The Killer Angels Summary

This is a brief thought of the events that came to unfold. Some say that Gettysburg was the battle that stopped the confederate advance to the north. In addition, that Lee only wanted to take the battle out the state of Virginia that had been hit rather hard by the unions Army . In this review of the Battle of Gettysburg, we will discuss the key events that people believed that allowed the Union Armies to cause the retrograde actions of the confederate forces. In addition, what each side wished to accomplish. And how the wished to accomplish these tasked the imagined

The killer angels is a world acclaimed novel that was written by an author known as Michael Shaara. In the year 1975, it was granted the Pulitzer Prize for creative writing. It gives us in details the occurrences of the four days in the Battle of Gettysburg. This was during the American Civil War that occurred in the year 1863. At this time, troops that comprised of both the Union and Confederacy were at war in town called Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. This is a piece of story that is driven by disposition and narrated from the point of view of various heroes (Hartwig, 1996).

Next, we have the analyzation of the strategies, tactics, and battlefield layout. This battle can be separated into two engagements. Each of these engagements can be identified by the hill they primarily fought by. The first battle is on Matthews Hill. It started with the Col. “Shanks” Evans engaging the Union’s flanking maneuver. Beauregard also attempted to flank in the direction where these Union troops were coming from. Eventually, the small engagement turned into a more sizable battle as each side sent more troops. Unfortunately for the Confederates, they were outnumbered in all aspects and were forced to retreat to Henry Hill.

The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the American Civil war. General Robert E. Lee was the commanding officer of the Confederate army. During the battle of Gettysburg Lee’s military strategy was to fight offensive. Lee’s goal during the battle was to seize the high ground and out last the union army. The Union army had outnumbered the Confederate soldiers. General Lee’s first hand man was General James Longstreet. Longstreet believes the new technology in warfare would make attacking the Union army bloody for the Confederate soldiers. Longstreet suggests to Lee that defensive warfare tactics such as using trenches and rocks for cover and concealment would be the Confederacy’s best fighting chance. Lee denies Longstreet’s ideas and continued with the plan to fight out in the open and attack the enemies head on. After three days of fighting the Confederate army lost the battle at Gettysburg. Lee’s tactical approaches that led to this lost included the lack of communication and the absence of and with General J.E.B Stuart, Lee’s continuation to pursue offensive attacks and Pickett’s charge.

The novel The Killer Angles, by Michael Shaara, gives a story like depiction of the American Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg. In this novel we see the views of both Confederate and Union armies. The officers for both sides in this novel used to go to war with each other but are now on different sides according to their political views. In the end both armies realized the war had accomplished nothing but all the deaths of soldiers.

The Battle of Gettysburg brought the dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angels gives the full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America’s future. Michael Shaara tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the generals and men involved in the action of the battle. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg gives the reader a chance to experience the battle personally and not the history book manner taught in schools. A historical novel gives the facts straightforward and provides no commentary by the people involved in history. The

Vincent says, “Well, all right. I place you here. Put your colors here, and set your regiment to the left of this line. The rest of the brigade will form on your right. Understood?” (Gettysburg). While explosions from canons of the Confederate army go off and are nearly missing the 20th Maine Vincent says, “This is the left of the Union line. You are to hold this ground at all costs!” (Brann). Chamberlain then rushes to get his men set up and ready for a fight they’ll never forget. In the scene, he speaks of setting the line down Cemetery Ridge, with further research Brann explains that this set up formed an inverted fish hook to prevent the Confederates from infiltrating their left side (Brann). Chamberlain also keeps referring to his regiment as the extreme left flank which Brann confirms in his article. Brann refers to Chamberlain’s war log, “…his regiment was the first in line, but it actually took up its position last, curving its line back around to the east and forming the Union Army’s extreme left flank” (Brann). During the scene of Chamberlain’s set up of his regiment, he is accompanied by Major Homer R. Stoughton’s 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters. Brann elaborates that the sharpshooters were , “…armed with .52-caliber breechloading rifles . These sharpshooters’ skirmishing abilities were unequaled in the

