Gettysburg, Day Three

by Jeffry D. Wert

Book Overview

Jeffry D. Wert re-creates the last day of the bloody Battle of Gettysburg in astonishing detail, taking readers from Meade's council of war to the seven-hour struggle for Culp's Hill -- the most... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684859149
• ISBN13: 9780684859149
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Best Book on Day 3 at Gettysburg

Best book on Day 3 at Gettysburg that I have read.

Horrifying

The great virtue of this book is that it takes the glorification of war and violence on the battlefield and shows in detail what it really is. The courage of the men who died at Gettysburg is as impressive as their fate was all too often appalling. This is not one of those pristine Corp X went here and Brigade Y moved there accounts, as though what occurred were a nice game of chess--the author does a very good job of reporting the sentiments, observations, and feelings of combatants on both sides of the line, showing the suffering and death that are, after all, the subject of this volume. I've read a lot of books about the Civil War and Gettysburg, and this is the one that most vividly impressed me as a realistic, human perspective on the horrors of what occurred there.

A True Illumination

As surely as those of stone and iron,another monument has come to Gettysburg.Jeffrey Wert has shown a brilliant,superbly researched,and humanized light on day 3.The clear maps and luminous text transported me back to the grim field and its unfolding horrors in a way that rang in the soul.Superbly selected primary source quotations and vignettes like the three-legged dog rooted me to my chair far beyond my alotted reading time.I believe that the test of time will bring this work to its rightfull place, high in the pantheon of Gettysburg literature!

A solid history of a climactic day of battle

Jeffry Wert is no stranger to Civil War history, having already published a number of books in the field. With "Gettysburg, Day Three" he takes as his subject one of the most famous days of battle during the entire war, the final day of fighting at Gettysburg. Wert has constructed a solid, well-reasoned history, providing a balanced look at both Union and Confederate forces. Inevitably, the great Confederate charge launched against the Union center provides a focus for much of the narrative, but Wert does not neglect the less famous events of that day, including the cavalry actions on either flank of the contending armies. Likewise, his narrative includes the stories of enlisted soldiers as well as generals. This is not a book which attempts to present some new, controversial theories, but it succeeds very well as a comprehensive look at this most famous of American battles.

On the Field at Gettysburg

After 30 years of reading books about the Civil War and about Gettysburg in particular, I recently have found very little to keep my interest. It was almost as if I had "read it all". I picked up Jeffert Wert's book "Gettysburg :Day Three" primarily because of his past books. I had read one on Longstreet and one on Custer. In the past I have found Wert to be highly readable yet consistly knowledgable on his chosen subject. I was not disappointed. Suddenly I was on the battlefield I had visited over 25 year ago. Seeing Culp's Hill,Spangler's Spring and the surrounding woods.I was reminded of standing at Hay's position at the stone wall and viewing Seminary Ridge and the Blue Ridge Mountain range behind it.When you read the section on the cannonade against the oncoming Confederates the distance takes on a completely new meaning.( If you've ever visited Gettysburg on a hot July day you have a greater appreciation of how suffocating it must have felt.)Wert transports the reader to the field of battle. To read this book makes the reader feel the temor of the earth during the cannonade prior to the Confederate charge. You also sense the desperation in the fighting on both sides. The reader comes to, somewhat, understand the hesitation yet the fortitude of the men in gray as they rose to march against the postion so prominent and so formidable yet so far away. I found the book even handed and fair to both sides of the battle. I agree with the previous writer that more maps would have been better but I always complain about a lack of maps.I highly recommend to those that have become jaded,as I had, to pick this book up and once again experince this battle in the only way left to us. You won't be disappointed.

The significant events within the Battle of Gettysburg

Any serious student of the American Civil War knows the significance of the Battle of Gettysburg, a series of desperate battles that took place July1-3, 1863. Many, including myself, believe that it was the turning point for both the Union and Confederate causes. It was the beginning of the end.Jeffry Wirt is a superb historian and very skillful writer. This is a highly readable and informative story of the third and final day of that battle when so many events that could have changed the outcome of the fighting and therefore possibly the war took place.We all think we know about Pickett's Charge. But Wirt presents the case better than I have ever seen that 'Old Peter' Longstreet had been right but unheeded by Marse Robert who made the worst tactical mistake of his career. Fifteen thousand men, no matter how gallant or brave, could have taken Cemetery Hill that afternoon, especially following the bloody repulse at Culp's Hill. The Yanks had superiority of numbers, topography and artillery and, most of all, confidence gained over the first two days and that morning's fighting that they could stand toe to toe with Lee's veterans and win. And win they did. The story of Gettysburg was the very series of events that took place in an uncoordinated manner. Lee never got everything going at once, the secret to taking the offensive in any battle. The Union could do what Lee often did so well. Operating on interior lines and on the defensive they could shift both men and their terribly effective artillery to the point of attack, when there was only one such point at a time.This book also presents Stuart at his worst . . . 48 hours late, wandering around Pennsylvania with captured wagons, negating his primary weapons of speed and mobility, and failing to get behind Cemetery Ridge at the cavalry fight at Rummel's barn. The Knight of the Golden Spurs was too little, too late. The Union cavalry was coming into it's own, better horses, tougher troopers, and outstanding young generals: Buford, Gregg, Custer, Merritt and soon the best of them all, Phil Sheridan. The edge in firepower alone given by the Spencer repeater carbine was to prove significant to the ascendancy of the Union cavalry. The days when the Reb cavalry could intimidate their rivals were over. I'm not sure Stuart understood that up until the end at Yellow Tavern.But what if Ewell had coordinated his attack with Pickett? What if Pickett had arrived earlier on the field? What if Stuart had gotten to Gettysburg a day or two earlier and had all of his cavalry, rested and ready to fight, at the same time as two coordinated attacks by Ewell and Longstreet? We'll never know but this wonderful book makes you wonder. It's an outstanding read!