GDG- Book "Retreat From Gettysburg"

[Tom Ryan]

<<Am reading the book "Retreat From Gettysburg"  by Kent Masterson Brown and
find it all ready very interesting.  Have any of you read this book and if
so, what are your opinions of it?
Thank you ahead of time.>>

Hi Clare,

	I think you will find that a number of the folks on this board have read
Brown's book.  It was discussed at some length when it first came out a
while back.  Some doubts were expressed about the figures that the author
cited for the number of horses, cattle, etc. that were confiscated and sent
South, but thus far no counter evidence has come forth as far as I know.

	It is an excellent study that has added a lot to our overall knowledge of
the retreat, and supplements an issue of North & South Magazine that was
devoted to the retreat a few years ago.  Sears and Coddington both had a
chapter on the retreat in their books on Gettysburg, but Brown's obviously
dug much deeper and covered a lot more bases.

	One sidelight that I enjoyed learning about was the manner in which the
Confederates handled their wounded on the battlefield and in field
hospitals.  Also, Brown gave statistics on how many wounded each Rebel
division left behind and the number of medical personnel that stayed behind
to care for them.

	I had some issues with Brown's interpretation of Lee's strategy, and he was
unaware that the Union army had an intelligence staff collecting information
about Rebel movements during the retreat, but otherwise his research seems
solid and he documents his statements very well.  There are still some open
questions about his stats on confiscated goods and the number of wagons in
the trains during the retreat.  Until someone comes up with different
figures, Brown's estimates will have to stand.

	I enjoyed the book a lot.  There will be another book on this subject
coming out soon by esteemed members of the GDG, and that will add even more
knowledge on the subject.

Regards, Tom Ryan


-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com
[mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of Mike and Clare
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 2:18 PM
To: gettysburg at gdg.org
Subject: GDG- Book "Retreat From Gettysburg"


Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


Hi Group,
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