GDG- Martin & Pfanz's books on Day 1 - a quick comparitive study

[Alan David Brunelle]

Having had the opportunity to have recently completed David G. Martin's 
book "Gettysburg July 1", I figured it would be a worth-while effort to
compare that to Harry W. Pfanz's book "Gettysburg - The First Day".

One important disclaimer: it's been about a year since I read Pfanz's 
book, so be forewarned I might give that book shorter shrift than its 
due.  And as always, "I don't claim to be no expert in this field" - 
although I'm (slowly?) trying to get there, so caveat emptor (for sure).

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I. Opening shots...

Martin claims in his introduction that "_Gettysburg July 1_ is based 
almost entirely on primary sources and is by far the most detailed account
of the first day's battle yet written." The back cover clarifies this 
even more by stating: "...the most detailed _regimental-level_ account 
ever..." (emphasis added).

Pfanz starts off his preface with: "This is an account of the battle of 
1 July 1863 at Gettysburg and of certain relevant events decisions 
immediately preceding it."

Both authors claim that they would discuss the controversial issues 
surrounding Day 1 - such as: the inevitability of the battle occurring 
at Gettysburg, the true impact of the Union Calvary at delaying the 
Confederate assault, the true performance (or lack thereof) exhibited by 
the Union 11th Corps, who fired first...

The biggest difference in the books would seem to be the level of 
detail: while Martin makes a couple of strong claims here, Pfanz's makes 
no such claim about "details". I think its safe to say they both did 
what they set out to do: Pfanz to provide a complete look at day one, 
while Martin provides a comprehensive/more-detailed look at the same topic.

And before I get going: I'd just like to mention that while I'm usually 
not an "illustration" kind of guy, for some reason I really like the 
cover illustration on Martin's book, but I couldn't find its source listed?!

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II. By The Numbers

Gettysburg July 1, by David G. Martin (Da Capo Press, ISBN 
0-306-81240-1), Copyright 1995, 1996. 736 pages, 20 maps+0 other 
illustrations. (soft cover)

Gettysburg - The First Day, by Harry W. Pfanz (The University of North 
Carolina Press, ISBN 0-8078-2624-3), Copyright 2001, 472 pages. 16 
maps+55 other illustrations. (hard cover)

(Note: the extra pages for Martin do not tell the whole story: his text 
has smaller type, and with the fewer illustrations, does indeed have 
much more space to pack in more details than does Pfanz.)

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III. General Outline

Note: I try to break things up into manageable pieces, but there is not 
a good 1-to-1 breakdown of things (Martin may cover some aspects in 
different areas of his book, as compared to where Pfanz decided to put 
things.) In any event, there are the sections as I discuss them:

A. Pre-July1

B. Pre-"Lull" - 1 July up to the noon-time lull (mostly Heth versus 
Buford/Reynolds).

C. "Lull"

D. Afternoon with the 11th & 1st Corps This was very hard: there are at 
least three major areas to be concerned with: 11th corp, 1st corp north 
of the pike, and 1st corp south of the pike - so things get messy, 
because Martin treats the first two in one category, while Pfanz 
separates the 3 (multiple times).

Rather than get swamped down, I chickened out and put them all in one 
big basket.

E. Cemetery Hill

F. And so on...

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III.A: Pre-July 1

Martin: Chapters 1 & 2 "The Confederate Tide Crests" and "The Army of 
the Potomac Moves North".

Pfanz: Introduction "Fredericksburg to the Potomac", and Chapters 1-4 
"Ewell's Raid", "Lee's Army Concentrates", "Meade's Pursuit", and "Meade
and Reynolds".

48 (Martin) to 50 (Pfanz) pages of background material concerning the 
troop movements for both sides leading up to Gettysburg. Both describe
the happenings on 30 June, and general outlines of Lee's, Reynold's and 
Meade's plans for 1 July. Pfanz expends a tiny bit more effort 
describing Lee's motivations, but neither dwells too much on that.

Both authors quite rightly do "just enough" setting of the table: the 
focus is supposed to be on 1 July, not the month(s) before (or after).

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III.B: Pre-"lull"

Martin: Chapters 3 & 4 "Opening Shots" and "Reynolds to the Rescue"

Pfanz: Chapters 5-9 "Reconnaissance in Force", "Reynold's Final and 
Finest Hour", "Cutler's Cock Fight", "McPherson Woods", and "The 
Railroad Cut".

Martin devotes 108 pages to this part of the day, while Pfanz uses 64 
pages. And this stat certainly shores up Martin's claim to more detail -
the 60% more pages for Martin (and, as noted above, using smaller type) 
is packed with details that Pfanz can not compare with. In particular, 
Martin will tend to go into more detail on optional "histories" - there 
are multiple sources for a lot of events, and some contradict each 
other. Martin will expend some effort covering various recollections - 
even sometimes presenting notes that he states must be wrong. (Which 
seems strange to me, Pfanz does note other "histories" but expends less 
effort discussing those he clearly doesn't "believe.")

