Simple Faith: Killer Angels (Day 3)

After the intense fighting of Day Two, Longstreet's questioning of Lee's stubbornness and decision making to continue fighting on this disadvantageous ground allows the reader to share in the difficult state of mind of these two generals in making such a weighty decision. Once Lee's decision has been made, Longstreet has resigned himself to the idea that maybe it's God's Will that things happened this way (p. 318). This speaks of the great sense of faith and fate that many of these soldiers had throughout the Civil War. 1860's America was a much more simplistic time in which people's faith and belief allowed them to follow questionable military tactics more readily. Gettysburg Day Three certainly called upon this tremendous faith and belief of the participating soldiers to make that fateful charge toward Cemetery Ridge.