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Twilight at Little Round Top: July 2, 1863--The Tide Turns at Gettysburg
THE BATTLE OF LITTLE ROUND TOP AS IT HAS NEVER BEFORE SEEN-THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT THERE
""Here is the real story of the epic fight for Little Round Top, shorn of the mythology long obscuring this pivotal Gettysburg moment. A vivid and eloquent book."" --Stephen W. Sears, author of Gettysburg
""Little Round Top has become iconic in Civil War literature and American memory. In the emotional recollection of our great war, if there was one speck on the landscape that decided a battle and the future of a nation, then surely this was it. The story of the July 2, 1863 struggle for that hill outside Gettysburg goes deeper into our consciousness than that, however. The men who fought for it then and there believed it to be decisive, and that is why they died for it. Glenn W. LaFantasie's Twilight at Little Round Top addresses that epic struggle, how those warriors felt then and later, and their physical and emotional attachment to a piece of ground that linked them forever with their nation's fate. This is military and social history at its finest."" --W.C. Davis, author of Lincoln's Men and An Honorable Defeat
""Few military episodes of the Civil War have attracted as much attention as the struggle for Little Round Top on the second day of Gettysburg. This judicious and engaging book navigates confidently through a welter of contradictory testimony to present a splendid account of the action. It also places events on Little Round Top, which often are exaggerated, within the broader sweep of the battle. All readers interested in the battle of Gettysburg will read this book with enjoyment and profit."" --Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War
""In his beautifully written narrative, Glenn LaFantasie tells the story of the battle for Little Round Top from the perspective of the soldiers who fought and died in July 1863. Using well-chosen quotes from a wide variety of battle participants, TWILIGHT puts the reader in the midst of the fight--firing from behind boulders with members of the 4th Alabama, running up the hillside into battle with the men of the 140th New York, and watching in horror as far too many men die. This book offers an elegy to the courage of those men, a meditation on the meaning of war, and a cautionary tale about the sacrifices nations ask of their soldiers and the causes for which those sacrifices are needed."" --Amy Kinsel, Winnrer of the 1993 Allan Nevins Prize for From These Honored Dead: Gettysburg in American Culture
""Here is the real story of the epic fight for Little Round Top, shorn of the mythology long obscuring this pivotal Gettysburg moment. A vivid and eloquent book."" --Stephen W. Sears, author of Gettysburg
""Little Round Top has become iconic in Civil War literature and American memory. In the emotional recollection of our great war, if there was one speck on the landscape that decided a battle and the future of a nation, then surely this was it. The story of the July 2, 1863 struggle for that hill outside Gettysburg goes deeper into our consciousness than that, however. The men who fought for it then and there believed it to be decisive, and that is why they died for it. Glenn W. LaFantasie's Twilight at Little Round Top addresses that epic struggle, how those warriors felt then and later, and their physical and emotional attachment to a piece of ground that linked them forever with their nation's fate. This is military and social history at its finest."" --W.C. Davis, author of Lincoln's Men and An Honorable Defeat
""Few military episodes of the Civil War have attracted as much attention as the struggle for Little Round Top on the second day of Gettysburg. This judicious and engaging book navigates confidently through a welter of contradictory testimony to present a splendid account of the action. It also places events on Little Round Top, which often are exaggerated, within the broader sweep of the battle. All readers interested in the battle of Gettysburg will read this book with enjoyment and profit."" --Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War
""In his beautifully written narrative, Glenn LaFantasie tells the story of the battle for Little Round Top from the perspective of the soldiers who fought and died in July 1863. Using well-chosen quotes from a wide variety of battle participants, TWILIGHT puts the reader in the midst of the fight--firing from behind boulders with members of the 4th Alabama, running up the hillside into battle with the men of the 140th New York, and watching in horror as far too many men die. This book offers an elegy to the courage of those men, a meditation on the meaning of war, and a cautionary tale about the sacrifices nations ask of their soldiers and the causes for which those sacrifices are needed."" --Amy Kinsel, Winnrer of the 1993 Allan Nevins Prize for From These Honored Dead: Gettysburg in American Culture
336 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2005
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July 2, 2025
Two great armies fought at Gettysburg over three long days; and when the smoke had cleared there, the United States Army’s victory over its rebel adversaries marked a critical turning point toward ultimate victory for the Union cause. One of the most crucial engagements in that larger battle took place on a small, rocky hill that residents of that region of Pennsylvania were accustomed to refer to as Little Round Top. And Glenn W. LaFantasie explores the factors that made the successful U.S. defense of Little Round Top a crucial part of the larger Union victory, in his 2005 book Twilight at Little Round Top.
LaFantasie, a professor of history at Western Kentucky University, captures well the drama and horror of that one key moment from the Battle of Gettysburg, letting the reader follow along as The Tide Turns at Gettysburg (the book’s subtitle). LaFantasie makes clear the reasons why the U.S. defense of Little Round Top on the second day at Gettysburg - a location that marked the left flank of the entire Union position - was key to Union victory in the battle.
In considering the major tactical decisions of both Union and Confederate officers at Gettysburg generally, and at Little Round Top particularly, LaFantasie inevitably engages some of the enduring controversies in which both eminent scholars and more casual Civil War enthusiasts have engaged over the years. When, for instance, he considers the disagreements that occurred at Gettysburg between Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee (who held overall command of the rebel army at Gettysburg) and James Longstreet, LaFantasie must consider that for decades, it was customary in the South to hold Lee blameless for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, and to ascribe Longstreet’s sometimes slow execution of Lee’s orders to either incompetence or insubordination – all part of the postwar “Lee cult” that “sought to silence any criticism of Lee” (p. 249). More modern scholarship has generally been more sympathetic to Longstreet, the general who was once referred to as “Lee’s tarnished lieutenant.”
LaFantasie’s conclusion, in looking at Lee’s orders that Longstreet attempt to take the Union position at Little Round Top, is scrupulously fair to both officers: “Experience and instinct told Longstreet that this battle could not be won; the same sensibilities convinced Lee otherwise. As a result, Longstreet found himself caught in an officer’s worst dilemma – the necessity of carrying out orders in which one has no faith” (pp. 49-50).
