Exciting new research lifts much of the fog surrounding the Battle of
Gettysburg and offers a glimpse into what happened on that fateful
day--July 2, 1863.
James Longstreet's countermarch and Samuel Johnston's morning
reconnaissance are two of the most enigmatic events of the Battle of
Gettysburg. Both have been viewed as major factors in the Confederacy's
loss of the battle and, in turn, the war. Yet much of it lies shrouded
in mystery.
Though the battle is one of the most well-documented events in history,
the vast majority of our knowledge comes from the words of the veterans
and civilians who experienced it. Without action photography, video, or
audio recordings, our primary window into what happened is the memory of
those who were there. The story of the Battle of Gettysburg is simply
the compilation of the memories of those who fought it. But memory is
anything but objective.
Recognizing the multitude of factors that affect human memory, In the
Shadow of the Round Tops explores how the individual soldiers
experienced, remembered, and wrote about the battle, and how those
memories have created a cloud over James Longstreet's bewildering
countermarch and Samuel Johnston's infamous reconnaissance. Each soldier
had a particular view of these historic events. Because many people saw
part of the story, but no one saw all of it, each memory is a critical
piece to the puzzle. By comparing the veterans' memories and sifting
through the factors that affected each memory, the picture of the
countermarch, reconnaissance, and the entire battle, comes into sharper
focus.
