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U.S. Landmark Books #23
Gettysburg
When troops entered Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the South seemed to be winning the Civil War. But Gettysburg was a turning point. After three bloody days of fighting, the Union finally won the battle. Inspired by the valor of the many thousands of soldiers who died there, President Lincoln visited Gettysburg to give a brief but moving tribute. His Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches in American history.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
8 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
MacKinlay Kantor
227 books65 followersBenjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several set during the American Civil War, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel
Andersonville
Kantor was born in Webster City, Iowa, in 1904. His mother, a journalist, encouraged Kantor to develop his writing style. Kantor started writing seriously as a teen-ager when he worked as a reporter with his mother at the local newspaper in Webster City.
Kantor's first novel was published when he was 24.
During World War II, Kantor reported from London as a war correspondent for a Los Angeles newspaper. After flying on several bombing missions, he asked for and received training to operate the bomber's turret machine guns (this was illegal, as he was not in service).
Nevertheless he was decorated with the Medal of Freedom by Gen. Carl Spaatz, then the U.S. Army Air Corp commander. He also saw combat during the Korean War as a correspondent.
In addition to journalism and novels, Kantor wrote the screenplay for Gun Crazy (aka Deadly Is the Female) (1950), a noted film noir. It was based on his short story by the same name, published February 3, 1940 in a "slick" magazine, The Saturday Evening Post. In 1992, it was revealed that he had allowed his name to be used on a screenplay written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, who had been blacklisted as a result of his refusal to testify before the House Un-American Committee (HUAC) hearings. Kantor passed his payment on to Trumbo to help him survive.
Several of his novels were adapted for films. He established his own publishing house, and published several of his works in the 1930s and 1940s.
Kantor died of a heart attack in 1977, at the age of 73, at his home in Sarasota, Florida.
Kantor was born in Webster City, Iowa, in 1904. His mother, a journalist, encouraged Kantor to develop his writing style. Kantor started writing seriously as a teen-ager when he worked as a reporter with his mother at the local newspaper in Webster City.
Kantor's first novel was published when he was 24.
During World War II, Kantor reported from London as a war correspondent for a Los Angeles newspaper. After flying on several bombing missions, he asked for and received training to operate the bomber's turret machine guns (this was illegal, as he was not in service).
Nevertheless he was decorated with the Medal of Freedom by Gen. Carl Spaatz, then the U.S. Army Air Corp commander. He also saw combat during the Korean War as a correspondent.
In addition to journalism and novels, Kantor wrote the screenplay for Gun Crazy (aka Deadly Is the Female) (1950), a noted film noir. It was based on his short story by the same name, published February 3, 1940 in a "slick" magazine, The Saturday Evening Post. In 1992, it was revealed that he had allowed his name to be used on a screenplay written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, who had been blacklisted as a result of his refusal to testify before the House Un-American Committee (HUAC) hearings. Kantor passed his payment on to Trumbo to help him survive.
Several of his novels were adapted for films. He established his own publishing house, and published several of his works in the 1930s and 1940s.
Kantor died of a heart attack in 1977, at the age of 73, at his home in Sarasota, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 21, 2024
May I safely assume that the battle of Gettysburg needs no introduction. This is a very welcome addition to the Landmark juvenile book series, penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Benjamin MacKinay Kantor, the author of "Andersonville," whose knowledge on the subject of the American Civil War is enviable. He had served as an embedded journalist during WWII. Kantor also penned the Landmark volume "Lee and Grant at Appomattox." His novel "Andersonville" was first published in 1955, winning the Pulitzer Price for Fiction in 1956. Although it is a fictional account, it has been described as a highly realistic depiction of what that POW camp was like, which constituted nothing less than a nineteenth-century American concentration camp, where the death rate was astounding.
This short volume was written less than a century after the event itself. In that same tradition, "Gettysburg," is more than just a dry, narrative, "drum and bugle" history, which was probably the most predominant writing style during its day. It's also more than a "great man" history, which was a similarly common history writing style. The author wisely includes material regarding how the great battle affected not only the soldiers, but the people of the town of Gettysburg as well, making it very accessible to young readers by incorporating anecdotes, stories and firsthand accounts of both the unwitting spectators and battle participants.
