By Tim McGrath
It is estimated that
between 60,000 and 100,000 books related to the American Civil War have been
published since 1865, with approximately 30,000 devoted to the Gettysburg
Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg. Depending on which estimates one accepts,
that means that somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of the enormous literature
of the Civil War has focused, at least in part, on Gettysburg. With numbers
like these, one might reasonably ask: Is there really a need for another
book about Gettysburg?
Tim McGrath’s Three
Roads to Gettysburg provides a compelling answer to that question—not by uncovering
some previously unknown story of the battle, but by finding a different way to
tell a familiar one.
Many people, justly
or unjustly, point to Gettysburg as the turning point of the Civil War. But how
did the war arrive at that pivotal moment? The events of July 1–3, 1863, did
not occur in isolation. They were the product of years of political, military,
and personal developments involving thousands of individuals. A comprehensive
accounting of all the events and personalities that laid the foundation for
Gettysburg would be virtually impossible in a single volume. McGrath simplifies
that daunting task by selecting three men whose lives and decisions became
intimately connected with the battle and its aftermath: Union Major General
George Gordon Meade, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and President Abraham
Lincoln.
These three
"roads" form the structure of McGrath’s narrative. He follows Meade,
Lee, and Lincoln from their early lives through the events that ultimately
brought two of them together on the Gettysburg battlefield and placed the third
in the position of interpreting the battle's meaning for a divided nation.
Along the way, McGrath demonstrates how seemingly separate lives can gradually
converge at a single moment in history.
For Meade and Lee,
McGrath begins with their early years and education at West Point, follows
their military assignments and service during the Mexican-American War, and
then traces their careers through the turbulent 1850s and the outbreak of the
Civil War. Their military careers unfold against the growing sectional crisis
and, eventually, the war itself. The two men ultimately find themselves
commanding opposing armies on the fields around Gettysburg.
Lincoln’s road is
different, but equally important. McGrath follows him from his humble
beginnings near Hodgenville, Kentucky, and his formative years in Indiana,
through his experiences in New Orleans and New Salem, Illinois, and into
Illinois politics and the United States Congress. From these modest beginnings,
Lincoln eventually reaches the presidency at the moment when the nation is torn
apart by civil war. His road to Gettysburg culminates not as a battlefield
commander but as the nation's chief executive and, ultimately, as the author of
the Gettysburg Address.
McGrath’s narrative
is essentially linear, alternating among his three principal subjects and
giving each his turn as their lives move through the twists and turns of
history. This approach allows the reader to watch the three roads gradually
converge on the small Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. The contrast between the
scale of the events and the size of the town is striking. Approximately 160,000
soldiers would eventually participate in the battle, while Gettysburg itself
was home to only about 2,400 people.
Once the armies
arrive at Gettysburg, however, the limitations of a three-man biography become
apparent. The lives of Meade and Lee alone cannot provide everything necessary
to explain the complicated events of July 1–3, 1863. McGrath therefore expands
his narrative, introducing the experiences and perspectives of numerous other
participants. This allows him to move beyond the three principal biographies
and provide the reader with a broader understanding of the battle itself.
The approach works
particularly well for readers who may know the broad outlines of Gettysburg but
lack a detailed understanding of how the battle unfolded. Rather than becoming
overwhelmed by the enormous cast of characters associated with Gettysburg, the
reader is given three central figures through whom the larger story can be
understood.
The book does not
end with the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg. Its final chapters turn to
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and then provide a broad overview of the remaining
two years of the war, from Gettysburg through Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
Court House. McGrath follows Lee into the postwar years and his presidency of
what became Washington and Lee University, examines Lincoln’s assassination,
revisits the postwar relationship between Meade and Major General Daniel E.
Sickles, and concludes with the deaths of Lee and Meade.
This structure
reinforces one of the book's central themes: Gettysburg was not an isolated
event but a moment in the lives of three men whose stories continued long after
the guns fell silent. The battle itself occupies only a few days, but the roads
that brought Meade, Lee, and Lincoln there—and the consequences of what
happened there—extend across decades.
So, to return to the
original question: Is there really a need for another book about Gettysburg?
This is not a book
written for scholars of the American Civil War or specialists in the Gettysburg
Campaign. Nor does it attempt to replace the numerous detailed studies that
have examined the battle from virtually every conceivable angle. It was not
designed to do so. McGrath’s intended audience is the general reader of history
with an interest in the Civil War, particularly those with limited knowledge of
the war and Gettysburg, as well as readers looking for an accessible refresher
on one of the most studied battles in American history.
For that audience, Three
Roads to Gettysburg offers a distinctive approach. It is a well-researched
and accessible narrative presented as a single-volume triple biography. Rather
than asking the reader to absorb the enormous cast of characters and events
surrounding Gettysburg all at once, McGrath uses the lives of Meade, Lee, and
Lincoln as three guideposts through the complicated history that led to the
battle and its aftermath.
There will almost
certainly always be new books about Gettysburg. Some will be massive, highly
detailed studies devoted to the minutiae of the campaign, the battlefield,
individual units, commanders, soldiers, civilians, or particular moments of the
fighting. Others, like Three Roads to Gettysburg, will provide broader
narratives for readers who are new to the subject or simply want to revisit the
story without wading through hundreds of pages of specialized scholarship.
And perhaps that is
the best answer to the question of whether another Gettysburg book is
necessary. There is always room for another telling of an important story
when it finds a new audience or presents that story in an accessible way.
Gettysburg has been studied for more than 160 years, yet each generation
produces new readers encountering the Civil War for the first time. For those
readers, the story still needs to be told—and McGrath has chosen three
remarkable roads by which to tell it.
ISBN 978-0593184394,
Dutton, © 2025, Hardcover, 528 Pages, Maps, End Notes, Bibliography &
Index. $38.00. To Purchase the book click HERE.
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