October 7, 2024

New and Noteworthy–At Gettysburg Was Barksdale’s Charge The Real High Water Mark of the Confederacy?

They say history is written by the winners, sometimes the wrong winners write it. The article gives a review on the book written by Phillip Thomas Tucker in which he details how the famous pickett charge has been wrongly placed as the height of the southern offensive when it was actually the barksdale charge. The author gives a good concise look at this book on the famous civil war battle.

Key Takeaways:

  • In Barksdale’s Charge, Phillip Tucker (PhD, St. Louis Univ.), a former historian for the US Air Force, reexamines the Battle of Gettysburg (1–3 July 1863).
  • In truth, Gettysburg was decided not on the famous third day of the battle, but on the previous after-noon…. [T]he charge of General William Barksdale and his 1,600-man Mississippi Brigade … came closer to toppling the Army of the Potomac than any other Rebel offensive effort of the war
  • Barksdale’s Charge tells a tale of immense valor at the brigade level frustrated by the ill-coordinated tactical decisions of division and corps commanders.

“Barksdale’s Charge tells a tale of immense valor at the brigade level frustrated by the ill-coordinated tactical decisions of division and corps commanders”

http://civilwarlibrarian.blogspot.com/2016/07/new-and-noteworthy-at-gettysburg-was.html