"This
history of the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves is a book of decidedly uncommon
merits. Unlike many regimental histories, this one is marked by exhaustive
research in the manuscript repositories, and Gibbs shows impressive
skill in judiciously evaluating his sources. The resulting narrative
affords an excellent balance between human and military content. Make
no mistake about it: this is as fine a piece of research as you will
find on a regimental-level unit." -Robert K. Krick, author of Stonewall
Jackson at Cedar Mountain and Lee's Colonels
“Regimental histories are notoriously uneven in quality.
Some are little more than “cut & paste” compilations
of official sources and modern opinion, while others are truly
gems of research and writing. Joseph Gibbs’ Three Years in
the Bloody Eleventh: The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment
decidedly falls into the latter category. Making extensive use
of manuscripts, original letters and newspaper accounts, as well
as many records in the National Archives and other respositories,
Gibbs has created a thoroughly researched and engagingly written
story of a unit that saw incredibly heavy service.” —Tom
Clemens America’s Civil War
Hailing
from the Keystone State's rugged western counties, the Eleventh
Pennsylvania Reserves was one of the Civil War's most heavily
engaged units. Of more than 2,100 regiments raised by the
North, it suffered the eighth highest number of battle deaths,
earning
it the gruesome sobriquet "Bloody Eleventh."
Three Years in the "Bloody Eleventh" tells the story of
this often-overlooked division of the Army of the Potomac from before
the war up through 1864. Drawing on letters, diaries, and archival
documents, Joseph Gibbs writes of men such as Colonel Thomas Gallagher,
who led his troops into battle smoking a cigar, and Samuel Jackson,
who became the regiment's commander following Gallagher's promotion.
He rediscovers the complexities of the men who commanded the brigades
and divisions of which the Eleventh Reserves was a part—figures
such as George Meade, John Reynolds, and Samuel Crawford.
While Gibbs writes about the officers, he never loses sight of
the men in the ranks who marched into places such as Gaines's Mill,
Miller's Cornfield at Antietam, and the Wheatfield at Gettysburg.
Nor does he forget the homes, wives, and children they left behind
in western Pennsylvania.
With its meticulous research and lucid prose, Three Years in
the "Bloody Eleventh" provides both scholars and Civil War enthusiasts
with an unprecedented look inside the trials and tribulations of
one of the war's most battle-tested units.
|
