"Stand to It and Give Them Hell": Gettysburg as the Soldiers Experienced it From Cemetery Ridge to Little Round Top, July 2, 1863
About this ebook
“Stand to It and Give Them Hell” chronicles the Gettysburg fighting from Cemetery Ridge to Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, through the letters, memoirs, diaries, and postwar recollections of the men from both armies who struggled to control that “hallowed ground.”
John Michael Priest, dubbed the “Ernie Pyle” of the Civil War soldier by legendary historian Edwin C. Bearss, wrote this book to help readers understand and experience, as closely as possible through the written word, the stress and terror of that fateful day in Pennsylvania.
Nearly sixty detailed maps, mostly on the regimental level, illustrate the tremendous troop congestion in the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard, and Devil’s Den. They accurately establish, by regiment or company, the extent of the Federal skirmish line from Ziegler’s Grove to the Slyder farm and portray the final Confederate push against the Codori farm and the center of Cemetery Ridge, which three Confederate divisions—in what is popularly known as Pickett’s Charge—would unsuccessfully attack on the final day of fighting.
“‘Stand to It and Give Them Hell’ puts a human face on the second day of the nation’s epic Civil War battle . . . Mike Priest has taken a familiar story and somehow made it fresh and new. It is simply first-rate.” —Lance J. Herdegen, award-winning author of Union Soldiers in the American Civil War
“Remarkable . . . Priest’s distinctive style is rife with anecdotes, many drawn from obscure diaries and letters, artfully stitched together in an original manner.” —David G. Martin, author of The Shiloh Campaign
About the author
A retired high school history teacher, John Michael Priest has been interested in Civil War history since an early age. He is a graduate of Loyola College in Baltimore and Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and has written extensively about the Civil War. His many books include Antietam: The Soldiers' Battle (1989); Before Antietam: The Battle for South Mountain (1992); Nowhere to Run: The Wilderness, May 4th & 5th, 1864 (1995); Victory Without Triumph: The Wilderness, May 6th & 7th, 1864 (1996); and Into the Fight: Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg (1998). Praised by legendary historian Edwin C. Bearss as the "Ernie Pyle" of the Civil War soldier, Priest appeared on the Discovery Channel's Unsolved History: Pickett's Charge (2002), and is one of the historical consultants for the forthcoming miniseries To Appomattox. His newest work, Stand to It and Give Them Hell! chronicles the fighting on July 2, 1863 from Cemetery Ridge to Little Round Top from the perspectives of the soldiers who fought the battle.
