Gettysburg: The Last Invasion

Gettysburg: The Last Invasion by Allen C. Guelzo is a work of nonfiction about the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Guelzo writes about the human and environmental impact of this battle and its importance as a tipping point in American history. Combining graphic and emotional descriptions, Guelzo provides an idea of the extensive amount of blood spilled during this iconic battle, accomplishing something new in a topic that has already been so vastly explored by historians over the last one-hundred-plus years. Guelzo, a Lincoln scholar, teaches at Gettysburg College.

The battle took place over the course of three days at the beginning of July 1863 over the fifteen-square-mile town of Gettysburg. More than 160,000 soldiers fought in the battle, including approximately 10,000-30,000 slaves forced to fight for the Confederate army. Between the Confederate and Union armies, a reported 5,747 people died during the battle of Gettysburg, with an additional 27,229 wounded, and more than 9,500 missing or captured. The battlefield wasn’t the only place where soldiers died though; fourteen percent of the men wounded died over the few months following this harrowing battle.

This book focuses on Robert E. Lee’s invasion, which was a threat to every city in the North, but especially to Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. The stakes had never been higher for the nation in any battle that came before during the Civil War. Guelzo makes it clear that if Lee had won, sending George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac fleeing north, the Confederate army could have claimed a victory that summer.



Guelzo balances these three days and the combat that defined them against the political significance of the Civil War and outcome of this battle. He provides extensive insight into the generals’ personalities and the divisions within each army. Both Lee and Meade’s armies were divided. Guelzo points out that Lee’s officers were split on whether or not the South should secede from the Union. Also, some were Virginians and others were not. On the Union side, the split was between Democrats, known as McClellanites, who sided with George B. McClellan despite his being discredited and subsequently fired, and Republicans who believed a victory in the war would destroy slavery. For modern readers, it’s important to remember that the party lines that existed in the mid-nineteenth century have changed. McClellan didn’t think the Civil War should affect the racial divide in America, so the rift that existed on the Union side was just as ideological as the rift on the Confederate side.

Guelzo depicts the day-by-day and, sometimes, hour-by-hour happenings of this decisive battle from the eyes of low-ranking officers and ordinary soldiers. He credits a large part of the Union’s victory in Gettysburg to post-and-rail fences that local farmers had installed, claiming that they prevented the Confederates from charging to their advantage. Guelzo also reveals the confusion that characterized battles. He points out that officers and commanders were woefully uninformed, leaving outcomes more to chance than strategy. The victories that the Union claimed during Gettysburg were, according to Guelzo, “miracle moments.” He cites how the Union forces seemed to arrive just in time to save key locations, such as Little Round Top and Culp’s Hill.

Guelzo also attributes the Union victory to Lee’s inability to coordinate with his officers. According to Guelzo, Lee should have technically won the battle of Gettysburg. Even though Guelzo is no fan of Lee, he has little but admonition for Meade as well, stating that he was cautious and reactive, leading to his ineffectiveness. He also takes issue with the claim that others have made that the Civil War was the first modern or total war, stating that it was in line with nineteenth-century warfare and so was neither. He points out in support of this claim that the rifled musket was inaccurate and destructive. The amount of blood spilled in the battle of Gettysburg was, according to Guelzo, not a product of any modern technology.



He then turns his discussion from the overarching movements of the battle to the men and to the regiments they belonged to, concluding that the leadership and trust was what held them together. That’s what kept them fighting despite the gruesome and horrifying conditions. The soldiers trusted that the others in their regiment would not flee the battle. The book ends with Abraham Lincoln traveling to Gettysburg to deliver his address on November 19, 1863. According to Guelzo, Lincoln’s speech was made in defense of self-government and liberal democracy. These lofty ideals made the sacrifice of life and limb at Gettysburg worth it.