Given his well known high regard for the Union cavalry general, it's a bit surprising it's taken this long for Eric Wittenberg to fashion "The Devil's to Pay": John Buford at Gettysburg - A History and Walking Tour (Savas Beatie, Fall '14) for us. By leaps and bounds, the first day of Gettysburg has always held the most interest for me and I've always thought the celebration of Buford's skillful delaying action to be a bit over the top, more a byproduct of the premier battle and victory it's associated with rather than a particularly exceptional feat of Civil War tactical generalship [blasphemy!?]. I am really looking forward to this to see if Eric can change my mind on the matter.
Looking forward to this one.
ReplyDeleteHeaving read Longacre's Buford, David Martin's 'Gettysburg July 1', and Shue's 'Morning at Willoughby Run' (among others) it seems to me that Buford was the real deal.
By the way, 'The Unknown Civil War' series did back in 1999 a good episode on Buford and Gettysburg that featured Mr Wittenberg in a prominent way.
P.S. And if Sam Elliott's holding your line how can one be afraid?
Chris