In short, the Battle of Gettysburg was a bloody, three-day campaign, fought between July 1 and July 3, 1863. The primary combatants were Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac, comprised of more than 100,000 troops, and General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, made up of about 75,000 men. The outcome was not pre-determined: either side could have come off victorious. It was even at the time, however, widely acknowledged by both Union and Confederate forces that the victor of this battle would be the likely winner of the Civil War. It is also widely considered to have been the turning point of the conflict, as this decisive battle ended Lee's invasion of the North as well as his aspirations of conquering any more territory, ultimately forcing him to retreat.
Having steadily gained ground in the North for months, Lee invaded Gettysburg on July 1, hoping to utterly decimate the Union Army, which had stubbornly met his advances. It was in this small Pennsylvania farming community where the two armies ultimately clashed. On the following day, July 2, Maj. Gen. Meade laid out the Union line in the shape of a fishhook, which Lee attacked vigorously, but, despite severe losses, the Union forces held the lines. On the third day, Confederate troops attacked the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge (then Granite Ridge), an assault now known as Pickett's Charge, but their efforts ultimately failed. Finding the losses too great to sustain, Lee retreated on the Fourth of July, 1863.
The total number of casualties - dead, wounded and captured or missing - incurred during the course of the three-day battle amounted to between 46,000 and 51,000, making it the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil. Although the Battle of Antietam, fought on Sept. 17, 1862, had resulted in more casualties on a single day, nearly 23,000, making it the bloodiest single day in US history, the number of casualties incurred during the three-day clash at Gettysburg surpassed it by about half. Union casualties amounted to 23,055 (3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded and 5,369 captured or missing). Confederate casualties are more difficult to estimate, but it is believed that Lee's army similarly incurred some 23,000 casualties (4,708 killed, 12,693 wounded and 5,830 captured or missing).
To add to the devastation, almost a third of Lee's general officers were killed, wounded or captured, constituting the greatest loss of generals in the entire war. Casualties on both sides for the 6-week campaign, according to some sources, totaled some 57,225. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 horses were also killed. More than 70 Medals of Honor were awarded for the Gettysburg campaign, 64 of which were bestowed for actions during the battle itself. The first was awarded in December, 1864, but the most recent was posthumously awarded to Lt. Alonzo Cushing, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS LATER, in 2014.
The battle took a heavy toll on the small town as well. Recovery took decades, but the psychological wounds persisted much longer. Although miraculously only one civilian casualty was recorded, the town and surrounding region was devastated. Fields and orchards were torn apart, blood splattered like paint on the crops. Homes and barns were wrecked from bullets and artillery shells, some of which can still be found embedded in the centuries-old structures.
Every field and garden became an (if only temporary) graveyard, where many of the dead were hastily buried in shallow and usually unmarked graves. As such, the remains of the fallen are still occasionally recovered from the site, as thousands were listed as "missing," whose bodies were never recovered. Churches, public buildings and sometimes even private homes had been converted into hospitals to treat thousands of wounded, through which eventually passed some 20,000 men. Private George R. Frysinger, who arrived with an emergency militia unit shortly after the battle, wrote that "Gettysburg can [now] not be called not a town, but a large collection of hospitals."
Eliza Farnham, a volunteer nurse from Philadelphia, echoed that sentiment, perhaps best describing the devastation: "The whole town... is one vast hospital....The road, for long distances, is in many places strewn with dead horses... the earth in the roads and fields is ploughed to a mire by the army wheels and horses... avenues of white tents... But, good God! What those quiet-looking tents contained! What spectacles awaited us on the rolling hills around us! It is absolutely inconceivable... Dead and dying, and wounded,... torn to pieces in every way.”
