Gettysburg Recap

The 150^th anniversary of Gettysburg brought a flurry of posts to the Emerging Civil War blog. Over the last two weeks, our authors have offered many different perspectives on the battle, its consequences, and its significance.

We’ll have more coverage to come this week, but here is a recap in case you missed any of our coverage thus far:

For those wanting to explore the battlefield, Kathleen Logothetis offered a post of ten lesser-known sites to find, and Kris White’s Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path series highlighted a number of even-more hidden sites.

Phill Greenwalt introduced readers to Maryland units in the Confederacy. For these men, Lee’s invasion took them into the familiar ground of their home state. Phill continued following the troops of George H. “Maryland” Steuart as they attacked Culp’s Hill on July 2 and July 3.

Kris White closely examined the fighting at Gettysburg with a series on Ewell’s decision of July 1^st and the actions of the 140^th Pennsylvania at Stony Hill on July 2.

Daniel Davis concluded his Prelude to a Star series on George Custer, which was followed by Meg Thompson’s series on Custer at Gettysburg.

Chris Mackowski offered a traditional remembrance in honor of the 150^th anniversary of Pickett’s Charge on July 3.

Several of our authors examined the significance of Gettysburg and its role as a “turning point” in the war:

Kathleen Logothetis provided an overview of the victory at Vicksburg, often overlooked but probably more strategically important than Gettysburg.

Zac Cowsert questioned Gettysburg as THE turning point of the war and analyzed more possible candidates for that title. Similarly, Chris Mackowski argued that the Battle of the Wilderness, not Gettysburg, was the true turning point. To round it off, Chris Kolakowski reminded readers of the lesser known Tullahoma Campaign, which scored a victory near Chattanooga overshadowed by Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

For the Union, the dual victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg was a cause for much celebration, a topic examined by Zac Cowsert.

And finally, Chris Mackowski reviewed Tom Desjardin’s These Honored Dead, a book that examines the creation of Gettysburg memory.