Overview

This compelling and bestselling study is the first to fully integrate the military, political, social, economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the soldiers of both armies during the inexorably march north toward their mutual destinies at Gettysburg. Award-winning authors Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg are back with the second and final installment of ""If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania"": The Army of Northern Virginia's and Army of the Potomac's March to Gettysburg. This compelling and bestselling study is the first to fully integrate the military, political, social, economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the soldiers of both armies during the inexorably march north toward their mutual destinies at Gettysburg. Gen. Robert E. Lee's bold movement north, which began on June 3, shifted the war out of the central counties of the Old Dominion into the Shenandoah Valley, across the Potomac, and beyond. The first installment (June 3-22, 1863) carried the armies through the defining mounted clash at Battle of Brandy Station, after which Lee pushed his corps into the Shenandoah Valley and achieved the magnificent victory at Second Winchester on his way to the Potomac. Caught flat-footed, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker used his cavalry to probe the mountain gaps, triggering a series of consequential mounted actions. The current volume (June 23-30) completes the march to Gettysburg and details the actions and whereabout of each component of the armies up to the eve of the fighting. The large-scale maneuvering in late June prompted General Hooker to move his Army of the Potomac north after his opponent and eventually above the Potomac, where he loses his command to the surprised Maj. Gen. George G. Meade. Jeb Stuart begins his controversial and consequential ride that strips away the eyes and ears of the Virginia army. Throughout northern Virginia, central Maryland, and south-central Pennsylvania, civilians and soldiers alike struggle with the reality of a mobile campaign and the massive logistical needs of the armies. Untold numbers of reports, editorials, news articles, letters, and diaries describe the passage of the long martial columns, the thunderous galloping of hooves, and the looting, fighting, suffering, and dying. Mingus and Wittenberg mined hundreds of primary accounts, newspapers, and other sources to produce this powerful and gripping saga. As careful readers will quickly discern, other studies of the runup to Gettysburg gloss over most of this material. It is simply impossible to fully grasp and understand the campaign without a firm appreciation of what the armies and the civilians did during the days leading up to the fateful meeting at the small crossroads town in Adams County, Pennsylvania. AUTHORS: Eric J. Wittenberg is an accomplished American Civil War cavalry historian and author. An attorney in Ohio, Wittenberg has authored over 21 books on various Civil War subjects, with particular focus on cavalry operations, as well as three dozen articles in popular magazines such as North & South, Blue&Gray, America's Civil War, and Gettysburg Magazine. His first book, Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions (Thomas Publications, Gettysburg PA, 1998) won the prestigious 1998 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award. The second edition won the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award, for Reprint, 2011. His 2014 book, ""The Devil's to Pay"": John Buford at Gettysburg. A History and Walking Tour, was awarded the Gettysburg Civil War Roundtable's 2015 Book Award. Wittenberg is a favored speaker at Civil War Roundtables, and conducts tours of various Civil War battlefields and related sites. He was instrumental in saving important battlefield land at Trevilian Station and Brandy Station, Virginia, and wrote the text for the historical waysides located at Trevilian Station. He lives in Columbus with his wife Susan and their beloved dogs. Visit Eric J. Wittenberg's website: http://www.ericwittenberg.com Scott L. Mingus, Sr., has written nineteen Civil War books. His biography of Confederate General William ""Extra Billy"" Smith won the 2013 Nathan Bedford Forrest Southern History Award and the Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr., Literary Award, and was also nominated for the Virginia Literary Award for Non-Fiction. A contributor to Gettysburg Magazine, Scott also maintains a blog on the Civil War history of York County (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball). He received the 2013 Heritage Profile Award from the York County Heritage Trust for his contributions to local Civil War history. An Ohio native, Scott is a scientist and executive in the paper industry, a graduate of Miami University, and holds patents in self-adhesive postage stamps and bar code labels. He has also written six scenario books on miniature wargaming and was elected to the hobby's prestigious Legion of Honor. He currently lives in York, PA.

