When reading The Killer Angels, one can’t help but notice the way this book tells the story of the civil war is unlike any other. The author delves into the everyday lives of these generals to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. The composition of the storyline allows us, the readers, to present ourselves with both questions and answers. This evaluation is going to answer a few key questions on how relevant was the research the author did on the characters and settings of the war, the consequences of Lee and Longstreet’s disagreement on battle strategy, and why the Confederate army lost the war. As a reader, from the outside looking in, these answers are there to grasp, and it is this paper’s job to bring them to light.
One question that…show more content… These two generals were the two perspectives the author used to represent the Confederate side throughout most of the novel. As one follows the story, we learn that General Lee is portrayed as the ideal general of their era. He was loved by all, even some in the union admired him. However, with the death of his right hand man, Stonewall Jackson, in the previous battle by the hands of his own soldiers, Lee’s judgment is flawed. His decision to go on the offensive even though he was a defensive minded general could be seen as the ultimate mistake by a general in war history. Lee wanted to hurl the whole mass of the Confederate army at the Union defenses who were dug in on higher ground than them. Not to mention they had artillery. On the other hand, you had General Longstreet. His strategy was to swing around the union army and cut them off between Pennsylvania and Washington D.C, which was where the Union army’s headquarters were. Longstreet’s strategy was defensive in the fact that it would’ve forced the Union army to leave those hills they were so comfortable with and go on the attack to get their headquarters back. Longstreet’s reasoning was that it was much easier to fight a decisive, defensive battle in an area you didn’t know well than an offensive battle in an unknown area. Which general had the best strategy? Well, we know General Lee’s strategy did not work. He did not realize that the Union army being dug in, having the higher ground, and bombarding the battlefield with artillery played a major role in the outcome of the battle. It can be said that Buford’s view on Cemetery Hill on the First day that the higher ground played a major role in the battle was checkmate for the Union army from day