The Killer Angles The novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara depicts the story behind one of the most significant and bloodiest battles of the American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg consisted of 51,000-casualties between the Union and Confederate army forces. Mainly focused on letters, journal entries, and memoirs, Shaara tells the story of Gettysburg by using characters from both sides of the “spectrum”, the Confederate and Union army. These characters grasp the revolving points of view about the impending days of the war. Such points are casted from characters, as the confederates own General Lee, General Longstreet, the Unions own Colonel Chamberlain, and soldiers from both sides. From those depicted in the novel, with several …show more content…
“Their differing perceptions of the nature of war form the backbone of the difficult relationship between these two men.” Lee, an older soldier, values more of a strategic and offensive approach, while Longstreet values a defensive warfare approach. Both men consistently argue about which the best option for the confederacy, however, “no matter how much he might disagree, Longstreet defers to Lee’s decisions.” In an argument as of who was right, none of the developed tactics provide any clear evidence as to what was going to work, especially with a military of lesser men, considering the war in 1863. Although General Lee’s tactics did not work during the Battle of Gettysburg, there is no evidence that General Longstreet’s defensive strategy would have worked any better, therefore none can be seen as being right, which kind of debunks Shaara’s depiction of Longstreet’s advanced knowledge of modern warfare. Despite of the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, often marked as the turning point of the war, General Longstreet should not obey an order that results in a significant loss of men that would be extremely hard to replace at this time. Already limited with the amount of men still able to fight, pushing more forces in an open battle would just nearly deplete the confederate soldiers completely, and because this battle was one that was fought until …show more content…
For example, while the union army is settling for camp, Kilrain informs Chamberlain that a slave has been found which then prompts them into a conversation about such matter. On the topic of race, Kilrain believes that man “cannot judge a race. Any man who judges by the group is a peawit. You take men one at a time, and I have seen a few blacks that earned my respect. A few. Not many. But a few.” Kilrain also suggests that a “freed blacks will turn out no better than many of the whites that are fighting to free them.” Kilrain, a foreigner himself feels an obligation to fight this war to prove to others that “he is a better man than many, whether he is distinctly referring to the blacks is very possible, since the northerners are now worried about freed blacks taking job opportunities
The purpose of this paper is to perform a mission command analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg, honing in on Pickett’s Charge. The Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1st through July 3rd in 1863 in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The belligerents were the Army of the Potomac, led by MG George G. Meade and the Army of Northern Virginia, led by GEN Robert E. Lee. The goal is to analyze the decisions of GEN Lee using the six mission command principles described in the Army Doctrine Publication 6-0 and then assess the outcome of those decisions.
As students, studying battles such as this, we have the advantage of hindsight, knowing the outcome. Nonetheless, we can still learn valuable lessons from it. To do so, this analysis will explore some of the decisions of the leaders at Gettysburg, and how they were affected by the operational variables. This essay will scrutinize some of the leaders at Gettysburg, and the impact of their actions. The outcome of this analysis will show that what was true in 1863 is still true today.
Nevertheless, an attitude they show is their cause for engaging in the war. On page 110, Lee describes, “With every step of a soldier, with every tick of the clock, the army was gaining safety, closer to victory, closer to the dream of independence.” His words reveal that their reason for coming was to gain their long overdue independence. Without a cause worth fighting for on each side, the war would have no fuel or reason to continue. In like manner, another attitude of the South was their admiration for their commander general. On page 251, Longstreet proclaims, “Colonel, let me explain something. The secret of General Lee is that men love him and follow him with faith in him. That’s one secret.” I believe this clarifies that the bond of brotherhood and respect for each other in this army would allow for these soldiers to follow their leader blindly. The overwhelming amount of faith and trust among the Army of the Northern Virginia is inspiring. The Confederates prove in these appearances that they do indeed have an important cause that they are willing to die
Lee, where they ride off planning the retreat. Longstreet believes the war can not be won
The Killer Angles The novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara depicts the story behind one of bloodiest and highly significant battle of the American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg consisted of 51,000-casualties between the Union and Confederate army forces. Mainly focused on letters, journal entries, and memoirs, Shaara tells the story of Gettysburg by using characters from both sides of the “spectrum”, the Confederate and Union army. These characters grasp the revolving points of view regarding the impending days of the war. Countless numbers of those views develop from characters throughout the novel. The characters include the Confederates own General Lee, General Longstreet; the Unions own Colonel Chamberlain, and soldiers from
The book begins with an in-depth explanation of what happened in the latter stages of the Civil War. Major battles like Sayler’s Creek, High Bridge and Richmond are described through detailed language. For instance, at High Bridge, “Each man wages his own individual battle with a ferocity only a life-and-death situation can bring. Bullets pierce eyes. Screams and curses fill the air. The grassy plain runs blood red.” (page 61). All of these iconic Civil War battles led up to the Confederate surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse and the inescapable rebuilding of a new nation Abraham Lincoln had to deal with. Next, John Wilkes Booth is introduced and his pro-Confederate motives are made clear. His conspiracy to kill the president is described and his co-conspirators like Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt who also attempted to kill Secretary of State Seward a...
