amy Kinsel, Winnrer of the 1993 Allan Nevins Prize for From These Honored Dead: Gettysburg in American Culture

From inside the book

Contents

Midnight to Morning
19
Patchwork Plans
33
March Countermarch
49
Copyright

14 other sections not shown

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About the author (2005)

GLENN W. LaFANTASAIE, the former deputy historian of the U.S. Department of State, is the editor "of Gettysburg: Lieutenant Frank A. Haskell and Colonel William C. Oates." His seminal essay on Gettysburg books, published in 1994 in the "New York Times Book Review," has received praise from numerous historians. He has also written for several magazines and newspapers, including "MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, North & South American History, Constitution, America's Civil War," the "Washington Times, " and the "Providence Journal." LaFantasie, who lives in Massachusetts, is working on a biography of William C. Oates.

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