Readers of Michael Shaara’s much-loved Gettysburg novel The Killer Angels (1974), and viewers of Ken Burns’s documentary film The Civil War (1990) or Ronald Maxwell’s 1993 feature film Gettysburg (an adaptation of Shaara’s novel), may be used to seeing a great deal of attention paid to Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the commander of the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment that played a crucial role in the Union’s successful defense of Little Round Top. LaFantasie, by contrast, places more emphasis on the role played by Strong Vincent, a Pennsylvania-born general who commanded the 3rd Brigade of the Union Army’s V Corps.
In contrast to Chamberlain (who is depicted rather critically – LaFantasie focuses in some detail on Chamberlain’s reputation, among his fellow officers, for egotism and vainglory), Vincent emerges as a sympathetic and compelling figure. The reader learns that “With a strong voice and a quick mind, [Vincent] commanded attention” – and that, though he was just 27 years old and had assumed brigade command just six weeks before Gettysburg, “Vincent was admired by the men of the 83rd Pennsylvania and respected as both a tough disciplinarian and a hard fighter” (pp. 106-07). And there is an element of pathos in the way LaFantasie points out how “this battle at Gettysburg worried [Vincent] like no other battle had before, and [fellow Union officer] Oliver Norton sensed that Vincent may have had a premonition of his own demise” (pp. 107-08).
Vincent’s feelings of foreboding were warranted; Gettysburg was indeed his last battle. LaFantasie captures well the drama of a crucial moment when some irresolution within the 16th Michigan Infantry at Little Round Top created a moment of crisis that Vincent sought to address:
The faltering of the 16th Michigan immediately created a crisis on Vincent’s right, for it appeared that his entire flank was about to cave in. Vincent saw the trouble, jumped from his high perch on a rock behind the 83rd Pennsylvania, and ran to do whatever he could to buttress his right. Using the riding crop his wife had given him as a whip, Vincent tried to drive the men from the 16th Michigan’s right wing back into line, but as he did so he was struck by a minié ball, which had passed through his left groin and lodged in his left thigh. “This is the fourth or fifth time they have shot at me,” he said to the men who had gathered around him and were hustling to carry him toward the rear, “and they have hit me at last.” (p. 150)
Yet when all seemed lost at Little Round Top, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge by his 20th Maine Regiment – an unorthodox and “old-school,” but inspired, tactical innovation to which LaFantasie gives due recognition – and that crucial piece of high ground on the extreme left of the Union line was held.
Strong Vincent is once again a subject of focus when LaFantasie describes the dying Union officer’s last days. Pale with loss of blood, Vincent nonetheless expressed great pleasure at hearing that the Union line still held. And in Vincent’s dying moments, LaFantasie seems to convey the depth of all the grief and mourning generated by the loss of life in battles like Gettysburg:
Vincent lingered on for several days….He asked for his wife to be sent word of his condition, with a request for her to come to Gettysburg. A message was sent, but it did not reach Vincent’s wife in time. He suffered severe pain, but he tried not to show it. “I presume,” said Vincent, “that I have done my last fighting.” He grew so weak that he could no longer speak. On July 7, a telegram from President Lincoln, commissioning Vincent a brigadier general, was read to him, but he could not acknowledge that the president had promoted him for bravery in the line of duty. Vincent died later that day. His body was transported to Erie for burial. (p. 207)
In a thoughtful epilogue, LaFantasie looks past the Gettysburg battle to the immortal address that President Lincoln gave at the dedication of the National Cemetery there in November of 1863. With the high human cost of Gettysburg fixed in the reader’s mind, there is additional force in LaFantasie’s suggestion that “Lincoln’s address was part eulogy, part elegy. Having come to dedicate the cemetery in the name of the American people, the president’s mind was very much on the dead who were to be buried in this place” (p. 251).
While acknowledging the uplifting manner in which the address vindicates and celebrates American democracy, LaFantasie makes sure that the reader does not forget that “the ringing words Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg also helped the nation confront the horror of battle, the terrible price of war, face to face….Lincoln’s speech was a national message of comfort and condolence to a country that had been bled almost white, a people who had lost their most precious young men, a society that had suffered hardships and sorrows that seemed to have no end” (p. 253).
Near the end of the film Gettysburg, Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels) asks a fellow officer, “Has it got a name, this hill?” The officer replies, “This is Little Round Top. That’s the name of the hill you defended.” “Is that so?” Chamberlain muses. “I guess I’ll remember that.” And Little Round Top remains a name that everyone should remember. Read Twilight at Little Round Top before your next visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park; and when you get to Stop #8 on the battlefield driving tour, you may well find that you are looking at Little Round Top with new insights. By focusing on one crucial part of the Gettysburg story, LaFantasie’s book reveals many larger truths about the larger Battle of Gettysburg, and about the American Civil War generally.
LaFantasie, a professor of history at Western Kentucky University, captures well the drama and horror of that one key moment from the Battle of Gettysburg, letting the reader follow along as The Tide Turns at Gettysburg (the book’s subtitle). LaFantasie makes clear the reasons why the U.S. defense of Little Round Top on the second day at Gettysburg - a location that marked the left flank of the entire Union position - was key to Union victory in the battle.
In considering the major tactical decisions of both Union and Confederate officers at Gettysburg generally, and at Little Round Top particularly, LaFantasie inevitably engages some of the enduring controversies in which both eminent scholars and more casual Civil War enthusiasts have engaged over the years. When, for instance, he considers the disagreements that occurred at Gettysburg between Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee (who held overall command of the rebel army at Gettysburg) and James Longstreet, LaFantasie must consider that for decades, it was customary in the South to hold Lee blameless for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, and to ascribe Longstreet’s sometimes slow execution of Lee’s orders to either incompetence or insubordination – all part of the postwar “Lee cult” that “sought to silence any criticism of Lee” (p. 249). More modern scholarship has generally been more sympathetic to Longstreet, the general who was once referred to as “Lee’s tarnished lieutenant.”
