Little Round Top at Gettysburg: A Reassessment of July 2, 1863

Little Round Top. Three words that resonate in American military history. It was there, at one of the most visited sites on the Gettysburg battlefield, that Confederates under Maj. Gen. John B. Hood tried to turn the left flank of the Army of the Potomac. Only the supreme efforts of Col. Strong Vincent’s brigade and a handful of others, including Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and Cols. Patrick O’Rorke and Joshua Chamberlain, saved the high ground and potential disaster for the Union army. Little Round Top at Gettysburg: A Reassessment of July 2, 1863 is the first full-length in-depth treatment of this complex bloody affair in two decades.

Most visitors today became familiar with the fighting on Little Round Top after reading Michael Shaara’s 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Killer Angels, which enjoyed renewed popularity following the movie Gettysburg two decades later. Both portrayals took license with what happened there, and many of the accounts by the men who fought there, and those who have written about it, abound with inconsistencies and, in some cases, are based on incomplete information. Joseph Michael Boslet’s years of studying primary sources, including battle reports, soldier narratives, and regimental histories, confirmed many events but contradicted others.

The author, a Vietnam combat veteran and passionate student of the Civil War, reexamined practical aspects of basic tactics when considering the placement of regiments and their use of 19th century approaches to combat. He walked every yard of that rocky hillside too often to count. Boslet’s unique perspective is based on having experienced many of the same situations, similar combat experiences, and the same emotions as these soldiers—blue and gray—in their fighting on Little Round Top.

Together with helpful original maps, photos, and explanatory notes, Little Round Top at Gettysburg is a practical history that can be enjoyed in an easy chair or taken onto the battlefield to walk the same ground the soldiers fought over, and see the battle as they may have viewed it.

Advanced Praise

“A topic of considerable historiographical interest in the last thirty years, the tactical fight for Little Round Top has never been as comprehensively interpreted as it is here. Joe Boslet’s arguments are well-grounded in the sources and evoke a professional soldier’s special understanding of the experience of combat. More importantly, they refocus our attention on Union and Confederate regiments and commanders too often overlooked in previous studies and analyze the outcome of this part of the battle of Gettysburg in its proper context.” — Dr. Christian B. Keller, Professor of History, DNSS, Director of the Military History Program, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA, and author of The Great Partnership: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and the Fate of the Confederacy

“Joe Boslet’s blend of deep research about Little Round Top with his own knowledge from combat experiences in the Vietnam War make for a piece of writing that explains the true mechanics of infantry small-unit tactics, and what soldiers and officers dealt with, felt, and endured during this crucial fight.” — Harold M. Knudsen, LTC (Ret.), U.S. Army, combat veteran, and author of James Longstreet and the American Civil War: The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War

“Many books have been published about the action on Little Round Top on July 2. While most toe the traditional line, Joe Boslet takes a refreshingly new approach in explaining what occurred during this seminal action. Using his own Vietnam combat experience, he challenges traditional views and forces the reader to consider the action in a different light. It is very interesting and highly enlightening.” — Bradley M. Gottfried, author of The Maps of Gettysburg and The Brigades of Gettysburg

“The struggle for Little Round Top on the late afternoon and evening of July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg has fascinated students and historians for generations. Stories seem endless and controversies abound. In this book, Joe Boslet, a combat veteran and professional soldier, offers a reinterpretation of events that merits attention by buffs and scholars. His different perspective challenges many earlier viewpoints. This book continues the fascination of the fighting on a hill outside a small Pennsylvania community.” — Jeffry D. Wert, author of The Heart of Hell: The Soldiers’ Struggle for Spotsylvania’s Bloody Angle