Gettysburg

This book is designed to re-create the story of Gettysburg in terms of the men and women who lived through the anxiety of the invasion and the battle. From diaries, letters, yellowing manuscripts, regimental histories, and the memors of generals and soldiers the editors have sought to reconstruct the emerging narrative of those decisive days. There appeared no need to offer the reader simply another military history of Gettysburg, for that task has been well performed at least a score of times. Instead the editors have concerned themselves with the human document of Gettysburg: why these men of the North and South fought and died here, what mean or noble thoughts motivated their acts, what passions and compassions stirred their hearts. To the testimony of generals and their lieutenants the editors have given patient attention, but no more os than to the testimony of the foot soldier or the cannoneer, the housewife or the farm boy. Since all history is lived in half truth, the reader who follows this unfolding of the story of Gettysburg will not be dismayed by the contradictions that are sometimes apparent in the recollections of various participants. The impression of facts rather than the facts themselves motivate the events of history, and that is why history as written after years of research and reflection is often more truthful than the actual experience of history"--Introduction.