Looking for some input/feedback, please....

[klongstreet]

IMHO Gettysburg Myth busting would be a SHOE IN and a book I would have in my collection

 

[Kipling]

As someone who is very interested in the Battle of Gettysburg I believe a book dispelling myths of the Battle would be an excellent idea, especially coming from a respected historian who has a wide knowledge of the Battle.

 

[tbt]

Definetly yes, would be a very interesting book. I like shattered myths (and the discussions around them).

 

[Billy Yank]

I generally think folks already figure myths are just that: myths. To make it really interesting, instead of debunking myths, it would be more interesting if one could find factual merit in some of the so-called Gettysburg myths.

 

[John Winn]

I think the idea is a marketable one but perhaps, as has been suggested by several, not to the CW geeks as they likely already know the real story. Personally I'd likely not buy a copy, at least not a new one, as even the novice that I am knows the answers to all the suggestions that have been put forward on this thread. Thus, I think the challenge will be how to define and target the most likely buyer. As has also been suggested, you'll likely have to start by explaining that there even are myths.

So maybe we aren't the best folks to ask concerning a purchase (but, hey, lots have said they'd buy one so maybe I'm the odd boy once again). I'm still with @AndyHall in that you'll likely have to address a wider and different audience - i.e. not the average CW nerd - to make such a project profitable but I think if marketed correctly you could sell it.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[E_just_E]

I think that if it is done in an in-depth way, looking at the origin of these myths and naming names, it will be well worthwhile. On the other hand, the biggest myths have to be busted (the Copse of Trees Bachelder fantasy & the 20th Maine Chamberlain fantasy) and I bet that would really rattle several people's chains, including those of the people who are running things in the Park, since they are blatantly propagating these myths.

The history of made up facts about Gettysburg is an extremely fascinating subject, esp. once someone is starting to peel the layers regarding their origin.

If you have the stomach to do it, I'd love to read it. If not, it is not worth it.

 

[TerryB]

I like the idea. I would definitely get it and make good use of it.

 

[Michael W.]

I like the idea, and I'm sure you would catch hell from those who would not "agree" with your myths "debunked". One thing I would like to see, I don't know if this counts as a myth, or if it is more a controversy, is the Union Command debacle on day one. Who exactly was in command on that day? Sure, initially it was Buford, then Reynolds when the I Corps arrived, after he dies it fell to Doubleday, then Howard when the XI Corps arrived as he was the ranking general. But when Hancock gets there under orders from Meade, supposedly to take overall command, it gets fuzzy. Howard claims he was in charge, Hancock claims he was under orders from Meade to take command, and there the argument starts. When Slocum arrives early that evening with the VII Corps, he is Ranking, and takes overall command until Meade arrives after midnight. But Slocum was commanding from Culp's Hill, so who REALLY was in charge during those hours? Howard? Hancock?

I would love your thoughts on this Eric, if not in a book, then here in the forum.

 

[White Feather]

Dear Mr. Wittenberg, your new work "Dispelling Myths of Gettysburg" could consist of one sentence " Read my other 16 books" ( I have just started on your massive amount of work. I'm an old man& hope I make it to the 11 Corp. But if I do I hope you have XII corps on tap. Did old general Green "OLD POP" really fight in fighting clothes of a a farmer, and did he identify himself with printed cards outside of his command?

 

[rbasin]

Nice

 

[USS ALASKA]

Mr. Wittenberg - I'm in. I think that most of us that are new and / or casually interested in Gettysburg (or any history for that matter) believe these myths only do so because we haven't been exposed to the proper information. With the constant flow of 'info' out there it is sometimes difficult to discern the wheat from the chaff without a lot of additional research. An all-in-one, concise, line-item by line-item volume would be of value to me. As to the few that will stay true to the myths, and fight zealously to defend them, they will do so regardless of what facts are presented in the most logical of formats. I am reminded of Randall James Hamilton Zwinge, also known as James Randi, aka The Amazing Randi. He was a magician and debunker (although he hated that term) kinda like Penn and Teller. His foundation - the James Randi Educational Foundation - offered $1,000,000.00 "...to eligible applicants who could demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event under test conditions agreed to by both parties." It was never collected. While performing "...Randi has been accused of actually using "psychic powers" to perform acts such as spoon bending. According to James Alcock, at a meeting where Randi was duplicating the performances of Uri Geller, a professor from the University at Buffalo shouted out that Randi was a fraud. Randi said: "Yes, indeed, I'm a trickster, I'm a cheat, I'm a charlatan, that's what I do for a living. Everything I've done here was by trickery." The professor shouted back: "That's not what I mean. You're a fraud because you're pretending to do these things through trickery, but you're actually using psychic powers and misleading us by not admitting it." A similar event involved Senator Claiborne Pell, a believer in psychic phenomena. When Randi personally demonstrated to Pell that he could reveal - by simple trickery - a concealed drawing that had been secretly made by the senator, Pell refused to believe that it was a trick, saying: "I think Randi may be a psychic and doesn't realize it." And this is THE Senator Pell of the of Pell Educational Grants fame. Ladies and Gentlemen, YOUR United States Government...

Even when being told by the perpetrator that they are being lied to, some refuse to believe...

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

Thank you to everyone who took the time to give me input. The decision has been made to proceed with the project. I will keep everyone posted as to its progress.

 

[MRB1863]

Thank you to everyone who took the time to give me input. The decision has been made to proceed with the project. I will keep everyone posted as to its progress.

Please print an extra copy for me????

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

The next question: Which Gettysburg myths would you like to see busted?

