Killer Angels by Michael Shaara Essay - 1261 Words

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara The Killer Angels is an awesome and vivid story about the battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg was one of the most bloody and horrific battle of the American Civil War. Author Michael Shaara does an excellent job of showing the bravery and valor of the men fighting on both sides. The story begins in a town near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the town of Taneytown on June 29, 1863. Harrison, a spy for the confederacy, returns to General Longstreet late in the night and tells him about the Union troops he spotted moving closer to their camp and could ambush them at any time. Longstreet doesnt believe Harrison at first but Harrison is able to convince him eventually. Longstreet†¦show more content†¦Longstreet reports to Lee that the new commander of the Union forces is George Meade, and that he believes the Union Forces have occupied Gettysburg. He suggests battle tactics to Lee but they are turned down because they are too defensive. The confederate forces begin to attack General Bufords troops in Gettysburg and are being overwhelmed until General Reynolds troops arrive to help. Reynolds is shot and killed when he arrives and his troops fight without a commander. It shifts over to General Lee who is just arriving at the battle. Hes annoyed because he has had no information about any of this because Stuart is still no where to be found. Lee wants to fight the Union head on and does not retreat his troops or listen to Longstreets tactics. Lee will not listen to Longstreet, and Lees reticence makes Longstreet depressed. Longstreet starts to think about his children who died from fever over the winter, and he becomes even more depressed. He knows that the army is all that is left of meaning to him. Lee meets with three other generals to discuss strategies, Ewell, Rhodes, and Early. He wants Ewell to attack the right of the northern army the next day, and the other armies to move to the southeast and block the Union from Washington D.C., which was Longstreets idea. Lee goes to bed, and now General Buford of the Union is surveying the Hill that was taken by his forces earlier. He is orderedShow MoreRelatedThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1634 Words   |  7 PagesPulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara, the author of The Killer Angels, was born on June 23, 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was an author of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. Although writing was his passion, Shaara was very athletically successful in high school, winning more awards than any other student in the history of the school for sports such as basketball, track and baseball. He acquired a skill in boxing, and of the 18 matches Shaara fought as a young man, heRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1290 Words   |  6 Pages The Killer Angels Essay â€Å"There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.† Stated by Abraham Lincoln, this quote embodies the essence of war, its tragic character and unfortunate occasional necessity. Accordingly, the outcome of war and its battles is often determined by the attitudes of the leaders of the opposing sides, including their causes for the willingness to fight and to be fought. Such was the case with the Battle of GettysburgRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1521 Words   |  7 PagesThe book The Killer Angels was published in 1975 by the Ballatine Booksand was written by Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels is a historic novel about the time of the American Civil War, more specifically The Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara wrote this historical masterpiece with the sole purpose of letting the reader know exactly how the war was for the men actually putting their lives on the line to get this great country of America to the stature it is today. In order to accomplish his goal of creatingRead MoreThe Killer Angel By Michael Shaara1248 Words   |  5 Pages The Killer Angel is a book elaborating on the history of the American civil war authored by Michael Shaara. The book has gained popularity among American citizens as it covers one of the deadliest battles in American history that took place at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, hence the title of the battle of Gettysburg (Shaara 5). The crash involved two major groups, the Confederacy, and the Union. The Confederacy constituted of seven secessionist states from the South who advocated forRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1947 Words   |  8 Pagesthe 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 Angels gives this full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America’s future. Michael Shaara author of â€Å"The Killer Angels,† tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of generals Robert E. Lee, Joshua Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and John Buford, and the other men involved in the actionRead MoreKiller Angels By Michael Shaara850 Words   |  4 Pages In the Pulitzer Prize winning civil war novel Killer Angels, Michael Shaara covers five days of the historic battle between the Northern and Southern United States at Gettysburg. Both the North and the South fought for freedom, although they did not have equivalent definitions of freedom. The North and the South were unwavering in their beliefs and their hope for a better United States, but what the two butted heads the most on was slavery. The South was a primarily agrarian region which reliedRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1117 Words   |  5 Pages Michael Shaara’s 1974 historical novel, The Killer Angels, covers the story of the four days of the Battle of Gettysburg that also features maps for visualization. The format of the story is well organized. It begins with a Foreword, which describes in great detail the armies and soldiers involved in the battle. It follows up with four sections and within each section there are chapters that are written in chronological order, covering the events between Monday, June 29, 1863 and Friday, July 3Read MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara Essay1255 Words   |  6 Pages In the novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the story is told from the perspective of the men that fought in the war of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania on July 1863. We are able to see both sides of the combatants, their struggles they faced, friendships acquired, losses, personal stories and their views. In history we only learn the superficial information of how it occurred in the battle and the outcome of it, but we do not know how it happened and how much effort it took to fight in thatRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1123 Words   |  5 PagesThe Killer Angels Novel written by Michael Shaara describes the Gettysburg battle from the perspective of Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, various soldiers from both sides, and other men who fought in the battle. This author makes the reader go back in time and actually makes the reader depict the circumstances, and situations that soldiers and generals faced. This Novel makes the reader know that both sides were eager to win, and bring this bloodshed to an end. This amazing Novel shows how neighborRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara852 Words   |  4 PagesThe Killer Angels by Michael Shaara was not just a fiction novel, it was a story of a man who actually saw the battlefield of Gettysburg and learned about the battle and its importance. When he returned from the battle sight he decided to write a novel based on his experience there. Instead of creating fictional characters he used the names and experiences he had directly with the main characters of the novel. Not only did Shaara study and review letters, documents and journal enteries of the men