LaFantasie’s conclusion, in looking at Lee’s orders that Longstreet attempt to take the Union position at Little Round Top, is scrupulously fair to both officers: “Experience and instinct told Longstreet that this battle could not be won; the same sensibilities convinced Lee otherwise. As a result, Longstreet found himself caught in an officer’s worst dilemma – the necessity of carrying out orders in which one has no faith” (pp. 49-50).
Readers of Michael Shaara’s much-loved Gettysburg novel The Killer Angels (1974), and viewers of Ken Burns’s documentary film The Civil War (1990) or Ronald Maxwell’s 1993 feature film Gettysburg (an adaptation of Shaara’s novel), may be used to seeing a great deal of attention paid to Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the commander of the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment that played a crucial role in the Union’s successful defense of Little Round Top. LaFantasie, by contrast, places more emphasis on the role played by Strong Vincent, a Pennsylvania-born general who commanded the 3rd Brigade of the Union Army’s V Corps.
In contrast to Chamberlain (who is depicted rather critically – LaFantasie focuses in some detail on Chamberlain’s reputation, among his fellow officers, for egotism and vainglory), Vincent emerges as a sympathetic and compelling figure. The reader learns that “With a strong voice and a quick mind, [Vincent] commanded attention” – and that, though he was just 27 years old and had assumed brigade command just six weeks before Gettysburg, “Vincent was admired by the men of the 83rd Pennsylvania and respected as both a tough disciplinarian and a hard fighter” (pp. 106-07). And there is an element of pathos in the way LaFantasie points out how “this battle at Gettysburg worried [Vincent] like no other battle had before, and [fellow Union officer] Oliver Norton sensed that Vincent may have had a premonition of his own demise” (pp. 107-08).
Vincent’s feelings of foreboding were warranted; Gettysburg was indeed his last battle. LaFantasie captures well the drama of a crucial moment when some irresolution within the 16th Michigan Infantry at Little Round Top created a moment of crisis that Vincent sought to address:
The faltering of the 16th Michigan immediately created a crisis on Vincent’s right, for it appeared that his entire flank was about to cave in. Vincent saw the trouble, jumped from his high perch on a rock behind the 83rd Pennsylvania, and ran to do whatever he could to buttress his right. Using the riding crop his wife had given him as a whip, Vincent tried to drive the men from the 16th Michigan’s right wing back into line, but as he did so he was struck by a minié ball, which had passed through his left groin and lodged in his left thigh. “This is the fourth or fifth time they have shot at me,” he said to the men who had gathered around him and were hustling to carry him toward the rear, “and they have hit me at last.” (p. 150)
Yet when all seemed lost at Little Round Top, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge by his 20th Maine Regiment – an unorthodox and “old-school,” but inspired, tactical innovation to which LaFantasie gives due recognition – and that crucial piece of high ground on the extreme left of the Union line was held.
Strong Vincent is once again a subject of focus when LaFantasie describes the dying Union officer’s last days. Pale with loss of blood, Vincent nonetheless expressed great pleasure at hearing that the Union line still held. And in Vincent’s dying moments, LaFantasie seems to convey the depth of all the grief and mourning generated by the loss of life in battles like Gettysburg:
Vincent lingered on for several days….He asked for his wife to be sent word of his condition, with a request for her to come to Gettysburg. A message was sent, but it did not reach Vincent’s wife in time. He suffered severe pain, but he tried not to show it. “I presume,” said Vincent, “that I have done my last fighting.” He grew so weak that he could no longer speak. On July 7, a telegram from President Lincoln, commissioning Vincent a brigadier general, was read to him, but he could not acknowledge that the president had promoted him for bravery in the line of duty. Vincent died later that day. His body was transported to Erie for burial. (p. 207)
In a thoughtful epilogue, LaFantasie looks past the Gettysburg battle to the immortal address that President Lincoln gave at the dedication of the National Cemetery there in November of 1863. With the high human cost of Gettysburg fixed in the reader’s mind, there is additional force in LaFantasie’s suggestion that “Lincoln’s address was part eulogy, part elegy. Having come to dedicate the cemetery in the name of the American people, the president’s mind was very much on the dead who were to be buried in this place” (p. 251).
While acknowledging the uplifting manner in which the address vindicates and celebrates American democracy, LaFantasie makes sure that the reader does not forget that “the ringing words Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg also helped the nation confront the horror of battle, the terrible price of war, face to face….Lincoln’s speech was a national message of comfort and condolence to a country that had been bled almost white, a people who had lost their most precious young men, a society that had suffered hardships and sorrows that seemed to have no end” (p. 253).
Near the end of the film Gettysburg, Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels) asks a fellow officer, “Has it got a name, this hill?” The officer replies, “This is Little Round Top. That’s the name of the hill you defended.” “Is that so?” Chamberlain muses. “I guess I’ll remember that.” And Little Round Top remains a name that everyone should remember. Read Twilight at Little Round Top before your next visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park; and when you get to Stop #8 on the battlefield driving tour, you may well find that you are looking at Little Round Top with new insights. By focusing on one crucial part of the Gettysburg story, LaFantasie’s book reveals many larger truths about the larger Battle of Gettysburg, and about the American Civil War generally.
July 2, 2025
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 meditation 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 uncoordinated 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.
Robin Friedman
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 meditation 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 uncoordinated 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.
Robin Friedman
December 18, 2024
Let me be clear, the author, Glenn Lafantasie, is an incredible writer and extravagant story teller. However, this book was very confusing and just all over the place. I really wanted to give this book a good rating in just aspect alone of the authors ability to engage with his readers in his writing abilities. But sadly, I can’t justify anything really above 3 stars. It was a chore for me to finish just put it that way. In any case, here are my (2) reasons why you should give a go and (3) to not even bother.
