From the author of Searching for George Gordon Meade, a study of how troops from Maine aided the Union Army’s victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his 20th Maine regiment made a legendary stand on Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. But Maine’s role in the battle includes much more than that. Soldiers from the Pine Tree State contributed mightily during the three days of fighting. Pious general Oliver Otis Howard secured the high ground of Cemetery Ridge for the Union on the first day. Adelbert Ames—the stern taskmaster who had transformed the 20th Maine into a fighting regiment—commanded a brigade and then a division at Gettysburg. The 17th Maine fought ably in the confused and bloody action in the Wheatfield; a sea captain turned artilleryman named Freeman McGilvery cobbled together a defensive line that proved decisive on July 2; and the 19th Maine helped stop Pickett’s Charge during the battle’s climax. Maine soldiers had fought and died for two bloody years even before they reached Gettysburg. They had fallen on battlefields in Virginia and Maryland. They had died in front of Richmond, in the Shenandoah Valley, on the bloody fields of Antietam, in the Slaughter Pen at Fredericksburg, and in the tangled Wilderness around Chancellorsville. And the survivors kept fighting, even as they followed Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania. In Maine Roads to Gettysburg, author Tom Huntington tells their stories. Praise for Searching for George Gordon Meade “An engrossing narrative that the reader can scarcely put down.” —Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson “Unique and irresistible.” —Lincoln Prize-winning historian Harold Holzer

The Army of the Potomac’s First Corps was one of the best corps in the entire Union army. In September 1862, it was chosen to spearhead the Union attack at Antietam, fighting Stonewall Jackson’s men in the Cornfield and at the Dunker Church. In July 1863 at Gettysburg, its men were the first Union infantry to reach the battle, where they relieved the cavalry and fought off the Confederate onslaught all day before retreating to Cemetery Hill. Their valiant stand west of Gettysburg saved the Union from disaster that day but came at great cost (60 percent casualties). The corps was disbanded the following spring, having bled itself out of existence. The First Corps’ leadership included two generals who would rise to command the Army of the Potomac—Joseph Hooker and George Meade—and a third who refused that command, John Reynolds, often considered the best commander in the East until his death at Gettysburg. The corps was made up heavily of men from New York and Pennsylvania (including the famous Bucktails), with a handful of New England regiments and the Midwesterners of the Iron Brigade, perhaps the Civil War’s most famous Union brigade. Corps histories remain one of the last gaps in Civil War military history. Hundreds of regimental histories have been written since war’s end, many brigades have been covered, the armies have been explored . . . but corps remain relatively overlooked—not because they are an unimportant or unappealing subject, but because mastering the subject is so difficult, requiring knowledge of many commanders’ careers, dozens of constituent units, and many battles. Few are willing to tackle the subject. Lucky for us, Darin Wipperman has taken on the task and produced a monumental history of the Army of the Potomac’s First Corps, well written and deftly told, an exciting story in itself and, like all great unit histories, one that is representative of the many other corps in the Union army.

The acclaimed Civil War artist and historian vividly evokes the Battle of Gettysburg in this collection of thirty-six paintings paired with informative text. Don Troiani is renowned for his realistic and historically accurate paintings capturing the grand struggle of America’s Civil War. In this volume, he presents thirty-six major paintings of the Gettysburg campaign. The beautifully reproduced artworks are enhanced by an introductory history of the battle by Civil War expert Tom Huntington. Each beautifully detailed and historically accurate painting is accompanied by a description of the scene and the historical figures taking part in the action.

