Description
In July 1863 the bloodiest and most decisive battle of the Civil War used to be fought near the sleepy town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Whilst many books have been written about the landmark battle, When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg differs from the rest by detailing the horrific aftermath of the battle, detailing what it takes to put a town back together after two armies have fought through its streets and across the surrounding countryside. The small town of 2,400 inhabitants used to be faced with the enormous problem of burying more than 7,000 dead soldiers and taking care of 20,000 wounded men who had been left at the back of by both armies. Fields that just days earlier maintained crops and livestock were now littered with firearms, munitions, and swords, and nearly each building still standing used to be turned into a field hospital with mounds of amputated limbs left at the back of after the surgeons had completed their grizzly work.
When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg provides firsthand accounts of life in the town and at the battlefield in the days and months following the brutal fighting. Included are stories and vivid descriptions from soldiers, reporters, civilians, doctors, and nurses. Good Samaritans came to lend a hand the wounded and the dying, and profiteers and souvenir hunters were not far at the back of. Then came the politicians, followed by legions of families in quest of the remains of their fallen sons.
When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg presents the heart-breaking human misery resulting from his battle and by the ongoing war wherever it went. From the backbreaking chore of clearing the battlefield of the wounded and dead to nursing the amputees, one can learn much of the battle by seeing what bizarre people who were pulled into the war did to live on and rebuild their lives.
George Sheldon
Civil War
Gettysburg