The Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg brought the dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angles gives the full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America’s future.

Michael Shaara tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the generals and men involved in the action of the battle. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg gives the reader a chance to experience the battle personally and not the history book manner taught in schools. A historical novel gives the facts straightforward and provides no commentary by the people involved in history. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg, as seen in The Killer Angles, provides the facts of the battle as seen through the eyes of Generals Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, John Buford and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. The feelings and inner-thoughts of each General and the conditions of the battle are seen, heard, and felt by the reader in the historical account. Shaara takes historical license with letters, the words of the men, and documents written during the three hellish days of the battle. Shaara avoids historical opinion and provides his own opinion towards the Civil War and the people. The historical account of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg specifically, in The Killer Angles conveys the attitude toward war, attitude towards the Civil War, and cause for fighting the war of General Robert E. Lee, Joshua Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and John Buford.

General Robert E. Lee gained stoic and legendary status as the heart and soul of the South in the Civil War, but many did not know his reasons for fighting the war. War and the slaughter of others did not interest Lee and he felt compassion for the Union. Lee had contradictory feelings towards war and says, “He was not only to serve in it but he was to lead it, to make the plans, and issue the orders to kill and burn and ruin…he could not do that” (Shaara 263). The Civil War was not in the taste of General Lee, felt it was his duty, and he could not just stand by and watch the war pass him by. Michael Shaara says of Lee’s reason for fighting the Civil War, “ He found that he had no choice…Lee could not raise his hand against his own. And so what then? To stand by and do nothing? It had nothing to do with causes; it was no longer a matter of vows” (Shaara 263). Shaara, through his commentary on General Lee, explains that Lee did not want to fight the war but had to. Lee felt it was his duty to fight for his fellow countrymen, but not for a cause, land, or slavery. “So it was no cause and no country he fought for, no ideal and no justice. He fought for his people, for the children, and the kin, and not even the land, because the land was not worth the war, but the people were,” said General Lee (Shaara 263). General Lee fought for himself and had no choice but to fight, knowing in the end that he might be wrong with his cause and pay the price someday. General Lee was not a proponent of war, but he will serve his country with honor and duty if necessary.

A man of ideals and honor represent the character of Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. Being a man of education, Chamberlain knew the demeaning and repulsive nature of slavery and had come to fight to end it. Chamberlain hated the whole idea of the Civil War and the death and destruction that went along with it. “I used my brother to plug a hole. Did it automatically as if he were expendable,” said Chamberlain (Shaara 304). He hated the idea that men, including his brother, were dying out in the fight for slavery. The only reason he believed in the Civil War was that if the North did not fight, freedom would be tarnished and a great travesty would occur. Chamberlain was not a man of war and blood and did not relish war and its qualities. The idea of war in general to Chamberlain was ludicrous, as he once wrote “Man: The Killer Angel”. Chamberlain believed all other wars had been unnecessary except for the Civil War because it was a different kind of war. He says, “This is a different kind of army. If you look at history you’ll see men fight for pay, or women, or some kind of loot. … They fight because a king makes them. But we’re here for something new. …We’re an army going to set other men free” (Shaara 30). Chamberlain was fighting the war because he believes every man should have the right to freedom. “American’s fight for mankind, for freedom; for the people, not the land,” says Chamberlain in regard to why he was fighting the war (Shaara 29). Chamberlain was fighting this war because “the fact of slavery upon this incredibly beautiful new clean land was appalling,” and “true freedom would eventually spread all over the world, but it started here… Many