Contemporary photos of the aftermath show the dead everywhere - in one case, fifty-nine horses, which were killed in action at the Wheatfield, on July 2. The unfortunate equines are depicted in the faded photograph scattered in the yard of a homestead, with a house and barn in the background. One army medical officer’s report also accurately stated: “The period of ten days following the battle of Gettysburg was the occasion of the greatest amount of human suffering known in this nation since its birth."
As for the single known civilian casualty: Mary Virginia "Ginnie" Wade was born in 1843. Her name is alternatively spelled "Jenny," a misspelling which first appeared in a newspaper. The twenty-year-old young mother worked as a seamstress and a caretaker for a six-year-old disabled boy named Isaac Brinkerhoff during the week while his own mother worked. Her father, James, tragically had been declared insane and had been committed to an asylum. A few days before the battle, Ginnie's sister Georgiana had given birth to her first child, so Ginnie had gone to their home, the McClellan house, to help care for her.
Fighting broke out just a few hundred yards away from their home, on July 1, whereby Ginnie and her family became caught in the crossfire. Numerous stray bullets and shells shattered the windows and damaged the brick exterior. Had it been made of wood, it is likely that more members of the family would have been killed. Despite the danger, however, Ginnie even ventured outdoors to offer food and water to the Union soldiers. In fact, on the morning of her death, the third day of the battle, July 3, Ginnie was in the pantry of her sister's home, busily kneading dough to make more bread for them.
At some point, gunfire broke out, and a single bullet passed through two doors, striking Ginnie. The bullet penetrated her shoulder and went into her heart, killing her instantly. Her sister's screams brought Union soldiers hurriedly into the house, but it was too late. The soldiers then insisted that the other members of her family move to the safety of the house's cellar to prevent even more tragedy. Even in the wake of her death, on the following day, Ginnie's mother finished her task of baking and distributing loaves of bread to the victorious Union soldiers.
Ginnie was immediately buried on the property of her sister's house, but some six months later, her remains were moved to the cemetery of the German Reformed Church. She was moved again, after the war, in Nov., 1865, to the Gettysburg Evergreen Cemetery, where she lies today. Her grave is marked by a monument which reads: "Killed July 3, 1865 While Making Bread for Union Soldiers." Sadly, nearby lies the grave of one Corporal Johnston Hastings Skelly, Jr., a Union soldier who was engaged to Ginnie at the time of her death. Wounded and captured at the Battle of Winchester in Virginia, he died on July 12, before news of Ginnie's death had reached him.
The battle has long remained in the public consciousness. Two Gettysburg Anniversary reunions were held, one on the 50th anniversary of the event, in 1913, which 35,000 Union veterans and 7,000 Confederate veterans attended. Some re-enacted Picketts's Charge, which was followed by a ceremonial mass handshake held across a stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. A 75th Anniversary Reunion was held in 1938, which only 1,333 and 479 Confederate veterans attended. Most veterans would have been in their 90s at the time. Some rare film records also survive of these reunions, which were held on the actual battlefield.
The site was recognized as historically significant even in its own day. On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to the decimated southern Pennsylvania town, where he delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. His words, whereupon he stated that "the world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here..." were not prophetic, however - his short but profound oration is one of the most well-known speeches in American history, one which American school children (myself included, once) still memorize and recite.
The Gettysburg National Cemetery, the one which President Lincoln himself dedicated only a few months after the event, and National Military Park are some of the most visited sites in the United States. They are now maintained and administered by the US National Park Service. The American Battlefield Trust, a private institution, has also purchased additional acreage, so efforts continue to maintain the historic integrity of the site, but less than half of the original 11,500 acres of the old Gettysburg Battlefield have been preserved.
Due to the renown of this sacred site, efforts continue to try to preserve and protect it for future generations. In 2015, the Trust purchased a four-acre parcel for $4 million, which included the stone house that General Robert E. Lee used as his headquarters during the battle. The Trust demolished a motel, restaurant and other structures in an attempt to restore the site to its original wartime appearance. Every year on the anniversary, volunteers reenact the famous battle. Each day, a different part of the battle is conducted, which is narrated by guides from the Gettysburg National Military Park.
