The Battle of Gettysburg by Craig L. Symonds

The Battle of Gettysburg Reviews

• 
  James Thompson

  The book describes in detail the many facets of this pivotol Battle of the American Civil War it demonstrates the different styles of the various Commanders on both sides of the Field. It punchs a rethaer large hole in the commonly held belief of the infalibility of Robery E Lee he handled this battle rather badly refusing to listen to the opinions of his subordinates. However, his subordinates to often hesitated and delayed in following their orders. Ewell’s refusal to take the High Ground on Day 1... Longstreet continually dragged his feet throughout the Battle denying Lee the Support of his Deputy Commander. Stewart’s failure to monitor and locate where the Federal forces were and convey that crucial info. back to Lee & Longstreet.... on the Federal Side there were incidents of criminal disobedience to orders Sickles breaking the Federal line by advancing his Corps into the Peach orchard because he did not agreed with Meades line of Battle....Meades ordering the Brigades defending Culps Hill to abandon their position..so many errors made, but many are due to the manner information had to be handled in 1863 all hastly scribbled & often confussing hand written nores or oral commands the messenger had to commit to memory and often poorly. The book makes clear the difficulties Commmanders of both sides had to contend with, but it also makes clear the incredible courage shown by the fighting men of both sides... Chamberland on Litttle Round top to the 12,600 men in the Brigades that assulted the Union Center on July 3rd.. Courage was not in short supply in the first 3 days of July 1863 in the corner of Pennsvanyia.
  
  my major complait with this book is a common one to on-line e-books sold and that is the sloppy editing that allows typo after typo to be missed and passed on to the unsuspecting reader and this book is full of them.
• 
  Lynn Smith

  I just finished this book. Even though it clocks in at just a little over 200 pages, because of the small print it seems like a much longer book. It is very detailed with a lot of information about the Battle of Gettysburg. If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of the battle and everything that happened, this is a great book. It wasn't exactly what I was looking or hoping for. I would have preferred less detail. So I cannot say I enjoyed the book. The book is well written so my 3-star rating is not about the writing or accuracy of the book, but that I wasn't really looking for such a detailed account and as such, it took me a long time to read.
• 
  Bill Taylor

  Volumes have been written on the Gettysburg campaign. This fairly recent book provides an excellent overview. It does suffer from a lack of maps but these are easily referenced on-line. I recommend this book to anyone seeking a “big picture” overview of Gettysburg with sufficient detail to capture the drama, pathos, and tragedy of this significant event.
• 
  Ed White

  I enjoyed it as the narrative was direct and to the point. Needs more maps as I had to use another book for them. There are narratives that have more detail.