"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara

Essay by wuwh1126University, Bachelor'sA+, September 2006

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The Battle of Gettysburg brought the dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angles gives the full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America's future.

Michael Shaara tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the generals and men involved in the action of the battle. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg gives the reader a chance to experience the battle personally and not the history book manner taught in schools. A historical novel gives the facts straightforward and provides no commentary by the people involved in history. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg, as seen in The Killer Angles, provides the facts of the battle as seen through the eyes of Generals Robert E.

Lee, James Longstreet, John Buford and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. The feelings and inner-thoughts of each General and the conditions of the battle are seen, heard, and felt by the reader in the historical account. Shaara takes historical license with letters, the words of the men, and documents written during the three hellish days of the battle. Shaara avoids historical opinion and provides his own opinion towards the Civil War and the people. The historical account of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg specifically, in The Killer Angles conveys the attitude toward war, attitude towards the Civil War, and cause for fighting the war of General Robert E. Lee, Joshua Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and John Buford.

General Robert E. Lee gained stoic and legendary status as the heart and soul of the South in the Civil War, but many did not know his reasons for fighting the war. War...