Pros
Psychological Impacts of Courage and Cowardice:
If you stroll around pages 139 to 150 (depending on your version of the copy) you will enter the realm of him explaining how and why solders of the civil war (particularly the south) marched into death rows of enemy gun lines. It was a question I also asked myself when reading civil war history most notably for Confederate cause being outgunned and outmanned as they were. Not to say there were deserters on both sides but if you look at the carnage of Gettysburg alone over 40,000 casualties on both fronts one begins to wonder what pushed these men. I feel I got a good assumption of it from Mr. Lafantasie, that being they did it for the sake of honor and there reputations back home to include the social structures they have made with there units. I believe it now to be the main influencers for both sides of the war and I find it a gem to grasp that knowledge from this book.
The Effort:
It would be wrong for me not to mention the amount of effort the author put into this book to showcase the personal remarks from soldiers on each side. You get a good variety of ranks Pvt to Col for the most part. I enjoyed reading what they saw and felt from their memoirs and letters back home. The author put them in good order with the progress of the book and It really put the emotion into battle while reading the endless units that are transcribed. Which leads me to the flaws of this book.
Cons
It’s all over the place….
This was the biggest problem for me honestly. The author liked to jump around a lot, which is fine but he did it in the worst moments. Right when you were starting to grasp what was happening he would jump to another point of view. It was kinda like watching multiple security cams trying to focus on one thing all at once. It became overwhelming and it tore the focus from book and ultimately I just wanted to finish the book. What remains to be seen is it was a great effort to put all those point views in the book I don’t take that away from the author and I did appreciate it. However, the way the author portrayed the information and style and manner he put in the memoirs and letters from troops back home really was poorly constructed.
Too much unit information…..
For a small book I think you could fill at least a quarter to almost half the book on unit history, officers/staff, and their inputs around little round top. It was not what I was looking for in this one. I was hoping to get a very direct insight on little round top more so on all 3 days. While you do get that in this book just not to the level I wanted. I wanted more storytelling and less unit identifications and history of commanders. By the way the author has some sorta thing for William Calvin Oates and the 15th Alabama regiment. The man is brought up quite a bit. While the information is fine and all but again it took my focus away from the battle it self. You do get semi clear troop movement information but the way it is directed or the authors poise in detailing the information really didn’t do it for me. Not to mention the authors poise expects you to remember every point of view he put into the book. For a small book he had too many and he would just throw their names in and carry on their stories like the readers can remember all the individuals described. Again it became a chore to go back remember who this soldier was and not to mention what stage of the battle is he fighting in. Very confusing and boring. I’ll leave it at that.
Melodramatic Inputs….
I almost feel like the author has multiple personality’s that plague his writing. At some points you get that grand storyteller vibe. Then again, in other sections you get a sensitive lecturer who tells the reader “war is bad” yada yada yada. I am going to be blunt here, ITS WAR BABY, WHAT THE F**K DO YOU EXPECT!!! I and most readers know war is a horrible thing. The carnage and suffering in the battle of Gettysburg was unheard of and remains to be the bloodiest battle in American history. However, in a short book don’t waste the readers time or desperately needed focus on telling us that war is bad and the wrongs of humanity are the cause. If anything I want the action so I can get a greater appreciation of what the soldiers went through. In any case that’s my soap opera for that one. Do you think the soldiers fought and died there didn’t think war was bad? They did it there marching and fighting because they were ordered too. There is pride in belonging for most of these guys and the last thing they thought was o geez war is bad. Trust me they knew it was and so does the reader.
In closing, I wished a lot more from this book but was sadly disappointed. I guess you can give it a go and you might feel differently. In any case, thank you all who took the time to read my post.
-Alex
Pros
Psychological Impacts of Courage and Cowardice:
If you stroll around pages 139 to 150 (depending on your version of the copy) you will enter the realm of him explaining how and why solders of the civil war (particularly the south) marched into death rows of enemy gun lines. It was a question I also asked myself when reading civil war history most notably for Confederate cause being outgunned and outmanned as they were. Not to say there were deserters on both sides but if you look at the carnage of Gettysburg alone over 40,000 casualties on both fronts one begins to wonder what pushed these men. I feel I got a good assumption of it from Mr. Lafantasie, that being they did it for the sake of honor and there reputations back home to include the social structures they have made with there units. I believe it now to be the main influencers for both sides of the war and I find it a gem to grasp that knowledge from this book.
The Effort:
It would be wrong for me not to mention the amount of effort the author put into this book to showcase the personal remarks from soldiers on each side. You get a good variety of ranks Pvt to Col for the most part. I enjoyed reading what they saw and felt from their memoirs and letters back home. The author put them in good order with the progress of the book and It really put the emotion into battle while reading the endless units that are transcribed. Which leads me to the flaws of this book.
Cons
It’s all over the place….
This was the biggest problem for me honestly. The author liked to jump around a lot, which is fine but he did it in the worst moments. Right when you were starting to grasp what was happening he would jump to another point of view. It was kinda like watching multiple security cams trying to focus on one thing all at once. It became overwhelming and it tore the focus from book and ultimately I just wanted to finish the book. What remains to be seen is it was a great effort to put all those point views in the book I don’t take that away from the author and I did appreciate it. However, the way the author portrayed the information and style and manner he put in the memoirs and letters from troops back home really was poorly constructed.
Too much unit information…..
For a small book I think you could fill at least a quarter to almost half the book on unit history, officers/staff, and their inputs around little round top. It was not what I was looking for in this one. I was hoping to get a very direct insight on little round top more so on all 3 days. While you do get that in this book just not to the level I wanted. I wanted more storytelling and less unit identifications and history of commanders. By the way the author has some sorta thing for William Calvin Oates and the 15th Alabama regiment. The man is brought up quite a bit. While the information is fine and all but again it took my focus away from the battle it self. You do get semi clear troop movement information but the way it is directed or the authors poise in detailing the information really didn’t do it for me. Not to mention the authors poise expects you to remember every point of view he put into the book. For a small book he had too many and he would just throw their names in and carry on their stories like the readers can remember all the individuals described. Again it became a chore to go back remember who this soldier was and not to mention what stage of the battle is he fighting in. Very confusing and boring. I’ll leave it at that.
