| Pale Horse at Plum Run: The First Minnesota at Gettysburg Contributor(s): Leehan, Brian (Author) |
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ISBN: 0873515110 ISBN-13: 9780873515115 Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: July 2004 Annotation: Winner of a Minnesota Book Ward for history, "Pale Horse at Plum Run" tells the compelling story of the First Minnesota regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg. The smoke had just cleared from the last volley of musketry at Gettysburg. Nearly 70 percent of the First Minnesota regiment lay dead or dying on the field--one of the greatest losses of any unit engaged in the Civil War. The significance of this July 2, 1863, battle at Gettysburg is widely known, but the harrowing details of the First's heroic stand that stopped a furious rebel assault have long been buried. In "Pale Horse at Plum Run" Brian Leehan brings the full story of the First at Gettysburg to light as he examines personal accounts, eyewitness reports, and official records to construct a remarkably detailed and compelling narrative. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877) - History | Military - United States |
| Dewey: 973.734 |
| LCCN: 2002003555 |
| Physical Information: 0.77" H x 6.12" W x 9.1" (0.82 lbs) 243 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Geographic Orientation - Minnesota - Geographic Orientation - Pennsylvania - Topical - Civil War |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Minnesota Book Award Winner The smoke had just cleared from the last volley of musketry at Gettysburg. Nearly 70 percent of the First Minnesota regiment lay dead or dying on the field--one of the greatest losses of any unit engaged in the Civil War. Pale Horse at Plum Run is the study of this single regiment at this crucial moment in American history. Through painstaking research of firsthand accounts, eyewitness reports, and official records, Brian Leehan constructs a narrative remarkable for its attention to detail and careful reportage. Word of the First's heroic act at Gettysburg quickly spread along Union lines and back to Minnesota. Their stand late on July 2, 1863, stopped a furious rebel assault and saved the day for the Union. Emerging from the chaos of battle, however, firsthand reports contradicted each other. Confused officers and frightened soldiers told very different stories of the day's hearsay and camp gossip for their sources of information. All of this leaves the historical investigator to ask, what really happened that day at Plum Run? In order to answer that question, Leehan performs superlative historical detective work. By focusing on the men themselves--and their accounts of the engagement--he weaves together a narrative of the First's action on July 2 and 3. Those who escaped the scythe of battle the first day lived to play a pivotal role the next in rebuffing the most famous infantry assault in American military history, Pickett's Charge. By tracking the movements of individual soldiers over the field of battle, Leehan reconstructs in amazing detail the story of this remarkable band of soldiers. In his investigation of the battle Leehan raises important questions about how we can really know the truth about the past. In cogent appended essays, the author muses on the lack of standardized timekeeping in the mid-nineteenth century, on the nature of Civil War weaponry, and on the emergence of a heroic mythology after the war. |
