Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War
In a war of brother versus brother, theirs has become the most famous broken friendship: Union general Winfield Scott Hancock and Confederate general Lewis Armistead. Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels (1974) and the movie Gettysburg (1993), based on the novel, presented a close friendship sundered by war, but history reveals something different from the legend that holds up Hancock and Armistead as sentimental symbols of a nation torn apart.

In this deeply researched book, Tom McMillan sets the record straight. Even if their relationship wasn’t as close as the legend has it, Hancock and Armistead knew each other well before the Civil War. Armistead was seven years older, but in a small prewar army where everyone seemed to know everyone else, Hancock and Armistead crossed paths at a fort in Indian Territory before the Mexican War and then served together in California, becoming friends—and they emotionally parted ways when the Civil War broke out. Their lives wouldn’t intersect again until Gettysburg, when they faced each other during Pickett’s Charge. Armistead died of his wounds at Gettysburg on July 5, 1863; Hancock went on to be the Democratic nominee for president in 1880, losing to James Garfield.

Part dual biography and part Civil War history, Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend clarifies the historic record with new information and fresh perspective, reversing decades of misconceptions about an amazing story of two friends that has defined the Civil War.

1138116892
Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War
In a war of brother versus brother, theirs has become the most famous broken friendship: Union general Winfield Scott Hancock and Confederate general Lewis Armistead. Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels (1974) and the movie Gettysburg (1993), based on the novel, presented a close friendship sundered by war, but history reveals something different from the legend that holds up Hancock and Armistead as sentimental symbols of a nation torn apart.

In this deeply researched book, Tom McMillan sets the record straight. Even if their relationship wasn’t as close as the legend has it, Hancock and Armistead knew each other well before the Civil War. Armistead was seven years older, but in a small prewar army where everyone seemed to know everyone else, Hancock and Armistead crossed paths at a fort in Indian Territory before the Mexican War and then served together in California, becoming friends—and they emotionally parted ways when the Civil War broke out. Their lives wouldn’t intersect again until Gettysburg, when they faced each other during Pickett’s Charge. Armistead died of his wounds at Gettysburg on July 5, 1863; Hancock went on to be the Democratic nominee for president in 1880, losing to James Garfield.

Part dual biography and part Civil War history, Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend clarifies the historic record with new information and fresh perspective, reversing decades of misconceptions about an amazing story of two friends that has defined the Civil War.

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Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War

Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War

by Tom McMillan
Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War
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Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War

Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War

by Tom McMillan

Overview

In a war of brother versus brother, theirs has become the most famous broken friendship: Union general Winfield Scott Hancock and Confederate general Lewis Armistead. Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels (1974) and the movie Gettysburg (1993), based on the novel, presented a close friendship sundered by war, but history reveals something different from the legend that holds up Hancock and Armistead as sentimental symbols of a nation torn apart.

In this deeply researched book, Tom McMillan sets the record straight. Even if their relationship wasn’t as close as the legend has it, Hancock and Armistead knew each other well before the Civil War. Armistead was seven years older, but in a small prewar army where everyone seemed to know everyone else, Hancock and Armistead crossed paths at a fort in Indian Territory before the Mexican War and then served together in California, becoming friends—and they emotionally parted ways when the Civil War broke out. Their lives wouldn’t intersect again until Gettysburg, when they faced each other during Pickett’s Charge. Armistead died of his wounds at Gettysburg on July 5, 1863; Hancock went on to be the Democratic nominee for president in 1880, losing to James Garfield.

Part dual biography and part Civil War history, Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend clarifies the historic record with new information and fresh perspective, reversing decades of misconceptions about an amazing story of two friends that has defined the Civil War.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780811769945
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date: 07/15/2021
Pages: 328
Sales rank: 268,258
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Tom McMillan, a lifelong student of the Civil War, has served on the board of trustees of Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center, the board of directors of the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial, and the marketing committee of the Gettysburg Foundation. His previous books are Flight 93: The Story, The Aftermath and The Legacy of American Courage on 9/11 (2014) and Gettysburg Rebels: Five Native Sons Who Came Home to Fight as Confederate Soldiers (2017), which won the Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award. He retired after a forty-three-year career in sports media and communications. McMillan lives in Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Chapter 1 Friendship Torn 1

Chapter 2 Armistead at the "Point" 15

Chapter 3 Florida and the Frontier 27

Chapter 4 Hancock Comes of Age 39

Chapter 5 Glory in Mexico 49

Chapter 6 Unimaginable Sadness 65

Chapter 7 Hancock the Quartermaster 81

Chapter 8 California 97

Chapter 9 War Breaks Out 113

Chapter 10 Proclamation 131

Chapter II To Gettysburg 143

Chapter 12 Second Day 159

Chapter 13 The Charge 169

Chapter 14 "I Found That He Had Died" 185

Chapter 15 "Don't Let Me Bleed to Death" 199

Chapter 16 Almost Mr. President 213

Chapter 17 Legacy 229

Appendix: "Lo" and Behold 243

Notes 247

Bibliography 299

Index 311

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