by Ralph Peters
Of equal importance and inspiration were two revelatory works by James S. Pula, who has dedicated himself to teaching us about the role of immigrants in our nation’s history. His admirable book The Sigel Regiment: A History of the 26th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, 1862–1865 helps redress the injustice done to idealistic German immigrants maligned by nativists unwilling to blame their own kind for disasters. This is great work by any standard, and it led me to a second book of Dr. Pula’s, the indispensable For Liberty and Justice: A Biography of Brigadier General Wlodzimierz B. Krzyzanowski, 1824–1887. For far too long, Krzyzanowski has been only a name on a monument on the drive to Barlow’s Knoll. Dr. Pula memorialized a great soldier whose commitment to freedom eclipsed that of many a native-born officer. The book inspired me, and I am deeply in Dr. Pula’s debt.
As a side note: I did not feature the 26th North Carolina and 26th Wisconsin in this book for the sake of twinning their numbers to make a symbolic point. It was purely coincidental that these two regiments best fit the tale I hoped to tell.
There are legions of Gettysburg books in stores, libraries, archives, and attics and for sale online. For readers who wish to learn more about the battle, I recommend Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears for an excellent introductory account. On the first day of battle, David G. Martin’s Gettysburg July 1 is comprehensive, while Harry W. Pfanz’s Gettysburg: The First Day reveals a profound familiarity with the battlefield. Pfanz also authored Gettysburg: The Second Day, which stands as the definitive account of the encounters on the Union left, but which should be read together with his Gettysburg: Culp’s Hill & Cemetery Hill to complete the picture on the Union right. For Pickett’s Charge, which has captured the interest of writers from Faulkner to Foote, Pickett’s Charge: The Last Attack at Gettysburg, by Earl J. Hess, offers the best contemporary scholarship.
For biographies and memoirs, try Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander, edited by Gary W. Gallagher. If that excites your interest, pick your general—nearly every senior officer who failed to die on the battlefield seems to have fought on with pen and ink.
Among modern accounts, General James Longstreet: The Confederacy’s Most Controversial Soldier, by Jeffry D. Wert, is a highly readable introduction to Old Pete, while James A. Hessler’s Sickles at Gettysburg puts the best possible face on an odious man (who was, for all his faults, a Union patriot). Glenn Tucker’s Hancock the Superb remains a vigorous pleasure, while Toward Gettysburg, by Edward J. Nichols, humanizes the valiant, tragic Reynolds. But when it comes to Meade, it’s disheartening how little has been written about this great, if difficult, man. After fifty years, the best biography is still Meade of Gettysburg, by Freeman Cleaves, although it’s also worth reading the stiff-necked Isaac R. Pennypacker’s General Meade from 1901. Meade deserves better. (I can attest that gifted generals are not always affable.)
Finally, I must pay tribute to Philip Laino, whose Gettysburg Campaign Atlas is a wonderful tool for those of us who are entranced by the battle. Mr. Laino has created 421 maps that clarify events remarkably. Infuriatingly, this superb work has not yet been published in the high-quality edition it deserves. Life’s as unfair as war.
The Civil War remains with us in countless ways, from the oddity of Confederate flags flown in West Virginia—a state created because its residents sided with the Union—to the long, infernal hangover of slavery. The greatest battlefields are national parks, flooded with tourists, and a novel about one battle fought a century and a half ago can still charge into bookstores. It is the war that made us who we are.
It was also our bloodiest war, with over six hundred thousand Americans dead, and our most evocative. The enduring power of its music attests to it. We can listen to “Yankee Doodle,” “Over There,” “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” or “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die” with recognition and amusement, but they do not stir us.
Play “Dixie.” It summons images of unrivaled courage. Then play “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The heart swells with a sense of justice triumphant.
Courage and justice. They belong together.
FORGE BOOKS BY RALPH PETERS
The War After Armageddon
The Officers’ Club
Cain at Gettysburg
About the Author
RALPH PETERS, New York Times bestselling author of The War After Armageddon, is a retired U.S. Army officer; a controversial strategist and veteran of the intelligence world; a journalist who appears frequently in the broadcast media; and a lifelong traveler with experience in more than seventy countries on six continents. Peters has studied the Battle of Gettysburg since childhood, when his parents took him on annual pilgrimages to that hallowed ground. Combining years of walking those fields and painstaking research with insight into the souls of generals and privates gleaned from his own military career, Ralph Peters tells this great American tale in a masterful style.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
CAIN AT GETTYSBURG
Copyright © 2012 by Ralph Peters
All rights reserved.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Peters, Ralph, 1952–
Cain at Gettysburg / Ralph Peters. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-3047-5
1. Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3566.E7559C35 2012
813'.54—dc23
2011024970
e-ISBN 9781429968478
First Edition: February 2012