Three Roads to Gettysburg
By Tim McGrath
Dutton Caliber
ISBN: 978-0593184394
528pp.

For four years, from 1861 to 1865, the US was plagued by a war between its northern and southern states: the Civil War, which changed the course of American history. Its tactics and strategies were studied by generals across the globe for years, including those who fought during the First World War.

The Battle of Gettysburg, waged in 1863 in Pennsylvania, decided the fate of the Civil War. Gen George Meade of the North led the Army of the Potomac. Gen Robert E. Lee of the South led the Army of Northern Virginia. The literature on that battle is voluminous, and anyone writing on it faces a tough challenge. Tim McGrath, a naval historian and biographer, takes on this challenge.

McGrath narrates the major events that led to Gettysburg in meticulous detail. And then he does something additional: he takes the reader into the minds of the generals fighting the war on both sides by quoting from letters they wrote to their wives. These reveal their emotions, the pain they felt as their soldiers were slaughtered, and the ambiguities that troubled their minds as they tried to predict the enemy’s counter-response.

It has been said that when it comes to warfare, amateurs discuss strategy while experts discuss logistics. This dictum was validated in the Battle of Gettysburg. Both parties knew that the battle would be won by the side that was better able to overcome the barriers that haunt any army: shortages of food, clothing and ammunition, inclement weather, bad roads — with broken bridges — and broken telegraphic connections.

A naval historian revisits the Battle of Gettysburg during the US Civil War and shows how logistics, leadership and luck decided the fate of the country

They also knew that the battle would be won or lost by whichever side was able to surprise the other with a sudden attack, and that the ability to pull off a surprise attack depended on having good intelligence on the size and deployment of enemy forces.

And then there was geography, a factor that neither side could offset. And, of course, they knew that the battle would be won by the side whose morale was superior to that of the other side, which would enable its troops to sustain the fight in the heat of battle.

The fighting was intense. In just one afternoon, thousands of soldiers and officers were killed or maimed for life. One New Yorker wrote: the “grim reaper… levelled down the richest field of scarlet human grain ever garnered on this continent.”

Infighting between generals often got in the way of securing a quick win… egos clashed and swords were brandished and, to make matters worse, funding was often held up by politicians who debated the generals’ funding requests endlessly in their legislatures.

In the heat of battle, friendly fire often inflicted heavy damage on troops who were mistaken for the enemy by their fellow soldiers. The book shows the importance of charisma, with soldiers fighting as much for their general as for the greater objective of defeating the enemy. Profanities, curses and insults were routinely exchanged, not only between the soldiers, but also between the generals.

Soldiers, homesick, tired and in bad health, were often poorly led and that sapped their morale and ability to continue the fight. Interestingly, there were no African American soldiers even in the North’s Army of the Potomac. In the southern armies, African Americans owned by the officers as slaves, served as butchers and cooks, nurses and labourers digging latrines. Their owners were, for some reason, convinced that they would not run away.

The book proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is nothing civil in a civil war. It’s just as cruel as a war between nations. Even though the same language is being spoken by both sides, they are attired in different uniforms. In this case, the northern soldiers wore blue while the southern soldiers were dressed in grey. The soldiers were just as cruel to each other as foreign nationals are during an international war.

The book quotes what a colonel in Gen Lee’s army wrote to describe the fury of the battle: “The fierce soldiers with their faces blackened with the smoke of battle, the wounded crawling with feeble limbs… all seemed possessed with a common impulse… [to hail] the presence of the victorious chief.” To him, this was reminiscent of an ancient scene, where men, in ancient days, rose to the dignity of victorious gods.

As the battle dragged on, thousands of families had an empty chair at the table at Christmas dinner, but on the generals’ maps, nothing had changed. On the battlefield lay thousands of human bodies, intermixed with thousands of dead horses. The stench became unbearable for people living nearby. People kept their doors closed, despite the summer heat and humidity. It was better to swelter indoors than to vomit outside.

A resident wrote that his clothes smelt of death. Gen Lee was compelled to comment, “It is well that war is so terrible — we should grow fond of it.” Finally, on July 3, he conceded defeat. Wryly, a northern soldier noted, “The rebels were whipped but at an awful price.”

On November 19, President Abraham Lincoln gave the speech that would go down in American history as one of the finest ever given. He had worked for hours on it, but delivered it in just two minutes. After paying tribute to the dead, he said: “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”

Had Gen Lee’s army won, it would have legitimised white supremacy in the US. But even though he lost, the battle for equal rights continues to be waged to this day, especially in the southern states.

History comes alive in McGrath’s narration, which is well documented with maps and photographs. Notes and references comprise 129 of the 517 pages. The only thing lacking is tables showing the sizes of the military forces and identifying the generals and the corps and the divisions they commanded.

The reviewer is the author of Rethinking the National Security of Pakistan: The Price of Strategic Myopia.
X: @ahmadfaruqui

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, April 5th, 2026