[Gutenberg 20762] • Chancellorsville and Gettysburg / Campaigns of the Civil War - VI

*Chancellorsville and Gettysburg* provides stern judgements of Generals Meade and Howard; astute insights into other generals such as Hooker, Reynolds, and Sickle; and penetrating, minute-by-minute analyses by a leading participant of these two pivotal battles. Although the fierce resistance by the First Corps during the bloody late afternoon of July 1 never received its due praise, Doubleday's account of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg stands as a passionate, uncompromising tribute.

Excerpt from Chancellorsville and Gettysburg

In writing this narrative, which relates to the decisive campaign which freed the Northern States from invasion, it may not be out of place to state what facilities I have had for observation in the fulfilment of so important a task. I can only say that I was, to a considerable extent, an actor in the scenes I describe, and knew the principal leaders on both sides, in consequence of my association with them at West Point, and, subsequently, in the regular army. Indeed, several of them, including Stonewall Jackson and A. P. Hill, were, prior to the war, officers in the regiment to which I belonged. As commander of the Defences of Washington in the spring of 1862, I was, owing to the nature of my duties, brought into intimate relations with the statesmen who controlled the Government at that time, and became well acquainted with President Lincoln.