This was one of my favorite volumes in the series thus far, and it's highly recommended reading for adults, young and old alike. I haven't made it to the battlefield yet, but that sacred site is pretty high up on my lifetime travel bucket list.
This short volume was written less than a century after the event itself. In that same tradition, "Gettysburg," is more than just a dry, narrative, "drum and bugle" history, which was probably the most predominant writing style during its day. It's also more than a "great man" history, which was a similarly common history writing style. The author wisely includes material regarding how the great battle affected not only the soldiers, but the people of the town of Gettysburg as well, making it very accessible to young readers by incorporating anecdotes, stories and firsthand accounts of both the unwitting spectators and battle participants.
In short, the Battle of Gettysburg was a bloody, three-day campaign, fought between July 1 and July 3, 1863. The primary combatants were Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac, comprised of more than 100,000 troops, and General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, made up of about 75,000 men. The outcome was not pre-determined: either side could have come off victorious. It was even at the time, however, widely acknowledged by both Union and Confederate forces that the victor of this battle would be the likely winner of the Civil War. It is also widely considered to have been the turning point of the conflict, as this decisive battle ended Lee's invasion of the North as well as his aspirations of conquering any more territory, ultimately forcing him to retreat.
Having steadily gained ground in the North for months, Lee invaded Gettysburg on July 1, hoping to utterly decimate the Union Army, which had stubbornly met his advances. It was in this small Pennsylvania farming community where the two armies ultimately clashed. On the following day, July 2, Maj. Gen. Meade laid out the Union line in the shape of a fishhook, which Lee attacked vigorously, but, despite severe losses, the Union forces held the lines. On the third day, Confederate troops attacked the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge (then Granite Ridge), an assault now known as Pickett's Charge, but their efforts ultimately failed. Finding the losses too great to sustain, Lee retreated on the Fourth of July, 1863.
The total number of casualties - dead, wounded and captured or missing - incurred during the course of the three-day battle amounted to between 46,000 and 51,000, making it the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil. Although the Battle of Antietam, fought on Sept. 17, 1862, had resulted in more casualties on a single day, nearly 23,000, making it the bloodiest single day in US history, the number of casualties incurred during the three-day clash at Gettysburg surpassed it by about half. Union casualties amounted to 23,055 (3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded and 5,369 captured or missing). Confederate casualties are more difficult to estimate, but it is believed that Lee's army similarly incurred some 23,000 casualties (4,708 killed, 12,693 wounded and 5,830 captured or missing).
To add to the devastation, almost a third of Lee's general officers were killed, wounded or captured, constituting the greatest loss of generals in the entire war. Casualties on both sides for the 6-week campaign, according to some sources, totaled some 57,225. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 horses were also killed. More than 70 Medals of Honor were awarded for the Gettysburg campaign, 64 of which were bestowed for actions during the battle itself. The first was awarded in December, 1864, but the most recent was posthumously awarded to Lt. Alonzo Cushing, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS LATER, in 2014.
The battle took a heavy toll on the small town as well. Recovery took decades, but the psychological wounds persisted much longer. Although miraculously only one civilian casualty was recorded, the town and surrounding region was devastated. Fields and orchards were torn apart, blood splattered like paint on the crops. Homes and barns were wrecked from bullets and artillery shells, some of which can still be found embedded in the centuries-old structures.
Every field and garden became an (if only temporary) graveyard, where many of the dead were hastily buried in shallow and usually unmarked graves. As such, the remains of the fallen are still occasionally recovered from the site, as thousands were listed as "missing," whose bodies were never recovered. Churches, public buildings and sometimes even private homes had been converted into hospitals to treat thousands of wounded, through which eventually passed some 20,000 men. Private George R. Frysinger, who arrived with an emergency militia unit shortly after the battle, wrote that "Gettysburg can [now] not be called not a town, but a large collection of hospitals."
Eliza Farnham, a volunteer nurse from Philadelphia, echoed that sentiment, perhaps best describing the devastation: "The whole town... is one vast hospital....The road, for long distances, is in many places strewn with dead horses... the earth in the roads and fields is ploughed to a mire by the army wheels and horses... avenues of white tents... But, good God! What those quiet-looking tents contained! What spectacles awaited us on the rolling hills around us! It is absolutely inconceivable... Dead and dying, and wounded,... torn to pieces in every way.”
