Three Years in the “Bloody Eleventh”
The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Pennsylvania State University Press
Published:1st Jan '02
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£29.95(9780271058382)
Hailing from the Keystone State’s rugged western counties, the Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves was one of the Civil War’s most heavily engaged units. Of more than 2,100 regiments raised by the North, it suffered the eighth highest percentage of battle deaths, earning it the gruesome sobriquet "Bloody Eleventh."
Three Years in the "Bloody Eleventh" tells the story of this often-overlooked element of the Army of the Potomac from before the war up through 1864. Drawing on letters, diaries, and archival documents, Joseph Gibbs writes of men such as Colonel Thomas Gallagher, who led his troops into battle smoking a cigar, and Samuel Jackson, who became the regiment’s commander following Gallagher’s promotion. He rediscovers the complexities of the men who commanded the brigades and divisions of which the Eleventh Reserves was a part—figures such as George Meade, John Reynolds, and Samuel Crawford.
While Gibbs writes about the officers, he never loses sight of the men in the ranks who marched into places such as Gaines’ Mill, Miller’s Cornfield at Antietam, and the Wheatfield at Gettysburg. Nor does he forget the homes, wives, and children they left behind in western Pennsylvania.
With its meticulous research and lucid prose, Three Years in the "Bloody Eleventh" provides both scholars and Civil War enthusiasts with an unprecedented look inside the trials and tribulations of one of the war’s most battle-tested units.
“This history of the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves is a book of decidedly uncommon merits. Unlike many regimental histories, this one is marked by exhaustive research in the manuscript repositories, and Gibbs shows impressive skill in judiciously evaluating his sources. The resulting narrative affords an excellent balance between human and military content. Make no mistake about it: this is as fine a piece of research as you will find on a regimental-level unit."”
—Robert K. Krick,author of Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain and Lee’s Colonels
“Regimental histories are notoriously uneven in quality. Some are little more than ‘cut and paste’ compilations of official sources and modern opinion, while others are truly gems of research and writing. Joseph Gibbs’ Three Years in the Bloody Eleventh: The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment decidedly falls into the latter category. Making extensive use of manuscripts, original letters and newspaper accounts, as well as many records in the National Archives and other repositories, Gibbs has created a thoroughly researched and engagingly written story of a unit that saw incredibly heavy service.”
—Tom Clemens America’s Civil War Magazine
“This history of the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves is a book of decidedly uncommon merits. Unlike many regimental histories, this one is marked by exhaustive research in the manuscript repositories, and Gibbs shows impressive skill in judiciously evaluating his sources. The resulting narrative affords an excellent balance between human and military content. Make no mistake about it: this is as fine a piece of research as you will find on a regimental-level unit.”
—Robert K. Krick,author of Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain and Lee’s Colonels
ISBN: 9780271021669
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 31mm
Weight: 794g
400 pages