Class Year
2019
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
7-18-2018
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
In the fall, I had the incredible opportunity to work on developing a wayside for the 20th Maine at Little Round Top. Working on that wayside was really meaningful to me because it was an opportunity to tell the kind of story that has the potential to inspire in visitors a sense of national pride and appreciation for our past. Though my colleague and I tried to make clear that the fighting at Little Round Top was a bloody and savage fight, the story remains a heroic tale of brave men, exceptional leadership, and sacrifice for a higher purpose. This semester, when working a wayside for Brigadier General Alfred Iverson’s July 1st assault, my colleague, Zach Wesley, and I dealt with an entirely different story. We were tasked with telling a narrative not of heroism and higher purpose, but about dereliction of duty and senseless death. This story is important to tell because it is a reminder of the harsh realities that accompany war in any age. [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Cocco, Abigail, "Iverson’s Assault: A Cautionary Tale" (2018). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 305.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/305
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in The Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.