by Bruce Chadwick
New York: Pegasus, Simon & Schuster, 2025. Pp. xxii, 244+.
Illus., personae, biblio., index. $32.00. ISBN: 1639368256
A Good Introductory Book about Gettysburg
Former journalist and university educator Bruce Chadwick has written a different sort of book about the Battle of Gettysburg. Although titled “an oral history,” in fact it tells the story of the battle through the writings -- diaries, memoirs, letters, and more -- of many of the soldiers of all ranks who fought it in both armies, as well as those of government officials, civilians, journalists, and historians,.
This book has five sections.
- The Road to Gettysburg
- July 1-Day One of the Battle of Gettysburg
- July 2-Day Two of the Battle of Gettysburg
- July 3-Day Three of the Battle of Gettysburg,
- The Gettysburg Address.
Chadwick’s goal is to provide the reader with many individual glimpses of the battle, in which he succeeds. But while offering interesting snapshots of the events, his approach offers no new interpretations or insights into the events.
There are also many errors that ought to have been caught by better editors. For example, he states that J.E.B. Stuart wrote a report on the Pennsylvania campaign after the war (p. 30), but of course he was killed on May 12, 1864, nearly a year before the war ended. Likewise, he suggests that the Confederates lost the first day of the battle, which is not generally accepted (p. 60). He also incorrectly states that the Union’s George Meade arrived on the field at about 4:00 pm on the first day (p. 72), when in fact he arrived in the evening, after the fighting had tapered off. There are several other similar errors.
Chadwick does effectively illustrate the mistakes made by both armies during the battle. He highlights the friction between Lee and his second-in-command James Longstreet (pp. xx, 24, 55), as well as Lincoln’s disappointment with Meade’s failure to finish off the Army of Northern Virginia at Falling Waters, permitting it to retreat back to Virginia, expressed in an unsent letter (p. 197).
Perhaps the highlight of Chadwick’s book is the section on the occasion of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The words of the many people quoted, from prominent leaders, such as Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtain on down to anonymous onlookers and local residents, are often quite insightful.
Gettysburg: The Tide Turns is a useful book for persons new to the subject.
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Our Reviewer: David Marshall has been a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for more than three decades. A life-long Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the common soldier. His previous reviews here include, We Shall Conquer or Die, Dranesville, The Civil War in the Age of Nationalism, “Over a Wide, Hot . . . Crimson Plain", The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 1, Dalton to Cassville, Thunder in the Harbor, All Roads Led to Gettysburg, The Traitor's Homecoming, A Tempest of Iron and Lead, The Cassville Affairs, Holding Charleston by the Bridle, The Maps of Second Bull Run, Hell by the Acre, Chorus of the Union, Digging All Night and Fighting All Day, The Confederate Resurgence of 1864, Building a House Divided, Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, A Grand Opening Squandered, “No One Wants to be the Last to Die”, A Campaign of Giants, The Battle for Petersburg, Vol. 2, and The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War .
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Note: Gettysburg: The Tide Turns is also available in e-editions.
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