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9781611216110

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Reviews

"""A decidedly fresh account of the Gettysburg Campaign that follows both armies as they move through Maryland and into Pennsylvania toward the great battle awaiting them. Mingus and Wittenberg deftly weave the strategic, operational, and human aspects of the campaign, while examining its impact on soldiers, politicians, and civilians. Even veteran Gettysburg readers will find much that is new in this well-written and thoroughly researched work.""--Jeffrey Wm Hunt, author of the award-winning Meade and Lee After Gettysburg ""Another outstanding collaboration by award-winning Gettysburg authors Scott Mingus and Eric Wittenberg. The study is well researched, effectively presented, and endlessly interesting. I have no doubt it will be enthusiastically received by historians and general readers alike.""--Joseph L. Owen, award-winning author of A Fine Introduction to Battle and co-author of, Unceasing Fury ""Until recently, most Civil War narrative history focused on tactical battle studies, not the campaign movements that precede them. In ""If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania,"" Scott Mingus and Eric Wittenberg bring us an insightful new exploration of the first three weeks of that most iconic of all civil war events: Gettysburg. Here is a story that is both a great read and a deeply researched dive into the fateful events of late June 1863.""--Dave Powell, award-winning author of The Chickamauga Campaign trilogy"

"""Once again, the award-winning team of Mingus and Wittenberg have created an exciting narrative that in this volume brings the reader to the battle itself. Most commendable is the ability of the authors to keep control of the narrative while using hundreds of different sources, including letters, diaries, memoirs, newspapers, government documents, military records, and secondary sources. Arranged chronologically, the reader is swept along by the rapid pace of events and ironically, by knowing what the participants did not: the biggest battle of the war was soon to begin.""-- ""Emerging Civil War"" ""A decidedly fresh account of the Gettysburg Campaign that follows both armies as they move through Maryland and into Pennsylvania toward the great battle awaiting them. Mingus and Wittenberg deftly weave the strategic, operational, and human aspects of the campaign, while examining its impact on soldiers, politicians, and civilians. Even veteran Gettysburg readers will find much that is new in this well-written and thoroughly researched work.""--Jeffrey Wm Hunt, author of the award-winning Meade and Lee After Gettysburg ""Another outstanding collaboration by award-winning Gettysburg authors Scott Mingus and Eric Wittenberg. The study is well researched, effectively presented, and endlessly interesting. I have no doubt it will be enthusiastically received by historians and general readers alike.""--Joseph L. Owen, award-winning author of A Fine Introduction to Battle and co-author of, Unceasing Fury ""These two volumes are likely to become the definitive treatment of the events that brought the armies to Gettysburg. ""If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania"" is not merely recommended, but should be a required reading for anyone seriously interested in the war, and is certain to become a classic, one of the few times that word applies.""-- ""The NYMAS Review"" ""Volume 2 of ""If We Strike for Pennsylvania"" is every bit as good as Volume 1. Both books make for riveting reading, even if we do know the outcome beforehand. The officers, soldiers, and civilians at the time did not know what would happened, and Mingus and Wittenburg neatly convey the hopes, the fears, and the terror that people experienced.""--Glynn Young ""Until recently, most Civil War narrative history focused on tactical battle studies, not the campaign movements that precede them. In ""If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania,"" Scott Mingus and Eric Wittenberg bring us an insightful new exploration of the first three weeks of that most iconic of all civil war events: Gettysburg. Here is a story that is both a great read and a deeply researched dive into the fateful events of late June 1863.""--Dave Powell, award-winning author of The Chickamauga Campaign trilogy"

Author Information

Eric J. Wittenberg is an accomplished American Civil War cavalry historian and author. The Ohio attorney has authored nearly two dozen books on various Civil War subjects, with particular focus on cavalry operations, as well as three dozen articles in popular magazines such as North & South, Blue&Gray, America’s Civil War, and Gettysburg Magazine. His first book, Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, won the prestigious 1998 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award. His 2014 “The Devil’s to Pay”: John Buford at Gettysburg. A History and Walking Tour, was awarded the Gettysburg Civil War Roundtable’s 2015 Book Award. Wittenberg speaks widely, leads tours of various battlefields, and is an active preservationist. He lives in Columbus with his wife Susan and their beloved dogs. Scott Mingus is a retired scientist and executive in the global pulp & paper industry. The Ohio native was part of the research team that developed the first commercially successful self-adhesive U.S. postage stamp and he was a pioneer in bar code labels. He has written 27 Civil War and Underground Railroad books and numerous articles for Gettysburg Magazine and other historical journals. He has appeared on C-SPAN, C-SPAN3, PCN, and other TV networks. Mingus writes a blog on the Civil War history of York County, PA, where he lives (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball). He has written six scenario books for miniature wargaming. A great-great-grandfather was a 15-year-old musician and rifleman in the 51st Ohio in the Western Theater, and a great-grandfather was in the 183rd Ohio during the 1865 Carolinas Campaign. Other family members fought at Antietam and Gettysburg in the 7th West Virginia of the Army of the Potomac.

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