Contemporary photos of the aftermath show the dead everywhere - in one case, fifty-nine horses, which were killed in action at the Wheatfield, on July 2. The unfortunate equines are depicted in the faded photograph scattered in the yard of a homestead, with a house and barn in the background. One army medical officer’s report also accurately stated: “The period of ten days following the battle of Gettysburg was the occasion of the greatest amount of human suffering known in this nation since its birth."
As for the single known civilian casualty: Mary Virginia "Ginnie" Wade was born in 1843. Her name is alternatively spelled "Jenny," a misspelling which first appeared in a newspaper. The twenty-year-old young mother worked as a seamstress and a caretaker for a six-year-old disabled boy named Isaac Brinkerhoff during the week while his own mother worked. Her father, James, tragically had been declared insane and had been committed to an asylum. A few days before the battle, Ginnie's sister Georgiana had given birth to her first child, so Ginnie had gone to their home, the McClellan house, to help care for her.
Fighting broke out just a few hundred yards away from their home, on July 1, whereby Ginnie and her family became caught in the crossfire. Numerous stray bullets and shells shattered the windows and damaged the brick exterior. Had it been made of wood, it is likely that more members of the family would have been killed. Despite the danger, however, Ginnie even ventured outdoors to offer food and water to the Union soldiers. In fact, on the morning of her death, the third day of the battle, July 3, Ginnie was in the pantry of her sister's home, busily kneading dough to make more bread for them.
At some point, gunfire broke out, and a single bullet passed through two doors, striking Ginnie. The bullet penetrated her shoulder and went into her heart, killing her instantly. Her sister's screams brought Union soldiers hurriedly into the house, but it was too late. The soldiers then insisted that the other members of her family move to the safety of the house's cellar to prevent even more tragedy. Even in the wake of her death, on the following day, Ginnie's mother finished her task of baking and distributing loaves of bread to the victorious Union soldiers.
Ginnie was immediately buried on the property of her sister's house, but some six months later, her remains were moved to the cemetery of the German Reformed Church. She was moved again, after the war, in Nov., 1865, to the Gettysburg Evergreen Cemetery, where she lies today. Her grave is marked by a monument which reads: "Killed July 3, 1865 While Making Bread for Union Soldiers." Sadly, nearby lies the grave of one Corporal Johnston Hastings Skelly, Jr., a Union soldier who was engaged to Ginnie at the time of her death. Wounded and captured at the Battle of Winchester in Virginia, he died on July 12, before news of Ginnie's death had reached him.
The battle has long remained in the public consciousness. Two Gettysburg Anniversary reunions were held, one on the 50th anniversary of the event, in 1913, which 35,000 Union veterans and 7,000 Confederate veterans attended. Some re-enacted Picketts's Charge, which was followed by a ceremonial mass handshake held across a stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. A 75th Anniversary Reunion was held in 1938, which only 1,333 and 479 Confederate veterans attended. Most veterans would have been in their 90s at the time. Some rare film records also survive of these reunions, which were held on the actual battlefield.
The site was recognized as historically significant even in its own day. On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to the decimated southern Pennsylvania town, where he delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. His words, whereupon he stated that "the world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here..." were not prophetic, however - his short but profound oration is one of the most well-known speeches in American history, one which American school children (myself included, once) still memorize and recite.
The Gettysburg National Cemetery, the one which President Lincoln himself dedicated only a few months after the event, and National Military Park are some of the most visited sites in the United States. They are now maintained and administered by the US National Park Service. The American Battlefield Trust, a private institution, has also purchased additional acreage, so efforts continue to maintain the historic integrity of the site, but less than half of the original 11,500 acres of the old Gettysburg Battlefield have been preserved.
