Product Description

More academic and photographic accounts on the battle of Gettysburg exist than for all other battles of the Civil War combined-and for good reason. The three-days of maneuver, attack, and counterattack consisted of literally scores of encounters, from corps-size actions to small unit engagements. Despite all its coverage, Gettysburg remains one of the most complex and difficult to understand battles of the war. The Maps Gettysburg: The Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 - July 13, 1863, by Bradley Gottfried offers a unique approach to the study of this multifaceted engagement.

The Maps of Gettysburg plows new ground in the study of the campaign by breaking down the entire campaign in 140 detailed original maps. These cartographic originals bore down to the regimental level, and offer Civil Warriors a unique and fascinating approach to studying the always climactic battle of the war.

The Maps of Gettysburg offers thirty "action-sections" comprising the entire campaign. These include the march to and from the battlefield, and virtually every significant event in between. Gottfried's original maps (from two to as many as twenty) enrich each "action-section." Keyed to each piece of cartography is detailed text that includes hundreds of soldiers' quotes that make the Gettysburg story come alive. This presentation allows readers to easily and quickly find a map and text on virtually any portion of the campaign, from the cavalry drama at Brandy Station on June 9, to the last Confederate withdrawal of troops across the Potomac River on July 15, 1863. Serious students of the battle will appreciate the extensive and authoritative endnotes. They will also want to bring the book along on their trips to the battlefield.

Perfect for the easy chair or for stomping the hallowed ground of Gettysburg, The Maps of Gettysburg promises to be a seminal work that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious and casual student of the battle.

BIO: Bradley M. Gottfried holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from Miami University. He has worked in higher education for more than three decades as a faculty member and administrator. He is currently President of the College of Southern Maryland. An avid Civil War historian, Dr. Gottfried is the author of five books: The Battle of Gettysburg: A Guided Tour (1998); Stopping Pickett: The History of the Philadelphia Brigade (1999); Brigades of Gettysburg (2002); Roads to Gettysburg (2002); and Kearny's Own: The History of the First New Jersey Brigade (2005). He is currently working with Theodore P. Savas on a Gettysburg Campaign Encyclopedia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40285 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

An Atlas Of A Battle
I can't begin to tell you how many descriptions of Civil War troop movements I've been frustrated by: this brigade moved here or that regiment moved there. I am a visual person, I learn best when I can visualize things... therefore I, by my nature, am a map person. Most books on Civil War battles contain only enough maps to cover the most basic aspects of troop movements in a particular battle. There are never enough maps for me.

Bradley Gottfried understands me and others like me and has authored nothing less than an atlas of the Gettysburg campaign. Like an oasis in the middle of the desert, The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas Of The Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 - July 13, 1863, has quenched my thirst for maps.

Mr. Gottfried's book contains 29 maps map sets, each containing between 2 & 21 maps, covering the advance to Gettysburg, the battle and the Confederate retreat. In all the 136 maps give nearly an hour by hour account of the three day battle that changed the course of American History. At last I am able to see and understand the fighting back and forth across the unfinished railroad cut on July 1st, the bloody, awful fighting in the Wheatfield and Peach Orchard on the 2nd and the breathtaking and awe inspiring lines of the Picket-Pettigrew-Trimble charge as they moved across the Emmitsburg Road on July 3rd.

Each map is accompanied on its left facing page by a descriptive text detailing the specificities of troop movements at the corps, division, brigade, regimental and some times even down to the company level.

My one and only criticism of Mr. Gottfried's book is there is almost no reference to time. A date/time stamp on each map would have been helpful, when moving from one map set to another in identifying events that were taking place on different areas the battlefield at approximately the same time. That is but a small flaw in an otherwise nearly perfect book.

The Maps of Gettysburg is without a doubt, an indispensable work on the Gettysburg Campaign. No library, Civil War historian or student of the war should be without a copy.

Could have been better
Althouth I loved the blow-by-blow, minute by minute (well, at least hour by hour) focus of the maps (the reason why I bought the book), I thought the maps could have been more interesting & appealing if they were in color (I would have paid the extra cost for the book!) and if they included the date & time range in the title or legend (without them you had to constantly refer to the text - maps should stand on their own). Also thought that there was very little devoted to the Union's retreat (re-deployment) through the town of Gettysburg, but I'll leave that to the experts on the battle.

At last, enough maps
If you have ever read a book detailing a battle such as Gettysburg, you may have found yourself wanting more maps than such books typically provide. This book is a great compliment to works like Pfanz's books on the first and second day. The major phases of the battle, to include the approach of the armies, and the retreat of the CS forces, are depicted. The battle segments show the postions and movements of the forces down to the regimental level, with accompanying text on the left, and the maps on the right. There are as many maps for each part of the battle as it takes to depict them.

There are a few typos in the text (a formation is said to have faced in one direction when the accompanying map shows them facing in another), and the symbols depicting the different types of fencing are shown in different scales on the symbol key vs. the map itself. Reading the symbol key requires a magnifying glass. Something to correct in the next edition.

These small things aside, this is a very handy work to have. If you ever visit the battlefield, I would take this along.