... concludes simply with a rolling of the credits, so to speak. The Afterword of the novel lists the accomplishments and significance of the main players that occurred after the battle of Gettysburg. While Gettysburg may be in our nation’s past, it continues to remind Americans of the bridges that were crossed and burned in order to get to where we are now. Shaara solidifies the ideals fought for out on the field of battle in Gettysburg. They serve as the white angel of Cemetery Ridge that Buford saw before the first day of battle: we may lose sight of them as they become overshadowed by many other symbols and markers, but they are as solid as stone and will never pass away. These truths and ideals watch over the procession of time as it passes, and events as they come and go, in order to remind us of the fact that what has been will always be a part of what remains.
The famous Battle of Gettysburg was a major part of the Civil War. Before the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate army had the advantage. Although the casualty tolls of both armies were relatively close in numbers, the North and the South’s attitudes towards the war completely differed after the Battle of Gettysburg. The events occurring in the months following the historic battle were what gave the Union Troops the greatest advantage leading to their victory at the end of the Civil War.
Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman observed to a Southern friend that, "In all history, no nation of mere agriculturists ever made successful war against a nation of mechanics. . . .You are bound to fail." While Sherman's statement proved to be correct, its flaw is in its assumption of a decided victory for the North and failure to account for the long years of difficult fighting it took the Union to secure victory. Unquestionably, the war was won and lost on the battlefield, but there were many factors that swayed the war effort in favor of the North and impeded the South's ability to stage a successful campaign.
The battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the civil war because a lot of the generals lost their lives from the great wars. According to the letters (Doc C) from General Robert E. Lee states “ General Barksdale is killed. Generals Garnett and Armstead are missing. Generals Pender and Trimore wounded in the leg. General Heth injured in the head. General Kemper is feared.” This shows that the battle of Gettysburg changed from that point on because the less generals that they had the harder it would be to train their soldiers, the less soldiers that know what to do it will be harder fight in the civil war. This connects back to why the
In James McPherson’s novel, What They Fought For, a variety of Civil War soldier documents are examined to show the diverse personal beliefs and motives for being involved in the war. McPherson’s sample, “is biased toward genuine fighting soldiers” (McPherson, 17) meaning he discusses what the ordinary soldier fought for. The Confederacy was often viewed as the favorable side because their life style relied on the war; Confederates surrounded their lives with practices like slavery and agriculture, and these practices were at stake during the war. On the other hand, Northerners fought to keep the country together. Although the Civil War was brutal, McPherson presents his research to show the dedication and patriotism of the soldiers that fought and died for a cause.
“All up and down the lines the men blinked at one another, unable to realize that the hour they had waited for so long was actually at hand. There was a truce…” Bruce Catton’s Pulitzer prize winning book A Stillness at Appomattox chronicles the final year of the American Civil War. This book taught me a lot more about the Civil War than I ever learned through the public school system. Bruce Catton brought to life the real day to day life of the soldiers and the generals who led them into battle.
The Civil War is one of the defining wars in the history of this great nation. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in American history, and a turning point in the four year war. At the time, Gettysburg was a small, quiet town generally unaffected by the war. General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America and General George Meade of the Union converged in Gettysburg, and a conflict quickly arose. After three long days of battle the Union pulled away with a victory, though not an easy one. This essay will outline the six themes of history; in essence the who, what, when, where, why, and who cares of this infamous battle.
One of the most important theme in the forward of The Killer Angels is the differences in both armies from the Southern and Northern and the amount of faith or lack of faith they had in their leaders. The confederate army (South) were a group of similar soldiers who shared the same beliefs and that had faith in their leadership. The union army (North) consisted of mostly volunteers and that come from all different backgrounds. This group didn’t have much faith in their leaders and were driven to win the war just by believing in themselves. Another most important theme in the forward is how Shaara, the author, describes a new kind of commander named James Longstreet, a rebel commander who was very war minded. The first important theme from
The Killer Angel The Battle of Gettysburg fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from July 1 to July 3, 1863, is considered the bloodiest battle in American history. It’s also considered the most important battle that took place during the American Civil war, because after the Battle of Gettysburg the south never really recovers, resulting in them to never won another major battle the rest of the war. Well behind every great battle there is a great leader, whether it’s one that brings utter chaos or one that sincerely wants a change. In the novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, a historical fictional story of the battle of Gettysburg