Resumo de The Killer Angels

The Killer Angels (1974) is Michael Shaara?s novel about the Battle of Gettysburg, often considered the most important battle of the American Civil War. Relying heavily on primary sources and taking care to avoid historical inaccuracy, the author writes an emotionally moving and continuously interesting account of the love, courage, mistakes, violence, and death that combined to create a glorious American tragedy.In the Foreword, Shaara describes briefly the Army of Northern Virginia, a Confederate force, as it invades Pennsylvania in June 1863; then, just as briefly, he describes the Army of the Potomac, a Union force, as it moves north in pursuit of the army that wants to win the war in one decisive engagement. Next, Shaara briefly introduces the officers who will be historically the most important at Gettysburg, although some will be more significant in his narrative than others. From the Confederacy there is General Robert Edward Lee, in command; under him serve Lieutenant General James Longstreet, Major General George Pickett, Lieutenant General Richard Ewell, Major General Ambrose Powell Hill, Brigadier General Lewis Armistead, Brigadier General Richard Brooke Garnett, Lieutenant General J. E. B. Stuart, and Major General Jubal Early. From the Union there is Major General George Gordon Meade, in command because Major General John Reynolds has refused the political control from Washington that goes with the job. Along with Meade and Reynolds, Shaara describes in his Foreword the Union officers Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Major General John Buford, and Major General Winfield Scott Hancock.The novel proper begins with a spy who tells Longstreet that Meade?s army is approaching. Ideally, Stuart should deliver such reports, but he and his cavalrymen have not returned from a foray deeper into Pennsylvania and have thus deprived Lee and Longstreet of militarily supplied intelligence. Within the Union Army, not all is well, as Chamberlain has to persuade volunteers from his home state of Maine that they should continue to fight, even though they thought they had enlisted for only two years; and Buford, a cavalry commander, worries that the rest of the Union army will arrive late and hopes to hold a position on high ground at Gettysburg until help comes.The battle itself begins on July 1. Reynolds arrives with his men to reinforce the Union positions but soon dies in action. As Chamberlain moves his troops northwest from Union Mills, Maryland, toward Gettysburg, fighting continues. Ewell?s soldiers drive Union soldiers back, but Ewell fails to pursue and capture Cemetery Hill. On July 2, Lee orders a frontal assault on Union positions, despite Longstreet?s protest. As it turns out, the Union supply wagons are vulnerable on the Confederate right; but, to obey Lee, Longstreet must order General John Bell Hood not to seize them but to head uphill toward Union soldiers who have sheltered themselves behind rocks. The fighting is fierce, especially on a hill called Little Round Top, where Chamberlain successfully defends his place at the very end of the Union line and forces a Confederate retreat when he orders his men to charge with fixed bayonets.The battle?s climax comes on July 3. Lee has ordered another frontal assault, this time on Cemetery Ridge, which runs south from Cemetery Hill. Again Longsteet objects in vain. After heavy fire from Confederate artillery, three divisions charge eastward, uphill toward the Union line. The division commanders are Generals Pettigrew, Trimble, and Pickett. Under Pickett?s command are Brigadier Generals Kemper, Garnett, and Armistead. Garnett, unfairly accused of cowardice by the late General Stonewall Jackson, is sick and lame and, against orders, must ride his horse in the charge, thus making himself a prominent target; his sense of honor will not let him stay behind. Armistead will charge on foot, toward a position commanded by his dear friend Hancock, against whom he has promisednever to lift his hand. As matters turn out, Chamberlain and his remaining men are at the focal point of the Confederate attack. The Confederate artillery barrage is not accurate enough to break the Union line, and the attacking soldiers rush into devastating rifle and artillery fire. Garnett dies in action. Somehow Armistead, leading his men with his hat on the tip of his sword, crosses the wall at the crest of the ridge, only to suffer a serious wound in a Union counterattack. Dying, Armistead asks a Union officer to send an apology to Hancock. The charge up Cemetery Ridge has failed. The Battle of Gettysburg is over. Recognizing the heavy losses his army has sustained and acknowledging his error to Longstreet, Lee orders a retreat. The war will continue, but the Confederacy has lost. In an Afterword, Shaara tells briefly what happens after the battle to fifteen of the men who survive it. Some die later in the war, but Longstreet lives until 1904 and Chamberlain until 1914, when, says the novelist, he dies of the wounds he suffered years before, fighting his countrymen.

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