It’s June! That means that three weeks from today we’ll be in Gettysburg. Yes, the meet-up is still on! Rain or shine, we’ll be at the Virginia Monument on Seminary Ridge at 10 a.m. on June 22. For those who wish to and are able to, we’ll walk Pickett’s Charge over to the Union position on Cemetery Ridge. We’re very excited about getting to visit the battlefield again before we do Gettysburg on the podcast, and meeting some of you will just be icing on the cake. We hope to see you there!
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| A cannon sits in front of the impressive equestrian statue of Union Major General John F. Reynolds alongside the Chambersburg Pike. |
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| John Buford’s statue looks down the Chambersburg Pike outside Gettysburg, where on July 1, 1863 his cavalry division delayed the Confederate advance long enough for Reynolds’ I Corps to come up. |
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| Rich & Tracy at the statue of Father William Corby, chaplain of the 88th New York of the famed ‘Irish Brigade.’ |
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| Wildflowers in the Wheatfield, where some of the bloodiest & hardest-fought combat of the entire war took place on July 2, 1863. |
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| The Irish Brigade Monument memorializes three of the brigade’s five units- the 63rd, 69th, & 88th New York regiments. |
The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3-July 13, 1863 by Bradley M. Gottfried
Rich is a huge, HUGE map geek so it’s no surprise he loves this book like a fat kid loves cake. Make sure you get the revised, full color edition.
Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage by Noah Andre Trudeau
We had a tough time choosing between this book and Edwin B. Coddington’s “The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command,” but Tracy is a big fan of Trudeau’s riveting narrative, so “Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage” won out. (Although, Rich says he may still sneak Coddington into the suitcase.)
The Complete Gettysburg Guide by J. David Petruzzi, maps & photography by Steven Stanley
Our choice of this book has nothing, NOTHING!, to do with the fact that Mr. Petruzzi and Rich’s dad happen to be from the same small town in north-central Pennsylvania.
The Gettysburg Companion: The Complete Guide to America’s Most Famous Battle by Mark Adkin
“This is the Gettysburg book that students and aficionados of the battle have dreamed about… The Gettysburg Companion is quite simply an absolute gem.” ~ D. Scott Hartwig, Civil War historian, Gettysburg, PA