One big difference throughout the books, is that Martin will tend to 
flow back and forth through the whole battlefield - not having different 
chapters for the stuff south of the Chambersburg Pike from the north 
(Archer versus Davis). This is a time-flow approach, whereas Pfanz is more
geographic in nature. Pfanz, while mentioning the comparative timings, 
tends to try and split things up - Heth versus Meredith and Davis versus
Cutler in different chapters, for example.

A discussion of maps here is quite appropriate. Given that Martin tends 
to be time-oriented, he has to show larger portions of the battle-field for
the most part (although some of his do get more detailed). Pfanz taking 
a more geographic-oriented approach has some more details in his maps -
buildings and fences tend to be clearer.  For example, comparing 
Martin's (drawn by Paul Dangel) map on page 103 with Pfanz's on page 95 
we see more details with regards to the vegetation, fences in the latter.

Note: this is a generalization, there are some very good Martin maps - 
such as the Railroad Cut map on page 124. In general, both have 
reasonably good maps, but as always (at least for me) there could be 
more in both books. ("But it costs money and takes precious page counts...")

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III.C: "Lull"

Martin: Chapter 5 "Noontime Lull"

Pfanz: Chapters 10-12 "Noon Lull", "Howard and the Eleventh Corps" and 
"Ewell and Rodes Reach the Field"

Again, details matter: the word "lull" is clearly a misnomer as to total 
activity. While it was a "lull" with respect to heavy fighting, other 
"stuff" was always going on.  I think both Pfanz and Martin make this 
clear, but due to the greater detail, Martin left me with a much greater 
understanding of what was going on during this period of time. And I 
think that's really important towards understanding the afternoon's 
events. (Defensive mode on: of course Pfanz also discusses this stuff, 
but one example of differentiation may help: Throughout his book, Martin 
keeps tabs on Devin's Brigade of Calvary, including what they did during 
this period of time. Pfanz talks about his brigade early in the morning, 
and then you don't "see" them again until the collapse of the 11th corp 
is occurring late in the afternoon.)

Anyways, by the numbers - though in this case they are misleading, 
Martin spends 36 pages on this while Pfanz 42. But, to be fair, Pfanz 
spends some time talking about the history of corp and division 
commanders that Martin dispenses with. And similarly, Pfanz spends some 
time discussing troop movements that Martin handles elsewhere.

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III.D:  Afternoon

Martin: Chapter 6, 7 & 8: "The Fight on Oak Hill", "Collapse of the XI 
Corps" and "Climax on Seminary Ridge"

Pfanz: Chapters 13-23: "Oak Ridge", "Daniel's and Ramseur's Brigade 
Attack", "Daniel Strikes Stone", "Schurz Prepares for Battle", "Early's 
Division Attacks", "Gordon and Doles Sweep the Field", "The Brickyard 
Fight", "Heth Attacks", "Retreat from McPherson Ridge", "Seminary Ridge",
and "Retreat through the Town'

First, the format taken diverges a bit here: As noted above, Martin 
basically separates this into "south of the pike" and "north of the 
pike" (granted, with notations as to what was going on where at 
different times; and there is some crossover too). Pfanz splits this 
complex period of time into a number of chapters.

Second, I find the chapter names interesting for Martin: Whereas the 
11th corp "collapses" the 1st corp isn't even mentioned in its chapters. 
There seems to be enough evidence present to show that for sure the 1st 
corp comported itself better than the 11th (in general). But: it also 
got routed off of McPherson Ridge back to Seminary Ridge (and had a 
(very) short period of time to reform), and then got cracked open and 
rolled back like the lid off of a can of sardines, and sent sprawling 
through the town just like the 11th corps.

As noted, this is a complex period of time - a lot of give and take, a 
lot of bold stands and hard charges. Both deal with it well - I think - 
But I kind of wonder if it would not have been better for Martin to 
split (at least) the McPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge "battles" apart. 
(It just flowed one to the other.)

Wow! A Martin nit :-) : Given that we are talking about 54 + 80(!) + 
130(!!) pages of text (per chapter) for Martin here, I think a little 
breaking up would have helped. Pfanz spends a total of 164 pages on this 
part of the day in his 10 chapters/16 pages per chapter on average -- as 
opposed to 264 or almost 90 pages per chapter on average for Martin.

16 pages might be too small, and 90 seems too big, perhaps simply 
breaking the chapter on the fight south of the pike into a couple of 65 
page chapters would lower this to a more manageable 66 pages per chapter 
on average for Martin.

Both also cover the withdrawal, fighting and occupation of the town 
itself in these chapters (Pfanz mostly in the 10 page chapter "Retreat 
through the Town", while Martin ends the chapters on the collapse of the 
11th corp, and "climax" on Seminary Ridge to detail this).

I have to admit, having done a lot of reading in this area prior to 
reading Martin must have given me a pretty decent background, and thus 
that may be why I was able to follow Martin as well as I could. I bet if 
someone picked this up the first time, even Martin's clear prose would 
be hard to swallow in one go.

Pfanz, on the other hand, does break things down very well here - I 
recall being able to go through it one chapter at a time, and 
understanding one chunk, and then moving on.

