The Killer Angels Book Review

I believe that the author wrote this book because he wanted people to view the Battle of Gettysburg from not Just the view point that we receive in our textbooks but from different points of views so that we may interpret the battle as a whole instead of bits and pieces. This book, in my opinion, was written for both informative and entertainment for those who enjoy learning about history and the Civil War. This novel began with a person spying on the Union army then goes back to report o General Longest that he had found that an Union army was seen moving nearby where he was located.When the spy told Longest that information, it seemed to shock him a little bit. In Longitude's mind he believed that another general, General Stuart, was supposed to be tracking the Union army's movement. Now that he has received this information, he thought that he should move the Confederate army north to cut off the Union army. While heading north, the Confederate's come across a small town in Pennsy lvania known as Gettysburg. While patrolling the town of Gettysburg on his horse, a Union general had noticed that the Confederate soldiers were close.The general who saw the confederate army, General Afford, was under the impression that the two armies would start to battle inside the town. So he set up to brigades along the hills outside of town. His way of thinking was that the higher ground the Union army was, the better it was to fight the Confederate army. He believed using the geography of the north was a good idea. I agree with his thinking because it is certainly an advantage when it comes to warfare. As General Afford is aging arrangements to make that happen, General Longest was meeting with other generals to discuss strategy and tactic.The book then turns to the date of July 1st. It starts as General Lee is waking up and discovering General Stuart absence from camp. Without the absent man, Lee had no idea where the Union army was located and that troubled him. Not knowin g where the enemy was is never a good thing because you have no idea what your next plan or step would be. While at camp, he met with Longest. Longest was confident that the Confederates can use defensive tactics that has helped them in revises battles to help them win this one.He believes that the Confederacy would have a much better chance of winning because of their defensive skills that have proven to be top notch. General Lee refused Longitude's way of thinking because he wanted to smash the Union army aggressively in one blow. The book then transitions to where the battle was beginning when the confederate soldiers attacked the men who were station amongst the hills due to Brood's command. Reinforcements soon arrived to help out Brood's men since they were getting killed.The reinforcement quad was led by General Reynolds whom was later killed in the battle. As Lee arrives to the battleground, the battle is in full swing. He is ordering his men to attack since some Union troops were coming from the South to help out. As the first day ends, Union forces retreated back into the hills to take cover and get some rest for the upcoming day when they would continue to battle. Longest becomes nervous because he knew that the hills were a good defensive position. He knew that they would have the advantage if they went to attack them within the hills.He was also ware that General Lee would attack them instead of retreating to another location and wait for them to attack. On the second day of the battle, Chamberlain is the one who makes the first move this time by moving toward Gettysburg once again. As they were walking, they discovered an escaped slave. This gets Chamberlain into thinking about the reasoning for this war that has caused so many causalities of fellow Americans and what he believed in about different races. While that was happening, two confederate generals were suggesting to lee that they should attack the opposing army to weaken it.Lee likes the p lan, but Longest still wants to move to another location. Once again Lee had refused. As Lee and Longest lead the troops toward the hills, they discover that the army has come off of the hills and into the lowland where an orchard of some sort lied. They attack which causes a blood bath. Chamberlain and his men had to hold the ground against the Confederate attacks, but eventually they run out of bullets. They had followed by a motto to never retreat and fight while standing their ground. As day two came to an end, Lee decided on a Lana for the next day.As the final day approaches, Longest, for the final time, tries to convince Lee to move the army to another location, but Lee again refuses. Lee was determined to attack his enemy at this certain place. Longest had tried to convince him but he refused while launching an attack known as Picket's charge. After the failure of Picket's charge, the Confederates soon retreated, and the Battle of Gettysburg had finally come to an end. Perso nally, I believe Michael Sahara is the type of person who found this battle to be absolutely fascinating.I also believe that the author had done his research on the matter by using personal letters of these generals and other primary sources to help him write this book. This novel is an excellent example of a bloody battle fought on the US soil between the people of the US. To be honest, I really enjoyed this book. I like who the point of views changed to get the full coverage the battle and to have an insight on what was actually happening. I also happen to love learning about wars and the presidents so that helped a lot knowing some outside information.