Gettysburg Heroes: Perfect Soldiers, Hallowed Ground

Perfect Heroes

I found this book after reading a satirical novel about the foibles of the contemporary United States. The author had little good to say. I also wanted to remind myself of one of the seminal moments of American history in the face of our current turmoil. People often find the books they need. I was fortunate in my choice of "Gettysburg Heroes: Perfect Soldiers, Hallowed Ground (2008), a collection of related essays by Glenn LaFantasie. Professor of History at Western Kentucky University, LaFantasie has written extensively and well about the Civil War, with a focus on the storied action at Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. His study of Little Round Top, "Twilight at Little Round Top: July 2, 1863--The Tide Turns at Gettysburg" and his unusual biography of William Oates, who lead the futile attack against Chamberlain and the 20th Maine at the far left of Little Round Top, "Gettysburg Requiem: The Life and Lost Causes of Confederate Colonel William C. Oates" are valuable reading for those interested in Gettysburg.

Although it includes a great deal of historical and biographical information, "Gettysburg Heroes" is more a personal reflection about the Civil War and the writing of biography and history and a meditation about the meaning of the Battle of Gettysburg. The book doubles back upon itself. LaFantasie tells the reader that the term "perfect" soldiers is used ironically. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Americans tended to inflate its participants to the status of Homeric heroes, larger than life. LaFantasie wants to show how the story of their exploits grew over time with the telling, how some events were exaggerated or misremembered, and how in their petty ambitions and mistakes, the "perfect" Gettysburg heroes were very human indeed. The tendency to inflate Gettysburg and the bravery of its participants tends as well to downplay the appalling human suffering, the rampant death, pain, and destruction of the battle. All this is true. Yet, as I read LaFantasie's book, my sense was still that Gettysburg was an extraordinary moment and its participants, for all their humanity and flaws, "perfect", as Walt Whitman might have used the term. LaFantasie has struggled with the significance of Gettysburg. He treats the battle and its participants with reverence as he tries to explain the iconic character the battle has assumed.

In the series of fourteen essays, LaFantasie focuses on the lives of several participants at Gettysburg, including Confederate General James Longstreet (the shortest and weakest section of the book), Frank Haskell, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, President Abraham Lincoln, and, at a distance, LaFantasie himself. Frank Haskell was an aide to Union General John Gibbon. He was in the middle of the action during Pickett's charge at the Union center on July 3, 1863, and was subsequently killed at Cold Harbor. In the form of a letter to his brother, Haskell wrote a moving account of Pickett's charge and his role in it which remains a key account of the battle even though today it is mostly read only by specialists, "The Battle of Gettysburg: A Soldier's First-Hand Account". LaFantasie explains how Haskell's account inflated his own role (important though it was) in the repulse of Pickett's charge. Yet the overall impression is of a heroic individual who described in revealing prose an extraordinary event.

Chamberlain and Oates were opponents in the fight for the extreme left of Little Round Top on July 2, 1863. The importance given to Chamberlain's role in the battle has changed over the years, but it was immortalized in Scharra's novel, "The Killer Angels". In a series of essays, LaFantasie examines Chamberlain's long life before, during, and after Little Round Top. As do many other students, LaFantasie finds that Chamberlain tended towards self-promotion and towards exaggerating his very real accomplishments in defending Little Round Top. Chamberlain still deserves his stature as a hero in this account. The essay, "Joshua Lawerence Chamberlain and the American Dream" will encourage reflection of Chamberlain's ideals and his significance.

Oates, the commander of the 15th Alabama, lived a long and difficult life, pulling himself from poverty and adversity to become a successful attorney and, after the Civil War, a Congressman and the Governor of Alabama. LaFantasie describes how Oates's experience at Little Round Top remained the focus of his long life, including a dispute with Chamberlain about the action on Little Round Top 40 years after the battle. LaFantasie has shown why, with all his faults, Oates too deserves to be remembered.

In a short series of essays, LaFantasie discusses Lincoln's relationship with General Meade, commander of the Union Army at Gettysburg, and his Gettysburg Address. The Address, LaFantasie argues, hallowed Gettysburg and changed the way Americans say the meaning of the Battle and of the United States. LaFantasie's discussion will encourage reflection on the ideals, if not always the accomplishments, of the United States towards freedom, democracy and equality. In essays describing his personal experiences and visits to Gettysburg, LaFantasie expands movingly upon his reflections about the battlefield and its heroes and of how they have come to form part of his own life and understanding of himself.

This book takes seriously the United States, the Battle of Gettysburg, and its participants. It is a reflection on the continues meaning of the Battle and its "perfect" heroes as our country continues to struggle to define itself. It helped me understand the United States better as something of an antidote to the irreverent, satirical novel which disturbed me.

Robin Friedman