The book opened with a sodden Confederate spy as he blazed through the Union lines in the dead of night on June 29, 1863 toward the headquarters of Confederate general Robert E. Lee with

The Civil War was one of the most important and bloodiest wars in American history. It tore a nation apart and then brought it back together. An author, Michael Shaara wrote a book about the Battle of Gettysburg and how both sides, the Union and the Confederate, interpreted it. This novel was named The Killer Angels. After reading the book, visiting the Atlanta History Center allowed to learn and experience the life of soldiers during the War. The Civil War began on April 12th, 1861 and came to a much wanted end on May 9th, 1865. When walking through to Turning Point at the Atlanta History Center, the learning tools there helped bring to life the purpose, challenges, cost, and the long lasting effects of the War by allowing visitors to read,

The setting takes place in the midst of the Battle of Gettysburg as the two sides prepare for the fight. The Confederate officers include: General Robert E. Lee, General James Longstreet, General George Pickett, General John F. Reynolds, and several others. The Union officers have: Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, Colonel William Gamble, Lieutenant John Buford, and many others. The main views that are looked at are Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain, and Buford. The main conflict that started the civil war is the issue of slavery. In The Killer Angels, it happened in the most important battle of the civil war, which was the Battle of Gettysburg and talked about the plans to either unite the union or destroy it.

There was never a bloodier war on American soil than the Civil War. Those short four years took the lives of thousands of soldiers and destroyed many infrastructures of America. The war, however, was more than a battle between Lincoln and Davis, the North and the South, slavery and freeman. The Civil War was a war of ideals. The accounts told by the soldiers shown that, although the two sides did not agree on most topics, the North and the South did held certain ideals. In The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the eyes of James Longstreet and Joshua Chamberlain expresses the battle between the North and the South as an opportunity to show their major contributions, their loyalties to their troops, and their opinions of the war that shaped them.

In Michael Shaara’s historical fiction novel “Killer Angles,” he uses Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain as one of the several characters to show different perspectives of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863 through July 3, 1863. Chamberlain, a thirty-four year old colonel of the Union army, taught rhetoric as Bowdoin College before entering the war in 1862. He gains command of his the 20th Regiment of Infantry of Maine one week before the battle at Gettysburg. His younger brother Tom serves under him as his aide in the Regiment. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Chamberlain and his Regiment take charge of protecting the flank on Little Round Top, and then moved to centerline, the site of Pickett’s charge (xix).

In the first chapter it shows the side of the southern Confederate armies. They start to compare the Civil War to the Revolutionary War. Their enemies, known as Northern Yankees, were nothing more than just dictators trying to destroy the south. It’s the same technique the British did to the colonists almost a century ago. This is what gave them their southern freedom, by walking in the shoes of their forefathers and fight for their liberties and constitutional rights. He then starts to talk about the Confederates lives by the letters and journals that they wrote during the Civil War. Each letter talks about different things; how the Southern soldiers felt about the war, talks about their enemies the Yanks, slaves,

Anthony Tirone Mr. Campbell AP U.S. History 20 October 2014 Book Review: Killer Angels The novel Killer Angels by Michael Shaara portrays the battle of Gettysburg in all of its glory from the perspective of both the Union and the Confederate soldiers.

As General Longstreet prepared to carry out Lee’s orders, Union Chief Engineer Warren was sent to see what Little Round Top looked like. Warren was shocked that it was not defended properly. Warren asked for backup. Colonel Strong Vincent ordered the 20th Maine Regiment overseen by Colonel Chamberlain to defend Little Round Top. Chamberlain was instructed not to retreat no matter what. Colonel Chamberlain instructed the soldiers to fight with a Bayonet Charge because they were almost out of ammunition. (“Robert” History.com).