Melodramatic Inputs….
I almost feel like the author has multiple personality’s that plague his writing. At some points you get that grand storyteller vibe. Then again, in other sections you get a sensitive lecturer who tells the reader “war is bad” yada yada yada. I am going to be blunt here, ITS WAR BABY, WHAT THE F**K DO YOU EXPECT!!! I and most readers know war is a horrible thing. The carnage and suffering in the battle of Gettysburg was unheard of and remains to be the bloodiest battle in American history. However, in a short book don’t waste the readers time or desperately needed focus on telling us that war is bad and the wrongs of humanity are the cause. If anything I want the action so I can get a greater appreciation of what the soldiers went through. In any case that’s my soap opera for that one. Do you think the soldiers fought and died there didn’t think war was bad? They did it there marching and fighting because they were ordered too. There is pride in belonging for most of these guys and the last thing they thought was o geez war is bad. Trust me they knew it was and so does the reader.
In closing, I wished a lot more from this book but was sadly disappointed. I guess you can give it a go and you might feel differently. In any case, thank you all who took the time to read my post.
-Alex
December 1, 2015
This is kind of a weird one.
The Battle of Gettysburg is considered by many to be the central turning point in the Civil War. It was certainly an important battle, and the deadliest by a wide margin. Nearly fifty thousand casualties were suffered in three days of fighting. To put that in perspective, the Battle of Shiloh, which contained more American casualties than every prior American war combined, had half the number of dead and wounded as Gettysburg. Some of the most exciting and important fighting happened on the second day, which is the focus of LaFantasie's book.
Many books have been written on the Civil War. I've read a number of them. Unless they're focused on a particular detail of the war, and its scope necessarily excludes Gettysburg, the most famed of battles is almost definitely getting a mention somewhere. So in an ocean of Civil War books, in a sea of Gettysburg publications, what makes LaFantasie's book stick out?
Nothing.
It's not a bad book, not really. The prose can be a little maudlin at times (giving you the occasional eye-rolling nugget of wisdom like "Death was the real foe on Little Round Top"), and paragraphs had a habit of jumping forward and backward in time that confused more than it educated. But it wasn't bad. It was medicore. This is a competently book on Gettysburg. I picked it up because I was hoping that it's narrow scope would afford its author more opportunities to really shine on the things I liked about Gettysburg, like Chamberlain's bayonet charge. Nope. It's just not that good. I mean... it's okay.
There are just too many exceptional Civil War books to settle on "adequate." Pick up McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, or Volume 2 of Shelby Foote's Civil War series, and ignore everything else except the Gettysburg sections. You'll have a better treatment on Gettysburg. Pick up Jeff Shara's Killer Angels or Stephen Sears Gettysburg if you want an exceptional or interesting take on the battle. In another world, this book would be worth three stars, or maybe even four. It's certainly not as awful as most other books that I rate as two stars. But it's not exceptional enough to be worth anyone's time.
The Battle of Gettysburg is considered by many to be the central turning point in the Civil War. It was certainly an important battle, and the deadliest by a wide margin. Nearly fifty thousand casualties were suffered in three days of fighting. To put that in perspective, the Battle of Shiloh, which contained more American casualties than every prior American war combined, had half the number of dead and wounded as Gettysburg. Some of the most exciting and important fighting happened on the second day, which is the focus of LaFantasie's book.
Many books have been written on the Civil War. I've read a number of them. Unless they're focused on a particular detail of the war, and its scope necessarily excludes Gettysburg, the most famed of battles is almost definitely getting a mention somewhere. So in an ocean of Civil War books, in a sea of Gettysburg publications, what makes LaFantasie's book stick out?
Nothing.
It's not a bad book, not really. The prose can be a little maudlin at times (giving you the occasional eye-rolling nugget of wisdom like "Death was the real foe on Little Round Top"), and paragraphs had a habit of jumping forward and backward in time that confused more than it educated. But it wasn't bad. It was medicore. This is a competently book on Gettysburg. I picked it up because I was hoping that it's narrow scope would afford its author more opportunities to really shine on the things I liked about Gettysburg, like Chamberlain's bayonet charge. Nope. It's just not that good. I mean... it's okay.
There are just too many exceptional Civil War books to settle on "adequate." Pick up McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, or Volume 2 of Shelby Foote's Civil War series, and ignore everything else except the Gettysburg sections. You'll have a better treatment on Gettysburg. Pick up Jeff Shara's Killer Angels or Stephen Sears Gettysburg if you want an exceptional or interesting take on the battle. In another world, this book would be worth three stars, or maybe even four. It's certainly not as awful as most other books that I rate as two stars. But it's not exceptional enough to be worth anyone's time.
January 25, 2009
This is a very detailed and well written book on the second day of Gettysburg at Little Round Top. The book is refreshing in its use of all manner of records (including letters from ordinary troops). He handles some of the controversies in a straightforward and seemingly fair style (e.g., Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's role at Little Round Top).
All in all, a good guide to the sanguinary struggle on Little Round Top.
All in all, a good guide to the sanguinary struggle on Little Round Top.
January 5, 2025
I have just re-read "Twilight at Little Round Top" even though I only read it a few months ago. I just wanted to reassess my thoughts on the book. I did like the book more and increased my rating by one star. However, I did not love this book.
LaFantasie obviously researched this book very well, and it shows. It was interesting and detailed, but I think that he imposed his own personal opinion a bit too much. He seems to belittle Longstreet every time he mentions his name. Even describing him in passing he states that Longstreet has "a cruel mouth" (huh?), whereas he describes Lee as "handsome, charming..., distinguished and noble...". A minor thing but noticeable. After the war Lee and Longstreet had different recollections of the battle, each making himself look better in the decision making and what occurred. The author takes Lee's side. He does mention later that ultimately Lee is responsible being the head of the army for the outcome of the battle, perhaps though the actions of Longstreet, AP Hill, and Ewell were the reasons for it's failure.
