So You Think You Know Gettysburg?: The Stories Behind the Monuments and the Men Who Fought One of America's Most Epic Battles

Bronze Award Winner, ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards for 2010.

Nearly two million people visit Gettysburg National Military Park annually, but most of these visitors possess only a rudimentary knowledge of the battle and restrict their travel to the well-established tourist routes. Few know the stories behind the monuments that dot the battlefield or the controversies, and there are many, that became a part of the story. The answers to these and other questions are often as fascinating as the story of the battle itself.

In So You Think You Know Gettysburg? James and Suzanne Gindlesperger provide details for over 200 different sites in the park. This volume goes beyond the typical guidebook, focusing on the little-known stories behind the battle. More than 270 color photographs are accompanied by color-coded maps showing where each photo was taken. Brief narratives then describe the sites and what took place in the immediate area.

You may have visited the park, but do you know about the ten or so Confederates buried by accident in Gettysburg National Cemetery? One entry in the book explains how an embezzling general, when asked why he had no monument at Gettysburg, replied, "Why, hell, the whole battlefield is my monument." Another tells whose dog is depicted in the 11th Pennsylvania Monument and why. Another explains what the Curious Rocks are. Still another tells why Gettysburg has two markers for the battle's first shot, and why they are in different locations.

Through this book, readers and visitors will learn the fine points about Gettysburg and the human side of the battle.