I loved reading Killer Angels. I didn't realize the amount of destruction the South received. As I read the final day, I kept seeing this battle over and over in my head and kept asking myself, "What was Lee thinking?" "How did he ever expect to win?" When Lee rode into camp and proclaimed that all was his fault, I agreed, but it didn't change the fact that he didn't listen to Longstreet.
This book has also made me realize that I need to do a better job teaching about the men who led the armies and the battles they fought in. Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Chamberlain, all have lasting legacies and I need make sure that my students learn about these legacies. I am getting more and more excited for July!
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I couldn't agree more. I just finished the book myself, not 5 minutes ago, and I too kept wondering why Lee would order such an attack and how the whole thing would have been different had he listened to Longstreet in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the book a lot more than I thought I would. I am already planning on reading it again.
I wonder how anyone could have been excited to make a charge like that. I understand Garnett was trying to regain his honor, Pickett was trying to show that he and his army belonged in the fight. The march was certain death, Armistead and Longstreet understood that, how did the rest of the army not see it as a suicide mission?