Osprey Trade Editions : Gettysburg 1863

The Confederate invasion of the Northern states was General Lee's last great gamble. By taking the war to the Union he hoped to force Lincoln into peace negotiations, or win support from the European powers - watching events closely from across the Atlantic. Equally, Meade's Army of the Potomac needed to regain it's fighting credibility after the setbacks of Fredericksburg and saw this as an opportunity to redeem its honour. With three years behind them, North and South both boasted professional armies. The clash of 150,000 soldiers from both sides would ultimately decide the fate of a nation. Although losses were similar in number, the relative cost to the South was greater because in this battle of attrition, they could not afford to lose the same number of men the Union could. Confederate losses were 4,637 killed, 12,391 wounded and 5,846 missing or captured, whilst the Union lost 3,149 killed, 14,503 wounded and 5,161 missing or captured. Carl Smith examines the bloody four days of Gettysburg, at which almost one in five participants died. Backed up by Adam Hook's colour plates and a whole host of contemporary illustrations Smith treats his readers to an in-depth examination of this critical battle of the American Civil War.