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Title details for Barksdale's Charge by Phillip Thomas Tucker - Available

Barksdale's Charge

The True High Tide of the Confederacy at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863

by Phillip Thomas Tucker
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There is “never a dull moment” in this “excellent account” of an overlooked Confederate triumph during the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg (San Francisco Book Review).
 
While many Civil War buffs celebrate Picket’s Charge as the climactic moment of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate Army’s true high point had come the afternoon before. When Longstreet’s corps triumphantly entered the battle, the Federals just barely held on. The foremost Rebel spearhead on that second day of the battle was Brig. Gen. William Barksdale’s Mississippi brigade, which launched what one Union observer called the “grandest charge that was ever seen by mortal man.”
 
On the second day of Gettysburg, the Federal left was not as vulnerable as Lee had envisioned, but had cooperated with Rebel wishes by extending its Third Corps into a salient. When Longstreet finally gave Barksdale the go-ahead, the Mississippians utterly crushed the peach orchard salient and continued marauding up to Cemetery Ridge. Hancock, Meade, and other Union generals had to gather men from four different corps to try to stem the onslaught.
 
Barksdale himself was killed at the apex of his advance. Darkness, as well as Confederate exhaustion, finally ended the day’s fight as the shaken, depleted Federal units took stock. They had barely held on against the full ferocity of the Rebels on a day that would decide the fate of the nation.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 24, 2013

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781612001807

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781612001807
      • File size: 5812 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      May 15, 2013

      Tucker is a prolific writer--and a prolix one. Why refer to "the relatively cool shade of Pitzer's Woods" when you can double the word count by adding ."..that provided some relief from the intense heat"? While Pickett's Charge, on day three of Gettysburg, has received numerous book-length treatments and become a phrase for the ages, Barksdale's charge (lowercase c) the day before (July 2, 1863) has not. Gen. William Barksdale, former secessionist U.S. Congressman, was in command of four Mississippi regiments in Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps, directed to attack from the woods, wheel northward, and break the Union lines. Barksdale got the go-ahead to charge as dusk approached. On his horse driving his troops onward, he seemed to have the Federals on the run. It was this moment, says Tucker quite reasonably, that was really the high-water mark for the Confederacy rather than Pickett's Charge the next day. Had Barksdale paused to regroup and then charge again, perhaps, perhaps.... But he spurred his troops on, was mortally wounded, and the Union forces were able to hold on to fight another day. Tucker sets his narrative within the context of the battles and personalities leading up to that day's near victory for the Confederacy. VERDICT This book, reviewed off an uncorrected manuscript, will be a good read for Civil War history buffs and reenactors if it gets the full professional edit that it requires.--Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal

      Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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