The Killer Angels Summary

Reading of Period of 1844-1877: The Killer Angels This novel reconstructed the splendid story of the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, one of the most significant battles during the Civil War. After the first victory on invasion of the North in Virginia, Confederate troops led by Major General, Robert Lee, launched the second step advancing the North. The Union army organized defense against Lee. The two forces encountered at Gettysburg.
The story begins on June 29, 1863. A Confederate spy sent by General Longstreet reported that a huge volume of Union army was marching nearby. Enraged by the absence of General Stuart who was supposed to track the position of the Unions with his cavalry, General Longstreet reported this news to General

The dismounted cavalries carried firm defense and repulsed the attack. Lee was enraged by Stuart for his absence which left Lee blind on the movement of Union army. Soon, with the aid by other troops, Heth took a second attack on Buford’s cavalry. At the point when Buford estimated he was about to lose, the infantry of General Reynolds arrived on time, fought back the Confederates, though Reynolds was killed by a shot. Buford was eventually forced back, but cautious Confederate generals did not pursuit, which made aggressive Lee angry. Meanwhile, Chamberlain’s army was marching towards Gettysburg and arrived Little Round Top at night, preparing for the fight the next day. Longstreet suggested Lee moving southeast between the Unions and Washington D.C., cutting off their way to capital and forcing them to attack; the Confederates could therefore take advantage of defensive war to intercept the enemies. Lee refused for he worried about the risk of moving the army without Stuart’s guide. Also in some degree in Lee’s mind, trench warfare is not “gentlemen warfare”, which disappointed Longstreet who insist on making the full use of modern

Longstreet is one of the characters that have the most occurrences in the whole story. Either direct or indirect description builds up the full character of Longstreet. The first great him takes place at the night when the Confederate spy came back. The instinctive spy could not help showing off his talent on getting information, telling Longstreet the position of Confederate army that he estimated, which exactly matched the truth. Longstreet was utterly amazed, but he just “nodded, showing nothing”, kept the calmness of a general. On the other hand, Longstreet sometimes would demonstrated the side of a normal person, the happiness and sadness which an ordinary person will possess. On the night of first day of battle, July 1, he rode out of Gettysburg, aimlessly roaming on the road. He thought of his three children, who all died within a week when the fever had swept Richmond in the winter. “He saw the sweet faces: moment of enormous pain. The thing had pushed him out of his mind, insane, but no one knew it.” and “what he had left was the army.” (Pg. 127). Even though, the life in regiment did not always turn out to be happy memory. When the old commander Jackson was alive, he tried to court-martial one of Longstreet’s subordinate general, Dick Garnett, for his cowardice when facing the enemy. Longstreet said, “I’ve known Garnett for twenty years, not coward.” But the rumors from people who knows nothing