The author is also clearly in the "anti" Chamberlain camp. I have read many books on the Civil War, and I am quite aware that because of Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels" Chamberlain is regarded by many as the sole savior of Little Round Top. I am also quite aware that many others were there that also saved the hill and the battle. Chamberlain did not act alone, and perhaps after the war he tended to take credit in his books and speeches for the Union victory on the hill. But Chamberlain did do an amazing job there and his acts should not be put-down.
At times LaFantasie tends to veer off the current subject and also is rather melodramatic in his descriptions. The book has very few and not well done maps, a must in my opinion, nor is there an Order of Battle. On the other hand, I did really like the last couple chapters of the book describing the aftermath of the battle.
"Twilight at Little Round Top" is a good and detailed book, just not great nor is it the ultimate book on this part of the Gettysburg battle.
LaFantasie obviously researched this book very well, and it shows. It was interesting and detailed, but I think that he imposed his own personal opinion a bit too much. He seems to belittle Longstreet every time he mentions his name. Even describing him in passing he states that Longstreet has "a cruel mouth" (huh?), whereas he describes Lee as "handsome, charming..., distinguished and noble...". A minor thing but noticeable. After the war Lee and Longstreet had different recollections of the battle, each making himself look better in the decision making and what occurred. The author takes Lee's side. He does mention later that ultimately Lee is responsible being the head of the army for the outcome of the battle, perhaps though the actions of Longstreet, AP Hill, and Ewell were the reasons for it's failure.
The author is also clearly in the "anti" Chamberlain camp. I have read many books on the Civil War, and I am quite aware that because of Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels" Chamberlain is regarded by many as the sole savior of Little Round Top. I am also quite aware that many others were there that also saved the hill and the battle. Chamberlain did not act alone, and perhaps after the war he tended to take credit in his books and speeches for the Union victory on the hill. But Chamberlain did do an amazing job there and his acts should not be put-down.
At times LaFantasie tends to veer off the current subject and also is rather melodramatic in his descriptions. The book has very few and not well done maps, a must in my opinion, nor is there an Order of Battle. On the other hand, I did really like the last couple chapters of the book describing the aftermath of the battle.
"Twilight at Little Round Top" is a good and detailed book, just not great nor is it the ultimate book on this part of the Gettysburg battle.
August 2, 2016
I am no civil war expert. But I enjoy reading most books about this period of our history. Gettysburg is especially interesting to me. Sadly this book was a disappointment. At one point I felt like all it was, was a litany of company numbers. And the word enfilade was used so much I couldn't take it. It was hard to keep my focus and I just wanted to finish. There seems to be a lot of dislike from the author towards col chamberlain as well. The epilogue was written nicely.
January 9, 2014
I have mixed feelings about this book. The author went to get pains to educate the reader on some of the individual soldiers who fought this battle, and he did a great job of detailing the action on Little Roundtop. Unfortunately, the auther also dwelled on the evils of war and spent too much time with his dislike for the human suffering and death.
August 16, 2020
The author manages the difficult device of creating tension and maintaining suspense when we already know the outcome. His premise, that the action at Little Round Top on July 2nd and 3rd was crucial to the Battle of Gettysburg, is certainly valid.
Not that he doesn't give the bigger picture of the battle, and the campaign as a whole. LaFantasie also deals with the leadership and morale on both sides; again, both strategically and tactically. It's hard to fathom just what Lee had in mind for the campaign, and for the climactic battle. His sketchy purposes were exacerbated by weak command control. Stuart was doing his own thing with the bulk of the Confederate cavalry; Harrisburg was approached, but not taken.
And, of course, the Battle of Gettysburg just sort of happened. Even given Lee's poor fortunes up through the end of June, the meeting engagement on July 1st that drove Union corps away from the town of Gettysburg nearly resulted in a strategic Conderatew victory. The ifs, maybes, and might-have-beens piled up from there until the ultimate failure of Pickett's charge to take Cemetary Ridge on the 3rd.
Certainly, Lee's inability to get Longstreet and Ewell to coordinate their attacks crippled any momentum belonged to the Confederates after the first day. It was certainly more difficult to communicate with both flanks from his much longer exterior lines than Meade, who was defending a shorter front. It's difficult to say whether Longstreet's aversion to Lee's plan, or the plan itself, was the culprit for the Confederate defeat. Lee played a weaker hand without his usual cunning.
Meade, in addition to having a new command, had his own issues managing it. Namely dealing with Sickles, who endangered the entire Union position by thrusting his corp forwatd of Cemetery Ridge into the infamous Peach Orchard. In the weird way that war seems to have a logic of its own, The Peach Orchard position proved to be as daunting to the Confederate attackers as it was a risk for the Union.
Although I tend to gravitate towards the planning and its consequences. Here, it's the implementing of orders, that is, the resulting clash of regiments engaged against each other, at the heart of this narrative. The author has a fine grasp of language for conveying the commotion, the terror, and the drama of battle. We see incidents and of bravery, luck, and confusion, in larger as well as small group actions.
Inevitably, in a book like this we're going to get a bunch of mini-biographies of participants. I would be fine with less of this stuff, but the author keeps these bits brief enough that they really don't interrupt the flow much. Some individual soldier's stories add a personal flavor. And not just soldiers' perspectives are featured--the girl whose family's caught up in the battle behind Union lines saw so much, as other locals did, that she's literally part of the history.
Visually, we get plenty of excellent (in-period) photos, mostly of the Round Top itself, from many vantage points. This sort of detail helps give a feel for what's described in the text. The maps are also well-done, and welcome; but a few more of them would've been appreciated (a usual gripe of mine in military history books).
There's no order of battle per se; but, since we're focusing on just one flank of the battle, and the relevant maps denote which regiments were doing what, so the lack of of overal unit composition below corp level isn't really missed. There's tons of notes, and a thorough bibliography and index.
