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But that was not how the men in blue and butternut and gray, clogging the roads that led to a town called Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, saw it. They knew, many of them—felt it in their bones and in their souls—that they were moving toward the mother of all battles, the one that would decide everything. Given that mindset, it was inevitable that the Battle of Gettysburg would generate in its aftermath a great wave of books and articles, history and personal memoirs. Even today, the river of ink about Gettysburg continues without apparent letup. But can any of these newer books, written so long after the event they claim to commemorate, add anything to our understanding of that event? What Root’s and Stocker’s work has to offer that is new to an understanding of the mythic battle is an appreciation of how that battle actually was fought—at least, in a key section of the field, the famed Copse of Trees where the Confederacy crested on July 3, 1863, after the breathtaking demonstration of doomed energy and devotion that we know as Pickett’s Charge. As their book points out, the Union troops at the Copse of Trees had no way of knowing that Confederate Brigadier General Lewis Armistead’s final thrust marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. They fought back as if their whole cause was on the line, because for them it was. And many died repelling this “last gasp” of the South. “Isn’t This Glorious!” is not a regimental history of the units whose service there is commemorated by the book. Instead, it is an attempt to do justice to those units. And the reason justice is needed is that the “monumentation” process after the war, the business of determining who gets what plaque or monument, went somewhat askew here at the Copse of Trees. The Massachusetts regiments were not left out; but the final placement of the monuments was such that visitors, unaided, could not accurately interpret what had happened at this point on the battlefield. “Isn’t This Glorious!” is the initial publication of Moon Trail Books, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Patricia N. McAndrew, publisher. With its hard cover, fine paper, sewn binding, maps by Richard Jacoby, and its overall design by graphic artist Kenneth F. Raniere, the work would be a tempting buy even for those who don’t care about the Civil War, but who just love beautiful books. Moon Trail Books, LLC 610-866-6482 Or Email Moon Trail Books at Pnmca21@aol.com
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