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The book The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is about the Battle of Gettysburg. The story’s setting is in the town and surrounding area of Gettysburg from June 30 to July third during the civil war. Shaara writes from the perspectives of several important people during the battle. Lee, Buford, Longstreet, and Chamberlain are just a few of the people from whom Shaara gives a first person narrative. The book picks up just as the Army of Northern Virginia is going into the North. The idea was to draw the Union out into the open. Robert E. Lee was the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and after a string of victories he is ready to go into Union territory and take the war to Union soil. It was the third summer of the civil war. John Buford (a Union cavalry commander) was looking for high ground near the town of Gettysburg. Union colonel Joshua Chamberlain was head of the 20th Maine and is now given the task of watching 120 men of the 2nd Marine and is to shoot anybody that didn’t follow his orders. Chamberlain gave a stirring speech so that all but six men of the 2nd Marine decide to join his company. Confederate General James Longstreet heard about the Union cavalry and decided to attack it the next day. Longstreet was second in command of the Army of Northern Virginia that was to the west of Gettysburg. The next morning Longstreet and Lee meet to discuss tactics. General Stuart’s cavalry hadn’t reported back leaving Lee ‘blind.’ Longstreet proposed the Confederates should move around Gettysburg and cut the Union army off from Washington, which would force them to attack. Lee quickly dismissed this idea of defensive tactics. Buford meanwhile was directing his troops to stop the Confederate Army. The Confederates were only expecting a small militia, but they encountered Buford’s cavalry and were quickly repulsed. Soon after being repulsed the Confederates came back in huge waves. Just at the right time, General Reynolds’ men arrive to relieve Buford’s cavalry. Sadly as soon as Reynolds arrives he is shot and killed but Reynolds’ men continue to fight the Confederate army without an actual commander.
Approximate Word count = 1428
Approximate Pages = 5.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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