Not to be missed as a Gettysburg book generally, and definitely for the complete rendering of the hard-fought-over action at Little Round Top.
Not that he doesn't give the bigger picture of the battle, and the campaign as a whole. LaFantasie also deals with the leadership and morale on both sides; again, both strategically and tactically. It's hard to fathom just what Lee had in mind for the campaign, and for the climactic battle. His sketchy purposes were exacerbated by weak command control. Stuart was doing his own thing with the bulk of the Confederate cavalry; Harrisburg was approached, but not taken.
And, of course, the Battle of Gettysburg just sort of happened. Even given Lee's poor fortunes up through the end of June, the meeting engagement on July 1st that drove Union corps away from the town of Gettysburg nearly resulted in a strategic Conderatew victory. The ifs, maybes, and might-have-beens piled up from there until the ultimate failure of Pickett's charge to take Cemetary Ridge on the 3rd.
Certainly, Lee's inability to get Longstreet and Ewell to coordinate their attacks crippled any momentum belonged to the Confederates after the first day. It was certainly more difficult to communicate with both flanks from his much longer exterior lines than Meade, who was defending a shorter front. It's difficult to say whether Longstreet's aversion to Lee's plan, or the plan itself, was the culprit for the Confederate defeat. Lee played a weaker hand without his usual cunning.
Meade, in addition to having a new command, had his own issues managing it. Namely dealing with Sickles, who endangered the entire Union position by thrusting his corp forwatd of Cemetery Ridge into the infamous Peach Orchard. In the weird way that war seems to have a logic of its own, The Peach Orchard position proved to be as daunting to the Confederate attackers as it was a risk for the Union.
Although I tend to gravitate towards the planning and its consequences. Here, it's the implementing of orders, that is, the resulting clash of regiments engaged against each other, at the heart of this narrative. The author has a fine grasp of language for conveying the commotion, the terror, and the drama of battle. We see incidents and of bravery, luck, and confusion, in larger as well as small group actions.
Inevitably, in a book like this we're going to get a bunch of mini-biographies of participants. I would be fine with less of this stuff, but the author keeps these bits brief enough that they really don't interrupt the flow much. Some individual soldier's stories add a personal flavor. And not just soldiers' perspectives are featured--the girl whose family's caught up in the battle behind Union lines saw so much, as other locals did, that she's literally part of the history.
Visually, we get plenty of excellent (in-period) photos, mostly of the Round Top itself, from many vantage points. This sort of detail helps give a feel for what's described in the text. The maps are also well-done, and welcome; but a few more of them would've been appreciated (a usual gripe of mine in military history books).
There's no order of battle per se; but, since we're focusing on just one flank of the battle, and the relevant maps denote which regiments were doing what, so the lack of of overal unit composition below corp level isn't really missed. There's tons of notes, and a thorough bibliography and index.
Not to be missed as a Gettysburg book generally, and definitely for the complete rendering of the hard-fought-over action at Little Round Top.
January 6, 2026
I think the author did a good job of research using many different accounts / journals / letters from soldiers on both sides and all ranks at Gettysburg to write this account. However, if you plan to read this work there are two things you must do prior if you are going to understand it:
1. Do a detailed study of the maps of this battle! If you are not well versed on the locations of - Little Round Top; Big Round Top; Devil's Den; The Wheat Field; The Peach Orchard; Plumb Run; The Emmitsburg Road; et al... you will not be able to follow the action. Also, you should take some time to look at both historical and current pictures of the terrain in order to understand the relief.
2. Become very familiar with the Order of Battle. If you do not know the names of the Generals, the Corps / Division / Brigade / Regiment they commanded and simultaneously who was subordinate to whom, again, you will not be able to follow the action.
1. Do a detailed study of the maps of this battle! If you are not well versed on the locations of - Little Round Top; Big Round Top; Devil's Den; The Wheat Field; The Peach Orchard; Plumb Run; The Emmitsburg Road; et al... you will not be able to follow the action. Also, you should take some time to look at both historical and current pictures of the terrain in order to understand the relief.
2. Become very familiar with the Order of Battle. If you do not know the names of the Generals, the Corps / Division / Brigade / Regiment they commanded and simultaneously who was subordinate to whom, again, you will not be able to follow the action.
January 22, 2018
I found the book to be different is some very important ways.
1. Dealt with more than the 20th Maine
2. Dealt with the feeling and letters of the soldiers on the ground
3. Treated the leaders without rose colored glasses
4. Deals with the deeper meaning of the Civil War and how death changed in America
5. Tells of the horrible aftermath of the battle.
A must read for fans of the Civil War and Gettysburg.
1. Dealt with more than the 20th Maine
2. Dealt with the feeling and letters of the soldiers on the ground
3. Treated the leaders without rose colored glasses
4. Deals with the deeper meaning of the Civil War and how death changed in America
5. Tells of the horrible aftermath of the battle.
A must read for fans of the Civil War and Gettysburg.
April 9, 2023
An amazing overview of the fighting at Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg. The book does a great job of reviewing the overall battle, and keeping a sharp focus on the Union & Confederate soldiers that clashed at Little Round Top, a previously insignificant hill that became a significant flashpoint on the 2nd day of the battle. The keeping of the Little Round Top by the northern soldiers, helped ensure an extremely successful 3rd day of fighting for the Union.
September 13, 2017
Excellent account of the events of day 2 at Gettysburg, focusing mostly on the battle in the shadow of Little Round Top, but also in-depth details of the battle in surrounding portions of the battlefield. Includes many personal accounts I found interesting and informative.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2020
A wonderfully-written narrative of the day’s events. There are some moments of excessive flowery writing, but it easy to get through. The combination of historical narrative combined with first-person accounts is very well done.
