The Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg has been the subject of extensive chronicling, almost from the moment the guns fell silent late on July 3, 1863. And while Walt Whitman once wrote that “The real war will never get in the books”, I feel closer to an understanding of the Civil War experience when I read books......more

Haskell's "True Grand Epic of Gettysburg" Frank Haskell (1828-1864) left the practice of law in Wisconsin at the outbreak of the Civil War and became a Lieutenant and an aide to Union General John Gibbon. He was killed at Cold Harbor in 1864. Haskell is remembered for two related reasons. First, he pe......more

In his account of the Battle of Gettysburg written just a few days later as a letter to his brother, Lieutenant Haskell puts the reader “in the moment” of his many courageous moments under fire and in attendance to hastily-called strategy sessions as an aide-de-camp to General John Gibbon during the......more

Years ago, when I was a student at Dartmouth College, I remember writing a story for the school newspaper about famed alumnus, Frank A. Haskell, whose book on the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War as one of the best descriptions by an actual participant in the battle. He was at the time a Fi......more

A good and quick primary account of the battle. Many of its anecdotes are oft repeated. Haskell may make himself more central to the story than reality but it doesn’t take away from the account. He is the one that says people would follow Hancock’s orders even if he were in civilian clothes. He also......more