The Killer Angels Essay

The Killer Angels Essay

The novel The Killer Angels, by Michael Sharra is the story of the Battle of Gettysburg. On July 1, 1863 the union army and the confederate army fought the largest battle of the American Civil War. The book is based on real life people who were a part of the Civil War. The main characters were Gen. Robert Lee from the confederate army, Gen. James Longstreet, and Col. Joshua Chamberlain from the union army. The period covered in this book is Jun. 30-Jul 3, 1863. It takes place in a small town called Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The main cause of the war was because the confederate army wanted to secede from the rest of the states. Most of the story was from the perspective of the confederate leaders, so we were able to really capture what the south was really thinking throughout this whole book. The story for the most part is told in the 3rd person. The confederates controlled Seminary Ridge and the union army controlled Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge, Culp's Hill, Little Round Top, and Big Round Top. Shaara's book very well tells the story of two great armies, both motivated and fighting for what each believes is a great and just cause, as they come together to fight one of the biggest battles ever fought in the world. This is a great novel of leadership, hardship, and history.

In The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, Shaara is forced to be creative in certain circumstances with the historical facts to entertain the reader. This is done because, no matter how much facts are presented to the reader, portions of the book must be filled with dialogue, characterization, and other necessary components to a book. If only the factual information were presented to the reader in The Killer Angels, the book would not have been published as or advertised as historical fiction. However, someone studying the history of the civil war must be able to separate the fact and fiction in regard to both the characters involved and the events.

The first example of such can be seen in the discussion between Freemantle, a British observer, and Longstreet. Freemantle says he is awed with the South's efforts, and that the South often reminds him of the British. The two of them discuss the British reason for staying out of the war, which was the issue of slavery. Were it not for the Confederacy's uses of the slaves, they would have full support of the British. Although this conversation is a true description of a conversation that might have taken place between the confederate leader and a British observer, there is no factual evidence supporting that this conversation. However, the reason given for Britain's unwillingness to support the South is completely true. The British did not want to ally themselves with a slave