Hailing from the south-central region of the state, the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry was forged during the Gettysburg Campaign in the third summer of the Civil War. Its charismatic officers included William H. Boyd and Oliver B. Knowles, who had honed their fighting prowess earlier in the war against fearsome Confederate tacticians John Mosby and John Imboden. The regiment's war record was dynamic and arduous, including service under Meade and Grant at Cold Harbor as infantry and making the last charge at Appomattox Court House as cavalry. After the war, veterans continued to honor their comrades, and two monuments were erected at Gettysburg to commemorate the regiment's proud service. Author Britt Charles Isenberg chronicles the gritty history of the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry.
Hailing from the south-central region of the state, the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry was forged during the Gettysburg Campaign in the third summer of the Civil War. Its charismatic officers included William H. Boyd and Oliver B. Knowles, who had honed their fighting prowess earlier in the war against fearsome Confederate tacticians John Mosby and John Imboden. The regiment's war record was dynamic and arduous, including service under Meade and Grant at Cold Harbor as infantry and making the last charge at Appomattox Court House as cavalry. After the war, veterans continued to honor their comrades, and two monuments were erected at Gettysburg to commemorate the regiment's proud service. Author Britt Charles Isenberg chronicles the gritty history of the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry.
The complete text of one of the most important speeches in American history, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln arrived at the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to remember not only the grim bloodshed that had just occurred there, but also to remember the American ideals that were being put to the ultimate test by the Civil War. A rousing appeal to the nation’s better angels, The Gettysburg Address remains an inspiring vision of the United States as a country “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
June 1863. The Gettysburg Campaign is in its opening hours. Harness jingles and hoofs pound as Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart leads his three brigades of veteran troopers on a ride that triggers one of the Civil War's most bitter and enduring controversies. Instead of finding glory and victory--two objectives with which he was intimately familiar--Stuart reaped stinging criticism and substantial blame for one of the Confederacy's most stunning and unexpected battlefield defeats. In Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg, Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi objectively investigate the role Stuart's horsemen played in the disastrous campaign. It is the first book ever written on this important and endlessly fascinating subject. Stuart left Virginia under acting on General Robert E. Lee's discretionary orders to advance into Maryland and Pennsylvania, where he was to screen Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell's marching infantry corps and report on enemy activity. The mission jumped off its tracks from virtually the moment it began when one unexpected event after another unfolded across Stuart's path. For days, neither Lee nor Stuart had any idea where the other was, and the enemy blocked the horseman's direct route back to the Confederate army, which was advancing nearly blind north into Pennsylvania. By the time Stuart reached Lee on the afternoon of July 2, the armies had unexpectedly collided at Gettysburg, the second day's fighting was underway, and one of the campaign's greatest controversies was born. Did the plumed cavalier disobey Lee's orders by stripping the army of its "eyes and ears?" Was Stuart to blame for the unexpected combat the broke out at Gettysburg on July 1? Authors Wittenberg and Petruzzi, widely recognized for their study and expertise of Civil War cavalry operations, have drawn upon a massive array of primary sources, many heretofore untapped, to fully explore Stuart's ride, its consequences, and the intense debate among participants shortly after the battle, through early post-war commentators, and among modern scholars. The result is a richly detailed study jammed with incisive tactical commentary, new perspectives on the strategic role of the Southern cavalry, and fresh insights on every horse engagement, large and small, fought during the campaign. About the authors: Eric J. Wittenberg has written widely on Civil War cavalry operations. His books include Glory Enough for All (2002), The Union Cavalry Comes of Age (2003), and The Battle of Monroe's Crossroads and the Civil War's Final Campaign (2005). He lives in Columbus, Ohio. J. David Petruzzi is the author of several magazine articles on Eastern Theater cavalry operations, conducts tours of cavalry sites of the Gettysburg Campaign, and is the author of the popular "Buford's Boys" website at www.bufordsboys.com. Petruzzi lives in Brockway, Pennsylvania.
"Bristles with analysis, details, judgments, personality profiles, and evaluations and combat descriptions, even down to the squadron and company levels."-Civil War Times Illustrated
July 1, 1863. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee advanced across the Pennsylvania countryside toward the small town of Gettysburg--less than 90 miles from Washington, D.C.--on a collision course with the Union Army of the Potomac. In Lee's ranks were 5,000 South Carolina troops destined to play critical roles in the three days of fighting ahead. From generals to privates, the Palmetto State soldiers were hurled into the Civil War's most famous battle--hundreds were killed, wounded or later suffered as prisoners of war. The life-and-death stories of these South Carolinians are here woven together here with official wartime reports, previously unpublished letters, newspaper accounts, diaries and the author's personal observations from walking the battlefield.
