George Stewart (1) (1895–1980)

This was my first book that can be called a "Battle Study".The epic moment, when Rbt. E. Lee demonstrated his fatal weakness at the cost of 4000 lives. Had Lee been a strategist on the scale of Grant, what he should have done on this third day was to sidle to his right, and invited a Federal attack, which likely would have been disasterous for the North, and possibly endd the war. But no, he had to gamble one last dramatic act of the "Decisive Battle" he knew he had in him, but instead of show more another Wagram... he got the proof, that a Federal army would triumph on the field, if the gallant Confederates hung around long enough under the pounding. show less

1106 Pickett's Charge: A Microhistory of the Final Attack at Gettysburg July 3, 1863, by George R. Stewart (read 11 Mar 1971) While this book has some detail that is of little interest to me, it also has some extremely interesting. Pickett's charge, the author indicates, resulted in casualties of 54%, compared to 37% casualties in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Even now I cannot understand the order: "Advance slowly....No cheering, no firing, no breaking from common to quick step. Dress on show more the center." Why wouldn't they want to get there as quickly as possible? And yet, it was a near thing!:
"But can we even, any longer, think in terms of brigades?...Between the time when Armistead went over the wall and the time when the chance had been lost, probably less than two minutes ticked away. Historians write of the 100 Days of Napoleon; so we might write of these 100 seconds of the Confederacy. Then--almost literally--the road lay open to Washington." show less

This is an interesting little book focused on the maneuvers and positioning of Pickett's divisions on July 3rd. It's an inside look at the battle, a quick and interesting read.