Due to the renown of this sacred site, efforts continue to try to preserve and protect it for future generations. In 2015, the Trust purchased a four-acre parcel for $4 million, which included the stone house that General Robert E. Lee used as his headquarters during the battle. The Trust demolished a motel, restaurant and other structures in an attempt to restore the site to its original wartime appearance. Every year on the anniversary, volunteers reenact the famous battle. Each day, a different part of the battle is conducted, which is narrated by guides from the Gettysburg National Military Park.
This was one of my favorite volumes in the series thus far, and it's highly recommended reading for adults, young and old alike. I haven't made it to the battlefield yet, but that sacred site is pretty high up on my lifetime travel bucket list.
April 14, 2022
If you are looking for the latest in scholarship on the battle of Gettysburg, keep looking. I noticed a handful of things that I don't think are right. But if you want a decent book on the battle to read to your kids, I think this is a pretty good one. It is focused on the battle, but it spends plenty of time on related topics - like the civilians of Gettysburg and the care for the wounded after the battle. My kids and I enjoyed this one.
January 6, 2024
My kids are 40. Time to donate it.
This looks like a kids book.
I loved his book Andersonville, which i read over 30 years ago.
The first chapter is "Ja, the Rebels Eat Babies, probably not a great start for kids anyway.
My wife and I just visited here, the Round Tops were under construction. We didnt allow enough time. Got more out of a Shiloh visit a decade ago.
I was 8 when we visited from Indiana in July 1863. I only remember the flashes of color from the reenactment. I am not sure if that is what sparked my lifelong interest.
Loved the Michael Shaara book, read it years ago too.
We stayed at a nice B& B in the area where parts of the Martin Sheen movie were filmed. Still haven’t seen that entire movie, regrettably.
This looks like a kids book.
I loved his book Andersonville, which i read over 30 years ago.
The first chapter is "Ja, the Rebels Eat Babies, probably not a great start for kids anyway.
My wife and I just visited here, the Round Tops were under construction. We didnt allow enough time. Got more out of a Shiloh visit a decade ago.
I was 8 when we visited from Indiana in July 1863. I only remember the flashes of color from the reenactment. I am not sure if that is what sparked my lifelong interest.
Loved the Michael Shaara book, read it years ago too.
We stayed at a nice B& B in the area where parts of the Martin Sheen movie were filmed. Still haven’t seen that entire movie, regrettably.
July 3, 2019
A classic Landmark book focused on young readers. Kantor was one of the most well respected historians of his day. A great summary of the battle tells the big story with many vignettes showing the small story as well. John Burns and Jenny Wade are highlighted. John Buford and John Reynolds appear, too.
August 5, 2020
I'll be honest. I wasn't crazy about this book. Not 100% sure why, but I think it was the writing style. It just seemed a bit confusing. I was able to understand the basics of the Gettysburg battle though, and the Gettysburg map was helpful. I spent a lot of time studying that map!
February 2, 2019
Read aloud to the kids. It was OK. To read a book on Gettysburg you need to read it alongside of a map of the battle to make any sense of the narrative.
November 24, 2012
Most everyone has a reasonably good, if only rudimentary, knowledge of what happened at Gettysburg, PA, during the American Civil War. After deciding to take the war to northern territory with the hope that a decisive victory would tip the balance for the South, Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia to the sleepy little Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg where, on July 1 through 3, it met Union Major General George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac. During the battle, which had the largest number of casualties in the Civil War, the Federals defeated attacks by the Southern troops in what became a turning point for the North, causing Lee to make a torturous retreat back to Virginia. President Lincoln’s visit there the following November to participate in the dedication of a National Cemetery for burying those who died in battle was the occasion for his famous “Gettysburg Address.”
In this book, one of the original Landmark series of best-selling children’s historical books, author MacKinlay Kantor relates the story of the Battle of Gettysburg as if he were writing a novel. He tells how the citizens of this quiet town peered from their windows in terror as strange, gray-clad soldiers came striding down their streets. Then he describes the three bloody days of fighting, with great detail about the preparation, the battle, and the cleanup, separating fact from fiction. Finally, he talks about the impact that the battle had on the people in that part of Pennsylvania. The original edition had excellent pen and ink illustrations by artist Donald McKay, but these are omitted in the paperback reprint. The descriptions of the fighting and its aftermath are accurate but tasteful and never gratuitous. The phrases “hell to pay” and “for God’s sake” are found in quotations. Otherwise, there is nothing objectionable—just good history interestingly told. The book ends with an account of Lincoln’s trip to the battle site and his “Gettysburg Address.”
