Twilight at Little Round Top: July 2, 1863The Tide Turns ... (ISBN 0471462314)

Little Round Top:
The Battle of Little Round Top and the courage of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine have exercised a hold on many Americans understanding of the battle of Gettysburg. Chamberlain's role became viewed as larger-than-life following Michael Scharra's novel, "The Killer Angels" and its subsequent television and movie adaptations. A degree of reaction has set in, as some historians question the significance of Little Round Top to the outcome of Gettysburg and the legendary status accorded to Chamberlain. Glenn Lafantasie's "Twilight at Little Round Top" presents an account of this celebrated battle that manages to be both heroic and gripping as well as sober and balanced. LaFantasie is a former historian at the State Department who has written extensively on the Civil War. He has read and thought about the extensive literature on Little Round Top to produce a reflective study. The most notable aspect of LaFantasie's study is the variety of perspectives he conveys. At times, LaFantasie speaks in the voice of various soldiers who participated in the battle, both Union and Confederate. We learn about historically obscure infantrymen and their motivations, their lives before the War and thereafter. We also see a great deal of the officers who became famous on Little Round Top. LaFantasie gives the reader a great deal of Chamberlain, but he shows the reader the many other heroes as well. Before the recent focus on Chamberlain, Briagadier General Gouverneur Warren was regarded as the "Savior of Little Round Top", and LaFantasie gives him a great deal of sympathetic attention. Strong Vincent, Paddy O'Rourke, and Stephen Weed, all of whom repulsed assaults on Little Round Top at least as forceful as the assaults Chamberlain faced, are given the attention they deserve. Unlike Chamberlain, these heroes died on Little Round Top. LaFantasie also gives the reader a thorough, human portrait of Chamberlain's assailant, Colonel William Oates who led his Alabama troops in assaults against the far left of the Union line. LaFantasie also includes a great deal of broad meditiation on the meaning of the battle. He has long sections discussing the nature of freedom and liberty, as they were understood by North and South. He also has a long chapter on suffering and on human death, resulting from the struggle over the small hill. LaFantasie argues that Americans we compelled to change their understanding of death when faced with the carnage of the Civil War. LaFantasie also emphasizes the heroism of the soldiers in the fight for Little Round Top and finds that their actions outweigh those of their famous commanders. He concludes that the soldiers on both sides, who charged and defended the hill with valor and with virtually superhuman endurance, were the true heroes of the battle. LaFantasie does not overemphasize the role of Little Round Top and the eventual outcome at the battle of Gettysburg, but neither does he minimize it, as do some recent writers. He shows an excellent grasp of the battle as a whole by placing events at Little Round Top in the context of the events of the first day and in the context of the Confederate leadership's patchwork, changing, and uncoordianted plans for July 2. He points out that the second day of the battle, rather than the third with Pickett's charge, was the true high water mark of the Confederacy. He points out how the Union's ability to hold Little Round Top restricted Lee's options for the third day of the battle -- it foreclosed his desired attack on the Union left and led him to what proved to be his disastrous assault on the Union center followed by the retreat from Gettysburg. Readers with an interest and some background in the battle of Gettysburg will enjoy LaFantasie's study of Little Round Top.

When the author sticks to the battlefield narrative, this is a 5 star book...:
This is one of the best and most well written accounts on the battle of Little Round Top to date, that is, when the author's narrative sticks to the events of the battlefield and the personal accounts of soldier's battlefield experiences, instead of interjecting what seems to be his own feelings regarding the issues surrounding what brought about the Civil War. He beats to death the slavery angle like a dead horse, over and over again. That's why I have to give it 3 stars for some of the chapters and 5 stars for others. The author has a habit of continually overemphasizing the evilness of slavery and how bad and contradictory the Confederate soldier was to the point where at times I felt like screaming "ENOUGH ALREADY!" How annoying it was...and I was born and raised in the North! In Pennsylvania! While it's important to note that slavery did become one of the issues, there are other works done on Southern history that contribute more to the whole story such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to the South by Clint Johnson, Charles Adam's "In the Course of Human Events" or any of James Ronald Kennedy's works. To the unlearned Civil War reader some of the author's misleading statements and personal opinions can be taken for fact. Old Honest Abe wasn't all that honest and Robert E. Lee wasn't the Antichrist...Do your research people! What's refreshing about this book is that it doesn't overemphasize the 20th Maine & Joshua Chamberlain, thankfully. Enough of them already too! We learn there were others who also contributed greatly, some with their lives,to this great Union victory in July of 1863. Overall, this is well researched and well written account of the battle of Little Round Top.