I have my own ideas about this, but I would love to have some input from y'all.

 

[unicornforge]

Shattering myths is a great idea. I found that in classes where we spent two hours on the wrong answers and then two minutes on the correct answer,,,, guess which answer(s) I would remember. I would love to read a book or books with the correct answers, that due to the way my simple mind works, leaves out the incorrect answers..... That is why and how I wrote my book on Blacksmithing during the War Between the States [WBTS]..... I left out the myths and simply provided the correct information, to what I call reenactorisms.

 

[E_just_E]

The next question: Which Gettysburg myths would you like to see busted?

I have my own ideas about this, but I would love to have some input from y'all.

I think that I gave my input a bit earlier, but I can give it a bit of another (marketing) twist:

The bigger the myth, the bigger the audience and the bigger the market.

The people who care whether Buford's troops had Spencer carbines or not, would either buy any book you'd write (other maybe than the other with "terrible" and "pathetic" on the title; love that book, btw) or would have already known that they were not issued at the time of the battle of Gettysburg.

And the biggest myths are from the Confederate side, other than the ones I listed before, that are really fantasies (will include those too.)
Here is a list:

• If Jackson were there, the Confederates would have won in Gettysburg/taken Cemetery Hill, etc. Seriously this is a big one. Even yesterday I was looking at a post WWII source that was saying (pretty much verbatum) : "Every Southerner knows that Robert E. Lee said that if he had Stonewall Jackson, he'd win at Gettysburg". Not sure whether what-ifs would make your list of myths, but this is a huge one.
• Kinda beaten to coma, but not quite to death: Longstreet was late (coming up to Pennsylvania, ordering the attack on Day 2, or Day 3 etc.)
• Lee's original plan for Day 3 was to attack at both Federal flanks, but was scratched (because Longstreet was late, and Stuart was even later.) And you have done enough work and busted the Stuart myth pretty much.
• Pickett's charge was lost because of the North Carolinians
• The copse of trees junk
• Wright's junk about practically going half way to Baltimore Pike nonsense.

Can definitely think some more, but here are some Federal:

• Based on what you said, you are working on the Meade thing
• 20th Maine. Gotta do it. Was done once (and I suspect you are familiar with the reference), but not in a book. Deserves it.
• Hancock's role in all of this. Most narratives are picturing him like the Energizer Bunny of the battle going left and right and making every decision possible and being at least in 4 places at the same time.
• (and this is a way low hanging fruit) Where the VT markers are placed and where they were in Day 3, compared to where the aforementioned Energizer Bunny's day 3 marker is. Kinda the other side of the Copse of Trees mythology.

Can probably think of a few more, but these days my head is in 1850s Fort Laramie, Nebraska Territory

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

Thanks, Emmanuel. Good stuff.

 

[TomP]

Eric,

I once put the kabosh to a Shiloh myth about "glowing wounds" on one of the discussion boards. A guy called me some rather foul names, he said that my facts ruined a perfectly good story and I should shut-up and mind my business. Those pesky facts will do it every time!

I wish you luck my friend,

Tom

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

Eric,

I once put the kabosh to a Shiloh myth about "glowing wounds" on one of the discussion boards. A guy called me some rather foul names, he said that my facts ruined a perfectly good story and I should shut-up and mind my business. Those pesky facts will do it every time!

I wish you luck my friend,

Tom

Thanks, Tom. One thing I learned a lot time ago was that if I was going to put my work out there with my name on it, I should be prepared for the consequences that come along with doing so. I'm used to it.

 

[Jamieva]

I think that I gave my input a bit earlier, but I can give it a bit of another (marketing) twist:

The bigger the myth, the bigger the audience and the bigger the market.

The people who care whether Buford's troops had Spencer carbines or not, would either buy any book you'd write (other maybe than the other with "terrible" and "pathetic" on the title; love that book, btw) or would have already known that they were not issued at the time of the battle of Gettysburg.

And the biggest myths are from the Confederate side, other than the ones I listed before, that are really fantasies (will include those too.)
Here is a list:

• If Jackson were there, the Confederates would have won in Gettysburg/taken Cemetery Hill, etc. Seriously this is a big one. Even yesterday I was looking at a post WWII source that was saying (pretty much verbatum) : "Every Southerner knows that Robert E. Lee said that if he had Stonewall Jackson, he'd win at Gettysburg". Not sure whether what-ifs would make your list of myths, but this is a huge one.
• Kinda beaten to coma, but not quite to death: Longstreet was late (coming up to Pennsylvania, ordering the attack on Day 2, or Day 3 etc.)
• Lee's original plan for Day 3 was to attack at both Federal flanks, but was scratched (because Longstreet was late, and Stuart was even later.) And you have done enough work and busted the Stuart myth pretty much.
• Pickett's charge was lost because of the North Carolinians
• The copse of trees junk
• Wright's junk about practically going half way to Baltimore Pike nonsense.

Can definitely think some more, but here are some Federal:

• Based on what you said, you are working on the Meade thing
• 20th Maine. Gotta do it. Was done once (and I suspect you are familiar with the reference), but not in a book. Deserves it.
• Hancock's role in all of this. Most narratives are picturing him like the Energizer Bunny of the battle going left and right and making every decision possible and being at least in 4 places at the same time.
• (and this is a way low hanging fruit) Where the VT markers are placed and where they were in Day 3, compared to where the aforementioned Energizer Bunny's day 3 marker is. Kinda the other side of the Copse of Trees mythology.

Can probably think of a few more, but these days my head is in 1850s Fort Laramie, Nebraska Territory

Jackson at gettysburg is a what if, not a myth