Book Review: The First Day at Gettysburg: July 1, 1863
The First Day at Gettysburg: July 1, 1863. By James A. Hessler. Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers, 2025. Softcover, 128 pp. $24.95.
Reviewed by Peter Miele
For more than eleven years, I had the honor of working at Seminary Ridge Museum in Gettysburg. In addition to interpreting the Lutheran Seminary building as a field and general hospital and introducing visitors to the impact that faith and religion played in the coming of the Civil War, the museum tells the story of the first day of the battle. The Lutheran Seminary, of course, was central to the fighting on July 1, 1863. The exhibit design team, working in 2011 and 2012, reasoned that the critical actions of the first day were overlooked in the face of more highly visited and visible locations, like Little Round Top and the High Water Mark. Since opening in 2013, Seminary Ridge Museum has shed appropriate attention on the actions north and west of Gettysburg. Now, there is a new work of scholarship that does the same.
James Hessler’s The First Day at Gettysburg: July 1, 1863, does a masterful job of foregrounding the first day of the battle in a single, easily digestible volume. The author achieves in book form what the designers at Seminary Ridge Museum accomplished in exhibit form. While, of course, there have been other notable interpretations of the first day (Harry Pfanz’s Gettysburg: The First Day and David Martin’s Gettysburg: July 1 are the standards), Hessler’s book appears more geared toward those that are new to the Gettysburg drug. At 128 pages, it is a valuable entry point for the novice to begin imbibing before moving onto the harder stuff. Its size also makes it ideal to bring out on the battlefield. Not only is the narrative succinct and readable, it is also replete with maps, photos, and brief biographies of key players which support Hessler’s narrative. These additions will help new battlefield trampers better understand the course of the fighting and the personalities who were there.
But this does not mean that the Gettysburg expert will not find value in the work. Hessler keeps the narrative at a fairly high level, focusing on Corps, Division, and Brigade command, but at times brings it down to the regimental level or to stories of small groups of fighters or individuals who get overlooked even by those who think they know the first day. For example, he tells the story of the color company of the 149th Pennsylvania, which advanced to a position away from the rest of the regiment to draw artillery fire from the Confederates on Oak Ridge. I also applaud the author’s inclusion of Jones Avenue off the Old Harrisburg Road, one of the least-visited spots in Gettysburg National Military Park. So even seasoned Gettysnerds may find something new.
It is also a beautiful book. As previously mentioned, Hessler augments the narrative with ample use of historical and contemporary photos and color maps, enhancements not found in Pfanz’s or Martin’s tomes. While some who read this book will do so in Gettysburg, the plentiful use of images means that those reading it elsewhere will have a good grasp on the locations of the fighting.
There are two decisions I question, neither of which have a truly detrimental effect on the work. One is putting the order of battle in the middle of the book. Traditionally, the order of battle is included at the end, and I believe that is where it belongs for ease of use. When referencing it as you are working through the narrative, you always know where to go. Here, you are forced to flip through pages to find it. Second, while there are good maps which show specific actions, there is no overarching map which puts the actions north of town (XI Corps) in context with the fighting west of town (I Corps). I believe that if this book is geared toward the novice, it would be valuable to see at least one map that shows the entire field of battle. This does not appear until the end of the book, during the discussion of the formation of the Union fishhook line.
Overall, Hessler has provided us with a work that aids in the continuing quest to bestow upon the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg the attention it deserves. It will, I trust, encourage more people to head north and west of Gettysburg to see how the actions that occurred there influenced the fighting for the next two days, and the outcome of the battle.
Peter Miele is Senior Project Leader at Susquehanna National Heritage Area. He previously worked at Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center, including four years as President & Executive Director. He is working on his dissertation in American Studies at Penn State, Harrisburg.
Gettysburg is fascinating, to be sure, not least because it began as a meeting engagement – the only time this occurred in a large battle of the war. It is unfortunate, though, that the publishing industry keeps wearing out this topic by bringing out book after book about it – and most of the authors still fall for James Longstreet’s totally fallacious claims about the conversations and actions of himself and Robert Lee in the battle. The industry also ignores the battle that was second only to Gettysburg in casualties and had, in military and political terms, far more effect on the war than Gettysburg: The Seven Days Battles, or, to be more accurate, Battle, was not seven separate fights but in fact one running fight that lasted roughly 150 hours. It deserves far more deep study and publication than it has received.
Poor Old Pete. Raked over the coals again. “Longstreet’s totally fallacious claims”? Read Col. Harold M Knudsen and Allen R. Thompson et al. for more balanced analyses and give Old Pete a rest.
Nogt sure what the rant has to do with Day 1…