December 14, 2012
In Twilight at Little Round Top, historian Glenn LaFantasie captures well the drama and horror of one key moment from the Battle of Gettysburg. Today, Little Round Top is stop number 8 on the driving tour at the Gettysburg National Military Park, and some busy tourists may drive right through without fully realizing the significance of that little rocky hill. But LaFantasie makes clear the reasons why the successful Union defense of Little Round Top on the second day at Gettysburg was key to Union victory in the battle. LaFantasie acknowledges the importance of the roles played by key officers like Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, but emphasizes more the heroism of the ordinary Civil War soldier, especially the Union soldiers who successfully defended that little hill in spite of horrific losses. Good use of photographs and battlefield maps; the latter, interspersed throughout the book, are particularly helpful in clarifying the sometimes confusing actions of that engagement. It is good that LaFantasie emphasizes the cruelty and horror of Little Round Top -- this is not by any means a romanticized view of war -- and that he explores the social reality behind the American Civil War, discussing the pro-slavery ideologies voiced by many of the Confederates who fought in the battle. This account of how the tide turned at Gettysburg is recommended for students of Civil War history, of the Gettysburg Campaign, and of U.S. and Pennsylvania history generally.
August 11, 2014
This is a great book. The author provides good narrative descriptions of the preparations, the several distinct engagements that together constituted the Battle of Gettysburg, and the personalities of commanders on both sides. He also offers insights and personal observations gleaned from the correspondence and other writings of numerous soldiers of the Blue and the Gray persuasions. He finds considerable fault with the strategic and tactical planning and leadership of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and believes that had Lee followed Longstreet's counsel he'd have gotten a more favorable result. Citizens of the U.S.A. then might well be grateful for Lee's apparent inattention and neglect of details in his communications with those under his command. As a reader of the excellent narrative, I wished for better maps of the battlefields and the arrangement and movement of the opposing forces on them--to be precise, more maps, reflecting different movements in the battle, with more detail regarding the two opposing forces. All in all, however, I recommend it as an excellent read.
October 19, 2015
Most of the soldiers described in the book should be known to readers of Gettysburg battle accounts. The author states that more individuals than Colonel Joshua Chamberlin shaped the outcome at Little Round Top. He proceeds to give an account that gives a good description of what happened from the union as well as the confederate viewpoint, from artillery and infantry. The book includes information about civilians caught up in the battle. Some attention is given to the suffering endured by both sides as wounded were trapped between lines as night closed the battle. Personal stories of those who died are interesting. The author highlights the after-war lives and accomplishments of soldiers described in the book. The author gives special attention to confederate Colonel William Oates, as he has written another book about this interesting officer.
October 29, 2015
LaFantasie writes an eloquent narrative of the struggle for Little Round Top and of the sacrifice made by men of the blue and grey to uphold their honor and preserve their way of life for future generations. Drawing from a myriad of sources, many of which are buried in archives, he weaves his history as close to reality as one distant a hundred and forty some years can. Often you feel the agony of a fallen soldier as they are struck down in the heat of battle only to be captured by another just as brave standing firm in his resoluteness to uphold his ideals. Twilight at Little Round Top will hold you as it pummels you with its ferocity of battle and words.
January 1, 2010
Detailed recapitulation of fighting at Little Round Top during the second day of the Gettysburg battle. Kind of hard to follow without being able to see the terrain--I wish I'd had this the last (2nd) time I was at the battlefield. Only a couple of details of this part of the battle (e.g., the stand by the 20th Maine at the extreme left flank of the Union army) are generally covered in the larger books about Gettysburg. By concentrating only on this area, this book is able to give a logical picture about how all the different units of the two armies interacted.
July 13, 2008
Ok, well for starters I have to say that I am a bit biased here. My Civil War professor wrote this book and assigned it in class. It is very well researched and provides a fresh view of the events of Little Round Top. It is a short read, but in order to actually digest the information within the text you might need to re-read it again or read it slowly. Highly recommended.
July 24, 2010
I absoulutely love Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine and their fight on Little Round Top. I learned so much from this book. What a great account of how the 20th Maine came to Little Round Top. A must-read of any Gettysburg fan!
March 22, 2015
"Twilight at Little Round Top" is a detailed, literate, well-researched examination of the 20th Maine's successful defense of the most vulnerable part of the Union line on the second day at Gettysburg.
October 2, 2007
Engaging tale of the second day of battle on the one end of the battlefield. Carnage galore...
April 11, 2009
Clear presentation of complex battle. Shows how fighting at Little Round Top fits in the big picture during Day 2 of Gettysburg. Sometimes bombastic in style but worthwhile for Civil War buffs.
April 26, 2011
One of the best books on Civil War history that I've ever read!
August 30, 2011
The book was very detailed. But the author's prose made this a slog of a read & made me not care about the topic.
December 14, 2014
Interesting history of one of the pivotal action of the Battle at Gettysburg. It's probably a book better enjoyed by students and fans of the Civil War however.
February 20, 2013
Great Gettysburg book.
March 30, 2017
Narrowed focus on the southern action on July 2nd. However, does a good job explaining/examining the entire battlefield in context of the timeline of events occurring on Little Round Top.
Straightforward and unafraid to address some of the modern controversies of the battle (Chamberlain's bayonet charge is the most notable example) using factual evidence and a fair hand. When in doubt, grace is extended to the participants. More often than not, praise rightfully is distributed to the front line soldier.
I feel Lafantasie has done a wonderful job of giving students of the battle an approachable but also thoroughly researched second tier account of the events of July 2nd.
In short, are you a student of Gettysburg and want to dig deeper? Want to do that in under 300 pages? Start here and you'll be much better prepared for your eventual (next?) visit to the battlefield.
Straightforward and unafraid to address some of the modern controversies of the battle (Chamberlain's bayonet charge is the most notable example) using factual evidence and a fair hand. When in doubt, grace is extended to the participants. More often than not, praise rightfully is distributed to the front line soldier.
I feel Lafantasie has done a wonderful job of giving students of the battle an approachable but also thoroughly researched second tier account of the events of July 2nd.
In short, are you a student of Gettysburg and want to dig deeper? Want to do that in under 300 pages? Start here and you'll be much better prepared for your eventual (next?) visit to the battlefield.
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