Cemetery Hill: The General Plan was Unchanged

Cemetery Hill: The General Plan was Unchanged by Troy D Harman. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780935523836.

When struggling to answer the questions of “why” that surround the Battle of Gettysburg, there are fewer elements of certitude. One of the primary questions of incertitude that has been examined by historians in the past deals with the question of why Robert E. Lee conducted the battle as he did. This study provides a fresh and provocative analysis of that question. As the title implies, it is centered upon the thesis that the central and unchanged objective of Lee’s tactical plans from the late afternoon of July 1st through the failure of Longstreet’s Assault on July 3rd was to “render Cemetery Hill untenable.” In these pages, Troy Harman has assembled an impressive set of arguments to support his theory. The historical records of the battle and its participants, presented with the understanding that control of Cemetery Hill meant the control of the town of Gettysburg, the surrounding countryside, and the entire road network radiating out of Gettysburg, appear highly convincing. Equally impressive, Troy has utilized his detailed knowledge of the battlefield terrain — both what it looks like today, as well as what it looked like in 1863 — to analyze and test his theory. The result is certain to stimulate debate among scholars of the Gettysburg Campaign. This study will not definitively answer all the questions concerning why Robert E. Lee chose to conduct the battle of Gettysburg as he did. Indeed, no study will ever definitively answer all those questions, for only those directly involved in the heat of battle — that unique environment of fear, exhilaration, mayhem and death that we call combat — could definitively answer those questions. But it is the task of good historians to posit theories that help explain the known patterns of behavior or chains of events which the historical record has left us. This study does so, and is thus good history. Dr. John A. Latschar, from the book’s introduction