The Soldier's View with Reflections on the War and the Battle:
LaFantasie writes a compact book that concentrates on the attack and defense of Little Round top providing a soldier's view of the most engaging fight at Gettysburg through their letters and post war comments. Of course, he includes reflections by the notable officers involved particularly Colonel Oates of the 15th Alabama and Chamberlain of the 20th Maine. Thus, the personal histories offer a realistic feel for this deadly battle that ensued on the most dramatic landscape at Gettysburg. You have to agree with the author that virtually everyone that went into this battle was without a doubt a brave man. An example of the realism is the comments of a member of the 15th Alabama who advances to attack the forces on Little Round Top but becomes pinned down behind a large boulder due to the union fusillade of bullets. His options are severely limited; he can only move forward with his seven colleagues when the fire slackens or they must find an opportunity to get away. There are countless reference of charges of Little Round Top by the confederates but due to the noise of battle and limited line of sight, it seems that there is no definitive clear count of attacks on Little Round Top. After the initial push, additional attacks seem to be made by companies and platoons. On the union side, dramatic decisions are made to defend Little Round Top, pushing cannon up by hand more to make psychological noise due to the inability to depress barrels low enough to strike the attacking enemy while Vincent's line keeps a horrific, effective and continuous fire that has great effect. There is a fairly detailed description of the well-known confrontation between the 15th Alabama and the 20th Maine as Chamberlain refuses his left to stem a desperate flanking attack by the 15th. Through these personal perspectives, you see that many confederates were frustrated with their leadership in making an exhaustive attack across broken ground while a junior officer later questions the depth of Chamberlain's role that although heroic may have stepped beyond allowable embellishment. The latter part of the book consists of the participants view of the third day from their perspective but primarily offers social commentary on the significance of the battle and in particular the depth of loss on both sides. The loss of Oates' brother is particularly poignant as he, like General Garnett in Pickett's (Longstreet's) Charge, was truly too ill to participate in the attack but loses his life making the attempt. Pfanz's "Gettysburg: The Second Day" provides more overall detail as part of his great trilogy but LaFantasie provides a perspective of the battle from the soldier's view and after reading again about this unique and boulder filled rough ground, I plan to return to Gettysburg once again to walk through Devil's Den and stand next to Warren' s statue on Little Round Top and this time try to find where Vincent fell and the location of the refused left of the 20th Maine.

Involving and Worthwhile:
In TWILIGHT AT LITTLE ROUND TOP, Professor Glenn LaFantasie deftly takes his readers through the stages of the bloody engagement at Little Round Top, which occurred on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. I was surprised to learn that this fight, where more than a thousand soldiers died, began late in the afternoon and terminated before twilight. In his narrative, LaFantasie examines this engagement from both the Union and Confederate perspectives. But from the Union's point of view, its stages are: General Warren's discovery that the Union's left flank was unprotected and his call for reinforcements from General Meade; the decisive and skillful deployment of Colonel Vincent's brigade on Little Round Top; the timely appearance of the 140th New York, just as the 16th Michigan was weakening; and the reinforcement by Weed's brigade, as the 48th Alabama and 4th Texas probed for a lane to the top. As these events evolved, Colonel Chamberlain and the 20th Maine are on the extreme left of the Union line, fighting the courageous and resolute 15th Alabama. LaFantasie brings clarity to this maelstrom, as well as captures the heroism of the soldiers, as the momentum of battle shifts back and forth. Without question, his mastery of the material makes TaLRT an involving read. At the same time, LaFantasie attempts to capture the mindset of the soldiers, apparently using as sources various brigade histories and letters written years after the event. These must extol the heroism of the men in florid 19th century style, since bombast often flavors LaFantasie's writing when he attempts to evoke the spirit and motivations of the armies. "The compelling force of ideology, the lure of ideas as opposed to emotions, moves the men to stand on these slopes and fight side by side, offering their lives not so much to their country as to the ideas that defined the essence of their country--ideas that still sound like melodious and glorious trumpets in full splendor and that stir..." Regardless, this is an excellent book for those interested in the Civil War and is recommended.

Worth Every Page:
I can't contribute as many words as the other reviewers have, but I can tell you that after reading many books about Gettysburg and the Civil War, this book was a real treat. The author puts forth some great theories about what happened to these men on July 2 and what motivated them to make the ultimate sacrifice. Even if you have read "them all", this one will captivate you. I went back to Gettysburg last Saturday just to see Little Round Top again after reading this book. It made the trip even more worthwhile than any of my other visits. You won't be sorry.