Synopses & Reviews
This is a fresh and fascinating new look at one of the most pivotal moments in American history: the Battle of Gettysburg, when Union forces repelled the brilliant Robert E. Lee, who had already thrashed a long line of Federal opponents—just as he was poised at the back door of the nation’s capital.
Conventional wisdom holds that Lee made one profoundly wrong decision on the last day of the battle—launching “Pickett’s Charge” uphill across an open field against the heart of the Union defense. But why would he have employed only a fifth of his forces at such a crucial moment?
Now, Tom Carhart offers a bold thesis—that Lee’s heretofore unknown strategy at Gettysburg was to combine Pickett’s frontal attack with a daring rear assault by the great Jeb Stuart to break the Union Army in half. Only in the battle’s final hours was Stuart stopped by a force half the size of his own, led by a young, unproven general—George Armstrong Custer—who helped turn the tide of the war.
Destined to be controversial, Lost Triumph is a provocative reassessment of this monumental battle and a vivid, indispensable contribution to Civil War literature.
Synopsis
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of America's pivotal moments. Union forces repelled the brilliant, seemingly unbeatable Robert E. Lee-just as he was poised to capture the nation's capital. History has held that Lee made one disastrous decision on the battle's last day-launching "Pickett's Charge" uphill across an open field against the heart of the Union defense. But why would he have employed only a fifth of his forces at such a crucial moment?
Tom Carhart offers a bold thesis-that Lee's real strategy was to combine Pickett's frontal attack with a daring rear assault to break the Union Army in half. But this second attack was stopped by a force half its size, led by the young, unproven General Custer, who helped turn the tide of the war. Destined to be controversial, this is a provocative, indispensable reassessment of a monumental battle.
About the Author
Tom Carhart has been a lawyer and a historian for the Department of the Army in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of West Point, a decorated Vietnam veteran, and has earned a Ph.D. in American and military history from Princeton University. He is the author of four books of military history and teaches at Mary Washington College near his home in the Washington, D.C. area.
Table of Contents
List of Maps
Foreword
Introduction
1. In Mexico
2. Building Up to the Civil War
3. West Point and West Pointers
4. Classic Battles of History
5. Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry in the Last Napoleonic War
6. The Fighting Begins
7. Early Confederate Victories
8. Chancellorsville
9. Lee Moves North
10. The Gettysburg Fight Begins
11. Gettysburg, Day Two
12. Plans for Day Three
13. The Final Plan
14. The Implementation
15. Stuart Meets Custer
16. Aftermath
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index