"It will be found to contain principally an account of the monuments erected by the State of Maine on the Gettysburg Battlefield ... ; a full description of each monument, accompanied with half-tone pictures; the exercises attending their dedication; a statement of the part taken by each of the fifteen regiments, battalions, batteries, or other commands of Maine troops, illustrated with maps and diagrams; a list of participants in each command, with casualties in the same; a list of Maine generals, and staff and other officers additional to Maine organizations; a historical sketch of each command; and a brief summary of the work of the committee"--Preface.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of A. Lincoln and American Ulysses comes the dramatic and definitive biography of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the history-altering professor turned Civil War hero. “A vital and vivid portrait of an unlikely military hero who played a key role in the preservation of the Union and therefore in the making of modern America.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of And There Was Light FINALIST FOR THE GILDER LEHRMAN LINCOLN PRIZE AND THE AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST BOOK PRIZE FOR HISTORY Before 1862, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain had rarely left his home state of Maine, where he was a trained minister and mild-mannered professor at Bowdoin College. His colleagues were shocked when he volunteered for the Union army, but he was undeterred and later became known as one of the North’s greatest heroes: On the second day at Gettysburg, after running out of ammunition at Little Round Top, he ordered his men to wield their bayonets in a desperate charge down a rocky slope that routed the Confederate attackers. Despite being wounded at Petersburg—and told by two surgeons he would die—Chamberlain survived the war, going on to be elected governor of Maine four times and serve as president of Bowdoin College. How did a stuttering young boy come to be fluent in nine languages and even teach speech and rhetoric? How did a trained minister find his way to the battlefield? Award-winning historian Ronald C. White delves into these contradictions in this cradle-to-grave biography of General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, from his upbringing in rural Maine to his tenacious, empathetic military leadership and his influential postwar public service, exploring a question that still plagues so many veterans: How do you make a civilian life of meaning after having experienced the extreme highs and lows of war? Chamberlain is familiar to millions from Michael Shaara’s now-classic novel of the Civil War, The Killer Angels, and Ken Burns’s timeless miniseries The Civil War, but in this book, White captures the complex and inspiring man behind the hero. Heavily illustrated and featuring nine detailed maps, this gripping, impeccably researched portrait illuminates one of the most admired but least known figures in our nation’s bloodiest conflict.

The many works on the Battle of Gettysburg have neglected the role of the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, known for their extensive training and specialized tactics. This history is the first to explore the actions on July 2, 1863, of this Union Army regiment largely composed of men from Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Drawing on newly discovered primary sources, this book seeks to clarify mysteries such as the identity of the non-commissioned officer who met with Company B of the 20th Maine and the location of Major Homer R. Stoughton during the battle. Following the understrength regiment as it confronts two Confederate brigades, this thorough historical narrative presents a long untold story of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Using a wealth of first-hand accounts, author Bradley M. Gottfried pieces together each brigade’s experience at Gettysburg. Whether stories of forced marches, weary troops, or the bitter and tragic end of the battle, you’ll experience every angle of this epic battle. Learn what happened when the guns stopped firing and the men were left with only boredom and dread of what was to come. This collection is a lively and fascinating narrative that empowers the everyday men who fought furiously and died honorably. Every detail of the Battle of Gettysburg is included in this comprehensive chronicle.

One hundred and fifty years ago, the United States was saved at the Battle of Gettysburg. At most of the decisive points of the battle, it was soldiers from Maine that stopped the Rebel army in its tracks. While Joshua Chamberlain and his 20th Maine Regiment are perhaps the most well known, in fact eleven infantry and cavalry regiments, plus three artillery batteries and a company of sharpshooters--comprising some 3,700 volunteers--represented the state of Maine in the battle. Historian Jerry Desmond details, location by location around the battlefield, the heroic actions of the volunteer regiments from Maine.

For good reason, the second and third days of the Battle of Gettysburg have received the lion's share of attention from historians. With this book, however, the critical first day's fighting finally receives its due. After sketching the background of the Gettysburg campaign and recounting the events immediately preceding the battle, Harry Pfanz offers a detailed tactical description of events of the first day. He describes the engagements in McPherson Woods, at the Railroad Cuts, on Oak Ridge, on Seminary Ridge, and at Blocher's Knoll, as well as the retreat of Union forces through Gettysburg and the Federal rally on Cemetery Hill. Throughout, he draws on deep research in published and archival sources to challenge many long-held assumptions about the battle.

The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers infantry regiment was formed in 1861--its ranks filled by nearly 1,200 Irish and German immigrants from Schuylkill County responding to Lincoln's call for troops. The men saw action for three years with the Army of the Potomac's VI Corps, participating in engagements at Gaines' Mill, Crampton's Gap, Salem Church and Spotsylvania. Drawing on letters, diaries, memoirs and other accounts, this comprehensive history documents their combat service from the point of view of the rank-and-file soldier, along with their views on the war, slavery, emancipation and politics.