The Colors of Courage: Unheard Voices From the Battle of Gettysburg

Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: Finally! Something new about the one of the most talked about battles in American history. This book is a refreshing and fascinating take on Gettysburg.

Rating:
Summary: Insight into History
Review: History is written by the victors, or so the saying goes. Quite often, it is the disenfranchised that bears the brunt of histories rath, no more so than the groups outlined in Margaret S. Creighton's magnificent work, "The Colors of Courage".

So many books out there have painstakingly dissected the grand battle of Gettysburg, some tomes hundreds of pages long about just one day in the town. However, the stories contained here are rare and untold, and finally have seen the light of literature. And a finely crafted book it is.

Creighton, obviously relying on the sketchiest of details, has recreated the lives and passions of three groups of people affected in Gettysburg: immigrant soldiers, women, and African Americans. Creighton's style doesn't weigh heavily on the endless parade of names often associated with historical texts, but centers on a few people who represented each group. Their stories are compelling and intrguing. Even in the tale of nin year old Sadie Bushman, where research may not reveal much, Creighton provides an historical overtone to how childhood and especially girlhood, was revered in America in the 1800's. The effect is wonderful, and moves the story along.

Horrifying is the treatment of African Americans in the border town of Pennsylvania. Creighton tells the tales of a dual "Underground Railroad", one that returned slaves to the south as well as the more well-known one that saved them. I'm embarrassed to admit not having even known this was the case; thank goodness Creighton's book corrects the error.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to further develop their understanding of the terrible battle of Gettysburg. These groups now shall not be forgotten, thanks to the work of historian and author Margaret Creighton.

Rating:
Summary: A New Look at an Historic Battle
Review: Margaret Creighton fills in those gaps that most historians, in their tight focus on the battle and soldiers themselves, have left out of the picture. She shows the disregarded and suspect German-American 11th Corps accused of cowardice trying to atone for previous military failure, the African-Americans fearful of being captured and returned to slavery, the women left to deal with the terror of the battle and loss of husbands and children, the loss of their farms and animal, and the town itself in shambles after the battle left to cope with the sick and wounded.
She goes past the battle itself to the twentieth century to show how the issue of emancipation became less important that the reconciliation of the south and the north. A splendid work written with insight and care.