New and Noteworthy: After Gettysburg, The Flight and The Pursuit

After Gettysburg: Lee Retreats, Meade Pursues, Joe Mieczkowski, Pedia Press, 154 pp. 17 maps, 31 images, 21 charts, bibliographic notes, bibliographies, index, $24.90.

In the social sciences, a case study is a research and presentation method which focuses upon a close-up, detailed examination of a subject.  Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide, Joe Mieczkowski's After Gettysburg offers a welcomed case study style handbook to the Gettysburg Campaign's July 4 through mid-October segment. 

Divided into three parts, After Gettysburg details the Army of Northern Virginia's retreat to the Potomac River and the Army of the Potomac's pursuit from Gettysburg to the Rappahannock River. A third part describes seven notable generals and their unique strategic impact on the campaign.

 After Gettysburg; Lee Retreats, Meade Pursues encourages further study by offering references, books and internet links for each segment.  Mieczkowski includes GPS coordinates for each skirmish and battle. Printed 8.5 inch x 5 inch with a sturdy and flexible spine allows the book to be easily used in the car. Clear, concise narration combined with citations for further study,  After Gettysburg; Lee Retreats, Meade Pursues is accessible to readers high school and up.

Forthcoming in 2018--Where Valor Sleeps: Fredericksburg National Cemetery

 Where Valor Proudly Sleeps: A History of Fredericksburg National Cemetery, 1866-1933, Donald C. Pfanz, Engaging The Civil War Series, Southern Illinois University Press, 248 pages, $26.50 [March 2018]

From the Publisher: Many books discuss in great detail what happened during Civil War battles. This is one of the few that investigate what happened to the remains of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Where Valor Proudly Sleeps explores a battle’s immediate and long-term aftermath by focusing on Fredericksburg National Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries created by the U.S. government after the Civil War. Pfanz shows how legislation created the National Cemetery System and describes how the Burial Corps identified, collected, and interred soldier remains as well as how veterans, their wives, and their children also came to rest in national cemeteries. By sharing the stories of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, its workers, and those buried there, Pfanz explains how the cemetery evolved into its current form, a place of beauty and reflection. 

Donald C. Pfanz has written five books, including Richard S. Ewell: A Soldier’s Life and War So Terrible: A Popular History of the Battle of Fredericksburg. In his thirty-two-year career with the National Park Service, he worked at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park, Petersburg National Battlefield Park, and Fort Sumter National Monument.

"This might be the best book ever written about a national cemetery. With a depth of knowledge born of decades of work, Donald Pfanz tells in vivid form and in close detail the story of how, over time, a place of struggle became a place of remembrance."—John J. Hennessy, author, Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas

"Pfanz reveals the horrors of war and the tragic tales of sacrifice that involved incredibly high percentages of unknown dead. Anyone interested in the funeral practices of the Union Army, or in better understanding the sacrifices for freedom, will find this book enlightening."—William A. Blair, author of With Malice toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era