Booknotes: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863

New Arrival:

• The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863 by James A. Hessler (Casemate, 2025).

The Casemate Illustrated series already has dozens of titles available. While the series is heavily weighted toward World War II topics, there are a number of volumes covering the American Civil War, American Revolution, and War of 1812 that are either out already or in production. Last year, I reviewed David Powell's two-volume series contribution, The Atlanta Campaign, 1864 (2024). Just yesterday, the March and April '25 Civil War releases (4 volumes in total) arrived on my doorstep. First up from the March pairing is James Hessler's The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863.

Hessler's volume revisits a number of the major issues of contested history and interpretation from that day. From the description: "The first day of the Battle of Gettysburg is often overshadowed by fighting on the following days, but July 1 was one of the bloodiest single engagements of the entire Civil War. Many of the decisions leading to and through Gettysburg’s first day remain steeped in controversy. Did Meade intend to fight on the Pipe Creek line in Maryland until subordinates such as Major General John Reynolds forced the engagement at Gettysburg? Did the absence of J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry really leave Lee “blind” to his opponent’s movements? Was Lee’s desire to avoid a general engagement ignored by his own officers? With neither commanding general on the battlefield for much of the day, crucial decisions remained in the hands of subordinates such as John Buford, John Reynolds, A. P. Hill, Richard Ewell, and Oliver Howard."

Like the earlier Civil War volumes that I've had the chance to go through, this one blends text with maps (by my count, 8 in total), leader sidebars, an event timeline, period B&W photography, modern color images, and orders of battle. You could describe content and presentation as an enhanced version of what you might see in the popular Osprey books. Since this Civil War volume covers part of a single battle rather than an entire campaign, many of the maps are able to show more small-unit detail (the positions of regiments and batteries). The text is not annotated nor is there a bibliography, but you're in good hands with a Gettysburg expert like Hessler at the helm. There is a "Further Reading" section near the end of the book.

More from the description: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863 "sets the stage for the Civil War’s greatest battle and covers the heroism, decisions, and mistakes made on the first day at Gettysburg." You can't very well do Day 1 and not go on from there to devote separate volumes to the other two days of the battle, so I would strongly expect to see those sometime in the future.