On July 1, 1863, Union and Confederate forces clashed in the small town of Gettysburg, PA. It was the largest battle of the Civil war as well as the “High Water Mark”, the farthest advance into Union territory by Confederate troops. Three days later the defeated Confederates left the field, fighting for another two years. GETTYSBURG 1913 takes place 50 years after the battle, at the Great Reunion of both Union and Confederate veterans, many in their 80s, who came together one last time to commemorate the battle.
The novel is separated into three plot lines: the story of the preparations for the reunion, eight veterans from both sides who meet at the reunion and finally, a love story between one of the doctors at the field hospital and one of the nurses. Each of these elements have been well researched, especially the preparations for the reunion and a description of the encampment. However, the central story of this novel revolves around the eight veterans, some of whom carried their bitterness with them to the reunion. Gettysburg, for both sides, was a blood bath: of the 165,000 troops fighting, the combined casualty count was nearly 50,000. Ned Tomlinson, a Virginia tobacco farmer, lost a leg at Pickett’s Charge on the final day of battle. Still, he makes his way to the reunion for the single purpose of meeting friends from his old regiment. Despite the sectionalism that the veterans share on the first day of the reunion, eventually they find the spirit of reconciliation that seems to pervade the entire camp. Dr. Chamber’s courting of Louisa May Sterling is the final plot element and it is somewhat different from other plot lines of this type. While very much a romance, most of the relationship develops in the field hospital where the author uses it to bring out the workings of the hospital and the nurses and corpsmen who are responsible for the health of the army of veterans who came to Gettysburg. The only weak spot in an otherwise wonderful story is the epilog where the final moments of the reunion are recounted by a character of the unlikely age of 109. This is a minor flaw and does not detract from the book.
The battle was fought in 1863. Fifty years later the scars are healed as the country moves on into the new century. The violence and calamity of the battlefield have been replaced by ageing veterans who reach out to one another.
GETTYSBURG 1913 is the powerful story of the turning point of a war as told through the memories of the few survivors left from that day.
~ IndieReader.