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by: Earl J. Hess
List Price: $45.00Amazon.com's Price: $29.70 You Save: $15.30 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.7349
EAN: 9780807826485
ISBN: 0807826480
Label: The University of North Carolina Press
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 516
Publication Date: November 05, 2001
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Release Date: October 31, 2000
Sales Rank: 173406
Studio: The University of North Carolina Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Pickett's Charge is probably the best-known military engagement of the Civil War, widely regarded as the defining moment of the battle of Gettysburg and celebrated as the high-water mark of the Confederacy. But as Earl Hess notes, the epic stature of Pickett's Charge has grown at the expense of reality, and the facts of the attack have been obscured or distorted by the legend that surrounds them.
With this book, Hess sweeps away the accumulated myths about Pickett's Charge to provide the definitive history of the engagement. Drawing on exhaustive research, especially in unpublished personal accounts, he creates a moving narrative of the attack from both Union and Confederate perspectives, analyzing its planning, execution, aftermath, and legacy. He also examines the history of the units involved, their state of readiness, how they maneuvered under fire, and what the men who marched in the ranks thought about their participation in the assault. Ultimately, Hess explains, such an approach reveals Pickett's Charge both as a case study in how soldiers deal with combat and as a dramatic example of heroism, failure, and fate on the battlefield.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - If mind-numbing detail is your thing...
I can see that I am not in agreement with the few reviews that have been posted here before mine. Being a serious student of history whose focus is the Civil War, I can't say that I particularly liked this book. Normally, I like detail, but Hess goes into such minute detail in the first three chapters that it almost made my head hurt. For example, when he mentions and officer, he then digresses into a long dialog starting with that officer's past but then he often gets side-tracked on other officers ... Read More
Rating:  - Excellent Narrative of "The Charge"
Hess has written what probably is and will be for some time the definitive account of Pickett's/Pettigrew's/Trimble's/whatever charge.
Hess presents the Union and Confederate (officer and enlisted) accounts of the charge and includes many details of what the men of both sides experienced. The narrative is engaging and keeps the reader's interest throughout the book.
The main problem I had with the book was the maps - there simply are not enough. While the maps are of high quality ... Read More
Rating:  - 69th Pennsylvania-The spotlight is finally on You!
Mr. Hess clears up the much muddled defense of the Bloody Angle on July 3, 1862. Layers of credit from many authors and looming statue of the 72nd Pennsylvania Fire Zouave at the Angle have stamped the impression that the 72nd Pennsylvania was the heroic defender of the Army of the Potomac.
Mr. Hess, through meticulous research, establishes the little known fact that the 69th Pennsylvania was indeed the Union unit
that made the difference. Mr. Hess' book will be the standard work on Pickett's Charge ... Read More
Rating: - Pickett's Charge
For many people, Pickett's July 3, 1863 charge up Cemetery Ridge is the climactic event of the Battle of Gettysburg and the defining moment of the Civil War. Earl J. Hess has written a detailed, scholarly account of Pickett's charge which draws copiously upon contemporary sources. His book is clear and easy to follow, given the subject matter, and is poignant to read. I found myself riveted to his account.
I found a major virtue of the book was the manner in which Hess shifted his focus back and forth ... Read More
Rating: - A moving tribute to the men who died in Pickett's Charge
As a Civil War historian myself, I'm only to pleases to recommend this and all of Earl Hess' other fine works. One of the best tactical studies to appear in a long while
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