Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg (Crown Journeys)
by James M. McPherson

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Book Reviews of Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg (Crown Journeys)

Book Review: A Walk Through Gettysburg
Summary: 5 Stars

McPherson is an ideal guide for many reasons. Most importantly, he is reflective. His focus is on the meaning and significance of the Battle rather than on bare fact or on a strict discussion of detailed military maneuvers. McPherson sees the Battle, and the Civil War in general, as a conflict driven by the institution of slavery. He reminds the reader of the "New Birth of Freedom" that President Lincoln saw as the meaning of the conflict in his Gettysburg Address. McPherson is alive to other meanings of the struggle, including the role it played in forging an American nationalism, and including as well the valor shown and the sacrifices endured by the many who fought at Gettysburg, from the Union and from the Confederacy. The reader comes away from the book encouraged to think through the meaning of the Battle. This would be the best result that could be achieved from a book about Gettysburg or from a visit to the Battlefield.

Professor McPherson is also an ideal guide because he resists the temptation to say too much. Several recent books such as those by Stephen Sears and Noah Trudeau offer outstanding accounts of the fighting at Gettysburg, its prelude, and its aftermath. Professor McPherson's book, in contrast, is not a detailed military study of the campaign. Rather, he gives the reader short summaries of the fighting on each of the three days of the battle. What he says is lucid and cuts to the heart of the battle. It is what a person seeing the Battlefield would need to know, and what the visitor could reasonably hope to absorb in a single visit without becoming bogged down in a welter of detail. (The detail of course is necessary for those wishing to study the battle in depth.)

McPherson is also an ideal guide because of his sense of place at the Battlefield. McPherson tells the reader that he has seen the Battlefield by walking, biking, car and bus. He has brought his classes from Princeton, as well as other groups, to see the Battlefield and to think about the role of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War in American History. McPherson's account emphasizes the physical features of the battlefield --where the trees and orchards were in 1863 and where the land now differs from its topography at the time of the battle. He is full of anecdotes about people of the Battle, of great rank and of low rank, and of civilians. He has wonderfully specific information about the many monuments and statutes that await the visitor at Gettysburg and that memorialze the events of the Battle. He is also full of challenging questions and of answers that may surprise. For example, "is there any significance to whether a horse is standing on two legs in determining whether its rider survived the battle"? (see p. 40) "Who is the only enlisted soldier with his own monument on the battlefield and why? (see p.53) Also, "Did the Battle of Gettysburg result from an advance Confederate brigade entering Gettysburg in search of shoes"? (see p.35-36) McPherson's avoids pat answers to these and many other questions.

This book is a meditation on the Battle of Gettysburg by a writer who has thought long and deeply about his subject. It will move the reader and increase the reader's ability to reflect upon our history.

Summary of Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg (Crown Journeys)

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