The Battle of Gettysburg, by D. H. Montgomery

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ON the third and last day the Confederate General Pickett, with a force of fifteen thousand veterans, charged up the slope of Cemetery Ridge.* To reach the slope they had to cross a mile of open ground. They came forward steadily, silently, under a terrible fire from the Union guns. Their ranks were ploughed through and through with shot and shell, but the men did not falter. They charged up the ridge and broke a part of the Union line; but they could go no further, and Pickett, with the fragments of his division, — for only fragments were left — fell back defeated.

It was the end of the most stubbornly fought battle of the war; nearly fifty thousand brave men had fallen in the contest:* Lee had failed; he retreated across the Potomac, and the North was safe, for the Confederate general never made another attempt to invade it.*

by D. H. Montgomery 1837-1928

From ‘The Leading Facts of American History’ by David Henry Montgomery (1837-1928).

The action is known today as Pickett’s Charge, after the man who led it, General George Pickett (1825-1875).

Modern estimates put the figure at just over fifty thousand casualties. Gettysburg was the costliest of all the battles of the American Civil War, far surpassing the 34,000 of the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia later that year.

Précis

The battle lasted three days. The Union forces took up a defensive position on Cemetery Ridge; on the third day the Confederate forces on Seminary Ridge crossed the open ground and charged up the hill to General Meade’s Union line. But the assault failed, the South withdrew and General Lee never again attempted to invade Union territory.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

The Confederate soldiers attacked Cemetery ridge. The Union guns cut them down. The Confederate soldiers retreated.

Précis

Questions for Critics

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