Harry W. Pfanz is author of Gettysburg—The Second Day and Gettysburg—Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. He served for ten years as a historian at Gettysburg National Military Park and retired from the position of Chief Historian of the National Park Service in 1981.
Gettysburg--The First Day
Paperback
(1)
$28.00
- ISBN-13: 9780807871317
- Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
- Publication date: 03/01/2010
- Series: Civil War America Series
- Edition description: 1
- Pages: 496
- Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)
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For good reason, the second and third days of the Battle of Gettysburg have received the lion's share of attention from historians. With this book, however, the critical first day's fighting finally receives its due. After sketching the background of the Gettysburg campaign and recounting the events immediately preceding the battle, Harry Pfanz offers a detailed tactical description of events of the first day. He describes the engagements in McPherson Woods, at the Railroad Cuts, on Oak Ridge, on Seminary Ridge, and at Blocher's Knoll, as well as the retreat of Union forces through Gettysburg and the Federal rally on Cemetery Hill. Throughout, he draws on deep research in published and archival sources to challenge many long-held assumptions about the battle.
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From the Publisher
With Gettysburg: The First Day, the first day's fighting finally receives its due. . . . Offers a detailed tactical description. . . . [Pfanz] draws on deep research in published and archival sources to challenge some of the assumptions about the battle.—McCormick MessengerPfanz writes with a uniquely exuberant style, always selecting appropriate anecdotes that demonstrate a complete mastery of the battle's primary source materials. He has crafted a well-organized and thoroughly researched account. . . . A welcome addition to the library of any Civil War scholar or buff.—Georgia Historical Quarterly
[Pfanz's] long experience on the battlefield and the battlefield archives [has] produced [a] meticulously-detailed [study] of the battle.—Allen C. Guelzo, The Barnes & Noble Review
Pfanz's The First Day rises above [other] studies in its completeness of information and source interpretation. . . . An impeccably researched and extremely well-written narrative. . . . With Gettysburg-The First Day, Harry Pfanz demonstrates again that there is no one who better understands the Gettysburg battlefield and movements of the opposing troops. This eagerly anticipated study will undoubtedly become a classic and the standard work on the fighting of July 1.—America's Civil War
Pfanz's long-awaited microstudy of the opening day of the battle of Gettysburg offers an outstanding narrative of the fighting west and north of that small Pennsylvania town on July 1, 1863. . . . Written crisply and occasionally with a wry wit, Pfanz's narrative draws upon a broad chorus of voices, from soldiers to civilians and from privates to generals. . . . Sets the standard for future examinations of July 1, along with offering astute warnings that some controversies always will remain unresolved.—Journal of Southern History
A fast-moving narrative liberally sprinkled with anecdotes and fascinating details. . . . Extremely well researched. . . . Highly recommended.—Civil War News
An exhaustive and intimate description of the tactical events of day one.—Washington Post Book World
Washington Post Book World
An exhaustive and intimate description of the tactical events of day one.Civil War Book Review
[This book] is a careful reconstruction of events, based on extensive research in official reports, contemporary accounts, and soldiers' memoirs.
America's Civil War
This eagerly anticipated study will undoubtedly become a classic and the standard work on the fighting of July 1.
Blue & Gray Magazine
Highly readable, features many excellent maps, outstanding research, and a variety of unfamiliar photographs.
Library Journal
Pfanz (retired National Park Service chief historian and Gettysburg National Military Park historian) has new things to say about the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the least studied of the pivotal three-day Civil War battle. Pfanz, also author of Gettysburg: The Second Day and other works, overturns several suppositions, including the belief that "a battle at Gettysburg was inevitable." He examines specific clashes at McPherson Woods, the Railroad Cuts, Oak Ridge, Brickyard, and other locales. His riveting narrative of battlefield emotions and dynamics is richly detailed on various levels, from individual enlisted men to the officers of brigades, regiments, and armies. Pfanz even looks at Gettysburg's residents, and he offers a human- interest story about a dead soldier, initially unidentified, whose widow and children were traced through a photograph in the soldier's pocket. This book complements Pfanz's other works on the battle. Recommended for academic and public libraries with in-depth collections on Civil War battles. Charles L. Lumpkins, Pennsylvania State Univ., State College Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.