Benjamin McKinlay (Mack) Kantor (1904–1977) was an American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter who was born and grew up in Webster City, IA. After attending the local schools, he married Florence Irene Layne and began writing numerous crime stories and mysteries for pulp fiction magazines to make a living for his family, later moving to New Jersey. One of his early novels, Long Remember (1934), was set at the Battle of Gettysburg. In all, he wrote more than thirty novels, several set during the American Civil War, including his Pulitzer Prize winning 1955 novel Andersonville about the Confederate prisoner of war camp. After serving as a war correspondent during World War II, he arranged an intensive period of research with the New York City Police Department for his short crime novels. Also he wrote the screenplay for 1950 film noir Gun Crazy and even acted in the 1958 film Wind Across the Everglades. In the Nov. 22, 1960, issue of Look magazine, Kantor published a fictional alternate history account entitled “If the South Had Won the Civil War” which was published in 1961 as a book. Kantor's last novel was Valley Forge (1975), and he died at the age of 73 of a heart attack in 1977, at his home in Sarasota, FL.
In this book, one of the original Landmark series of best-selling children’s historical books, author MacKinlay Kantor relates the story of the Battle of Gettysburg as if he were writing a novel. He tells how the citizens of this quiet town peered from their windows in terror as strange, gray-clad soldiers came striding down their streets. Then he describes the three bloody days of fighting, with great detail about the preparation, the battle, and the cleanup, separating fact from fiction. Finally, he talks about the impact that the battle had on the people in that part of Pennsylvania. The original edition had excellent pen and ink illustrations by artist Donald McKay, but these are omitted in the paperback reprint. The descriptions of the fighting and its aftermath are accurate but tasteful and never gratuitous. The phrases “hell to pay” and “for God’s sake” are found in quotations. Otherwise, there is nothing objectionable—just good history interestingly told. The book ends with an account of Lincoln’s trip to the battle site and his “Gettysburg Address.”
Benjamin McKinlay (Mack) Kantor (1904–1977) was an American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter who was born and grew up in Webster City, IA. After attending the local schools, he married Florence Irene Layne and began writing numerous crime stories and mysteries for pulp fiction magazines to make a living for his family, later moving to New Jersey. One of his early novels, Long Remember (1934), was set at the Battle of Gettysburg. In all, he wrote more than thirty novels, several set during the American Civil War, including his Pulitzer Prize winning 1955 novel Andersonville about the Confederate prisoner of war camp. After serving as a war correspondent during World War II, he arranged an intensive period of research with the New York City Police Department for his short crime novels. Also he wrote the screenplay for 1950 film noir Gun Crazy and even acted in the 1958 film Wind Across the Everglades. In the Nov. 22, 1960, issue of Look magazine, Kantor published a fictional alternate history account entitled “If the South Had Won the Civil War” which was published in 1961 as a book. Kantor's last novel was Valley Forge (1975), and he died at the age of 73 of a heart attack in 1977, at his home in Sarasota, FL.
November 29, 2010
I really enjoyed this book, because I am a big Civil War buff. If you know about the Civil War, I am sure you know about the battle of Gettysburg. This book is about that battle and all of the things that lead up to it and follow it.
This book out explaining the little town of Gettysburg, Pensylvainia. Then, as the story goes on, the Confederates invad the North. To stop the invaders, the Union's Army of the Potomac comes up to Gettysburg, where the enemy has stopped to gain much needed supplies. In the first day of the battle, the Union's cavalry holds off the Confederates until help can arrive, but then they are pushed back all the way to the other side of town. during the second day at Gettysburg, the Confederates attack the Union's positions, the most famous attacks are at Devil's Den and Little Round Top. The Union army beats back the Confederates. On the third day, the Confederates form one final assult on the Union's positons in some of the town's farm fields. This attack too is forced back and the Confederates lose the battle of Gettysburg. The book then goes on to talk about how the town cleans up after the battle. The book concludes with President Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Adress.
