Killer Angels

By

Michael Shaara

This book about the battle of Gettysburg began, in the forward, with a brief introduction of the major characters, from well-known ones like Robert E. Lee and George Pickett, to less well known but key figures such as Winfield Hancock, James Longstreet and Lewis Armistead.  The introduction is a helpful reference for the reader when these names surface in the narrative.

The accounts of the three-day battle are meticulously searched, including the private thoughts of some of the participants and the conversations among them.  They are in such detail that the reader cannot help wondering how the author obtained them. 

To this reader, the first half of the book is somewhat boring.  One unique feature is that the author used the names as chapter titles.  Lee is the title of four chapters, Longstreet six, and Chamberlain also six.  Interestingly, the name George Pickett, probably the best-known figure in the battle of Gettysburg, is not among the names in the chapter titles.

The last three chapters, starting with Armistead, are the best parts of the book.  I wonder how many readers, before reading the book, are aware that Longstreet, Robert Lee’s second in command, tried unsuccessfully to persuade Lee not to order the attack because it would not succeed, only sending countless soldiers to die in vain.  While it was to Lee’s credit to admit that it was all his fault after the attack failed miserably, it could not help those young folks, who died bravely and honorably.   Then there is the particularly moving narrative of what went through Armistead’s mind when he realized that death was imminent.

It is interesting to learn that the highly intelligent Johnston Pettigrew, who authored a book, went to battle side by side with George Pickett, who was last in his class.  It was really sad to learn that Lewis Armistead and Winfield Hancock were longtime friends but found themselves on the opposite sides of the battle.  Armistead was dying when he learned that Hancock had died from a hit.   He asked that his personal Bible be sent to Mira, Hancock’s wife, telling her how sorry he was.

The author ends the book with the section “Afterward”, in which what happened to some of the key characters, both those who died and those who survived, were briefly summarized, including Lee and Pickett.  An interesting and informative way to end the book. 

Killer Angels has been called “The best Civil War novel ever written…”  One cannot help thinking of “All Quiet on the Western Front”, which is regarded as the best war novel ever written.  It is recommended that both books be read, one after the other, to experience the similarities and differences of the two authors’ accounts of history’s major wars.

Four stars out of five.