Both authors, I feel, surely give you the feel for "orchestrated 
pandemonium" that was the afternoon on day one.

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III.E: Cemetery Hill

Martin: Chapter 11: "Cemetery Hill"

Pfanz: Chapter 25: "Cemetery Hill" (must be a catch name), and "Epilogue"

Pfanz (26 pages) and Martin (103(!) pages) both discuss the aftermath of 
the retreat of the Union forces, but Martin goes into much more detail 
concerning troop movements and placements. And, both also touch on the 
big question: "Should Lee/Ewell/Hill have attacked Cemetery Hill late on 
the first day?" (Sorry, you'll have to read the books to get that answer...)

Both authors also discuss the pros and cons of various command judgments 
(army, corp, division and brigade), with Martin going into some great 
detailed discussion here.

I get the feeling that Pfanz stopped a little early here in comparison 
to Martin -- his book on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill pick up some of 
the late-night stuff that Martin includes as part of day one. I'm not 
"whacking" on Pfanz here, in some sense, Martin's discussion is like 
coming to the end of the pages but not the end of the story ("For the 
rest of the story read Martin's non-existent (that I know of) 
_Gettysburg July 2_, or, of course, Pfanz's books on the hills & 'day 
two - right side only'.") The stuff I'm referring to here is really 
bridge stuff between the end of day one, and getting ready for Ewell on 
day two.

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III.F: And so on...

Martin: 6 Appendices, including the obligatory order of battle (OOoB) 
and casualty numbers, notes, bibliography, and index.

Pfanz: 4 Appendices, including the OOoB; a lot of notes, bibliography 
and index.

Note: Pfanz was published after Martin, yet does not include Martin in 
his bibliography. Strange not to use this - Pfanz had no problem 
referencing Coddington, and I think Martin goes beyond Coddington with 
details on day one. (Martin on the other hand *does* quote Pfanz's other 
works...)

Martin's notes are pretty much just the references, little verbiage. 
Pfanz does expand a bit more in his notes section, so make sure to check 
them out.

Martin has a couple of very interesting appendices: Topographical - 
describing some of the "interesting" terrain features of the battle 
areas, Chronological and Meteorological, and Battery Armaments.

Both authors deal with "human interest" aspects of the battle as well, 
Pfanz in these appendices, while Martin sprinkles them in the text in 
appropriate places. (A good place to note that both like to add in 
first-person accounts, with Martin's extra space he was able to put more 
in. I like those, it adds to the discussion tremendously.)

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IV: Conclusion (Subjective Mode on Extreme)

Frankly speaking, I think the Martin books is one of the very best books 
I've yet read on Gettysburg. Very detailed, yet easy to follow. He is 
not afraid to concisely state his opinions on the "might have beens", 
and goes to great lengths to make you feel like you are there on the 
battlefield
as things are happening. Even when getting down to the "nitty gritty" he 
puts in enough references (in time/place) to keep you aware of whats 
going on around that has an impact on the specific issue he is covering.

That's *not* to say the Pfanz book isn't good in its own right -- it too 
covers day one in a reasonable level of detail, just not to the level 
Martin does. I don't find that its a case of "omissions" in the Pfanz 
work, its just that things that Martin dives down deep into, Pfanz 
discusses more quickly and then moves on.

And to be fair, one thing I like about both authors is there willingness 
to made judgments - they've reviewed the facts in detail, and make sure 
to let you know where they stand on issues.

Advise:

- If you don't have either book, then it's mostly a matter of time you 
want to invest: right now I prefer the Martin book, but it takes time to 
read it. If you only have a little time, (or interest? or money?) then 
head over to Pfanz. It's a great read in its own right.

- ("Deflectors on high, Sulu!") If you have the Martin book, I'm not 
sure getting the Pfanz book adds much (if anything). Perhaps, a 
different take or two on certain areas, but I don't recall any distinct 
differences in opinion, and I'm not aware of any (important) details 
Pfanz covers that isn't in Martin. (I could be wrong...wouldn't be the 
100th time)

- If you have the Pfanz book already (as in my case initially), what 
would drive you to also purchase the Martin book? Clearly if you are 
interested in getting even deeper into the details, get the Martin book 
- you won't be sorry. I didn't feel an overly large amount of "read 
that" - even though I think I've read a lot of stuff pertaining to day 
one (all the Gettysburg Magazines, Sears, Trudeau, Coddington, ...). I 
bet it s going to be a great resource for me down the line.

Alan

PS. BTW: Why did *I* buy the Martin book when I already had the Pfanz 
book? Because this people on this list recommended it - and I've grown
to trust a lot of things the people on this list recommend.

Except, perhaps, College Football Picks or recommendations about "hot 
dogs" -- my father was a meat cutter and since he told me why *he* won't 
eat them, I make sure I wont either. (Of course, a good Deutschmacher 
Frank is *not* a hot dog, and quite good to boot!)

PPS. If there is interest, and if I get the time, I'll do a similar 
comparison between Hess and Stewart's books on Pickett's Charge. 
(Another couple of recommendations recently - what else can I read until 
the Stuart book shows up!? :-) )