This book out explaining the little town of Gettysburg, Pensylvainia. Then, as the story goes on, the Confederates invad the North. To stop the invaders, the Union's Army of the Potomac comes up to Gettysburg, where the enemy has stopped to gain much needed supplies. In the first day of the battle, the Union's cavalry holds off the Confederates until help can arrive, but then they are pushed back all the way to the other side of town. during the second day at Gettysburg, the Confederates attack the Union's positions, the most famous attacks are at Devil's Den and Little Round Top. The Union army beats back the Confederates. On the third day, the Confederates form one final assult on the Union's positons in some of the town's farm fields. This attack too is forced back and the Confederates lose the battle of Gettysburg. The book then goes on to talk about how the town cleans up after the battle. The book concludes with President Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Adress.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2009
This is actually a kids book but it's very concise and a good historical overview of the battle of Gettysburg [and the monuments erected there after the Civil war:]. I'm a history buff and I am besotted with Civil war history. It was a very interesting time and I think very few people could comprehend living in a world like that.
I found the last chapter to be the most interesting out of all of this book. The idea that Lincoln did not want to go to Gettysburg to deliver his now iconic and historic Gettysburg address in November of the same year is staggering. Equally staggering was the fact that the crowd that had assembled to hear Lincoln's address were decidedly underwhelmed.
I found the last chapter to be the most interesting out of all of this book. The idea that Lincoln did not want to go to Gettysburg to deliver his now iconic and historic Gettysburg address in November of the same year is staggering. Equally staggering was the fact that the crowd that had assembled to hear Lincoln's address were decidedly underwhelmed.
October 10, 2014
This is not a particularly readable children's book. In fact, it's not really a children's book at all. I'm sorry, Landmark Books, but while this is a stirring philosophical treatise on the Battle of Gettysburg, it's not geared toward 9-12 year olds at all. The Victorian language and vaulting style may sound Fancy and Important, but that does not make for coherent reading on the part of a child. Podling 2, who is eleven years old and has a passable vocabulary, struggled quite a bit. Additionally, Kantor requires much more inference on the part of the reader than kids this age are really capable of.
November 3, 2014
aimed at young audiences, this short volume is a nice overview of a complex battle. it has all the fine presence of kantor's fine style, but nothing terribly new for anyone well-versed in the subject matter. i picked this up sight-unseen without knowing anything about it and enjoyed it as a quick read. probably if i had seen it in a book store and flipped through it first, i would not have purchased it, but oh well. probably if i were 12 and interested, this would be a very fine book.
September 27, 2015
A good book once you understand all the different names for each the North and the South. It has been over 50 years since I studied this in school. It is wonderful what the people gave to free others from slavery but so very sad that it could not have been done without so much loss of life. May God help us all to remember all of our soldiers from the beginning of our country to now and what they have given for all of us.
August 18, 2016
Three years into the Civil War the Union and Confederate forces meet in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for what would be three of the bloodiest days of the Civil War. It appeared the South would win, but through strategy, determination, and luck the Union won the day and turned the tide of the war. An excellent book that walks us through the entire battle and its aftermath.
August 6, 2013
I didn't think I would enjoy a blow-by-blow account of a single Civil War battle, but this narrative really moves and compels. Nice companion to The Slopes of War, a novel about the same 4-day period. This one was recommended by Veritas for 6th grade. My kids will likely read it as 6th and 8th graders.
October 21, 2010
As a part of of school's "drop everything and read" program, I'm examining many young teen's subject materials...OK, but know Shelby Foote or Bruce Catton!!!
March 13, 2013
A great introduction and general overview of the battle of Gettysburg for someone who knows nothing on the subject.
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August 10, 2016Being a Civil War geek, I enjoy basically any book concerning the Civil War
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