Tagg, Larry. The
Generals of Gettysburg: The Leaders of America's Greatest Battle. Campbell,
Calif.: Savas Pub. Co., 1998.
Larry
Tagg introduces his book with a quote from Heraclitus: “character is destiny.”
This epigram of the Greek philosopher informs the author’s approach, which
provides well-written biographies of the leaders at Gettysburg, concentrating
on their character attributes, backgrounds, personalities, and battlefield
performance. In this he succeeds admirably. The book is organized according to
the orders of battle of the armies (Federal first), proceeding through the
various corps in numerical order, with commanders of divisions and brigades
discussed under corps’ heads. Where colonels commanded brigades, they are
included. Officers who succeeded to the command of formations during the battle –- for example
Fry for Archer -- are not discussed.
Tagg
provides strength data for the various units and formations that is drawn from
the authoritative work of Busey and Martin (1982 ed.). I’ll probably discuss
this book in a future post. Each entry is supplemented by appropriate
bibliographical references. There are also nine maps by John Heiser. The one
thing the book lacks is an index, so even those familiar with the orders of
battle may find themselves thumbing back-and-forth to find a particular entry.
All
in all, I think this is a book that belongs on your Civil
War bookshelf, more particularly if you’re a Gettysburg junkie.
