Summary Of Michael Shaara's Killer Angels

Killer Angels was written by Michael Shaara, it was published in 1974. The book Killer Angels tells about the story of the battle of Gettysburg. The battle of Gettysburg was the biggest battle of the American Civil War. The battle started on July 1, 1863. The major points in this battle is the Union Army(North) and the Confederate Army(South). They novel talks about certain characters that relate to the commanders during the Civil War. Robert E. Lee was the commander of the Confederate Army and James Longstreet is Lee second in command. Another name is also brought up during the novel is Colonel Joshua Lawrence, he is on the side of the union. Why Lawrence is brought up a lot is because he took major part in the the fighting of the little Round Top.

On June 29 1863 news is came up by a spy saying that the union army is nearby their campsite. When Longstreet hears this message he didn’t believe it at first because General J.E.B Stuart was suppose to tell him where the Union Army is moving.. Longstreet has to react quick, so he get’s his army and moved southeast through the mountains to a town called Gettysburg. When Chamberlain wakes up he notices that there are a hundred new members in his Army which is the Twentieth Maine, there rebels from the Second Maine. Chamberlain gives a speech to these rebels, and only six of the men stayed to fight with

the Confederates.
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General John Buford, the Union commander.

Goes into the town of Gettysburg and learns that the Confederates troops are planning an attack on the Union. Since he doesn’t have enough time to take his soldiers to a big open field for the battle, he puts up two walls with 2,000 men and positions them alongside the hill to protect the town of Gettysburg. Longstreet meets with George Pickett and other generals to come up with a plan of attack. He goes to Longstreet's to ask him where they should go in for attack. Longstreet wants to go in between the Union army and Washington. Lee doesn't listen to this and takes another

route.
The battle begins when the Confederate soldier's attack the Union army, Buford stands his ground, and gets more help when General John Reynolds arrives. Reynolds dies later one because he was setting up his troops along the Union line. When the other generals arrive they tell Lee that the Union army is giving everything they got into the Confederates. When all of this is going on Chamberlain is marching toward Gettysburg with his regiment. When the battle begins the Union withdraws back into the barricade to dig up holes. Theses holes are to help the Union win. Cannons are put into the hole.
When Chamberlain reaches Gettysburg he is placed on the left side of the Union. Since he is on the left he cannot retreat no matter what. Chamberlain runs out of bullets because Buford men aren’t holding their line. So he decides to order a charge, which him and his confederates runs down the hill charging yelling. The Confederates freak out and start to flee. When Lee return to his campsite he comes up with a plan to attack down the middle and destroy the Union that way. Once he is finished with that we take them down one by one. Chamberlain's men are put in the
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center of the Union line because that is the best place to be because you wouldn’t really get hit a lot from that spot. When Lee’s men attack the center it doesn’t really help him because the Confederates aren’t aiming good with there guns. The Union starts using their cannons, which kills a lot of the Confederate men. When the war ended there was 51,000 men were wounded, dead or missing. Inclusion the Confederates retreat and that is the end of the battle of Gettysburg.