The Killer Angels

The term "Killer Angels" is actually attributed to one of the central characters, Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. According to Chamberlain, he had recited a Shakespearean piece that included the...

I'm not sure my answer will help you with your essay, but I believe the late author Michael Shaara bent over backwards trying to maintain neutrality in telling his tale of the Battle of Gettysburg....

The fight on Little Round Top was the decisive action on the second day during the Battle of Gettysburg. Little Round Top, defended by the brigade of Colonel Strong Vincent, was the extreme left...

James Longstreet (1821–1904) was a Confederate general during the Civil War. He was a capable battlefield commander. He was not, however, as aggressive or as popular as Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall"...

I believe that author Michael Shaara has bent over backwards trying to present an unbiased view of the Battle of Gettysburg. He manages to portray the Confederate characters in a chivalric, heroic...

I would agree that this is one of the themes of The Killer Angels. However, as with all books there are multiple themes and ideas expressed. It's especially true in a novel such as this where the...

Before the Civil War, Lewis Armstead and Winfield Hancock are the best of friends. When the American Civil War reaches them, they end up on opposite sides of the battle fields. Lewis Armstead ends...

Southerners were quick to join the military ranks because they felt they were being invaded by foreigners. After all, they believed that they had the right to secede from the Union and form their...

Union Major General Winfield Scott Hancock and Confederate Brigadier General Lewis Armistead were the best of friends when serving together in the pre-war U. S. Army in California. "They had been...

Lee and Longstreet at times reflect an almost father-son relationship (though not as dramatically as the the Lee-J.E.B. Stuart pairing). Lee is the unquestioned leader of the Army of Northern...

The significance of the geography of the Gettysburg battlefield is even more interesting when you consider that neither army intended to fight a battle there. General Robert E. Lee, upon learning...

There are endless examples of figurative language in Michael Shaara's Civil War novel, The Killer Angels. Figurative language can include a variety of literary devices, including the simile,...

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828-1914) had only been promoted to colonel and commander of the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment about one month prior to the Battle of Gettysburg. When the brigade of...

Once in a while, we know why an author writes a book because they tell us why. We know, for example, that William Faulkner wrote one of his most well known short stories, "A Rose for Emily,"...

General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was at the height of its power during the days leading up to the invasion of Pennsylvania. Lee's army had, only a month before, driven...

In Michael Shaara's book, The Killer Angels, the lives of several people are followed—their thoughts and actions shared—over the course of four days... ...during which the Battle of Gettysburg,...

The main concentration of Michael Shara's Pulitzer Prize winning book The Killer Angels is on the development of the battle situation at Gettysburg in 1863, and how that plays out in the first part...

A Maine man through and through, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain's stand at Little Round Top saved the Union army from disaster at the decisive battle of Gettysburg. With him in the 20th Maine regiment...

As you know from the reading the novel, it relies heavily on real officers from America's Civil War. So, it is rather unusual that the author MichaelShaarachose to include a fictional...

In The Killer Angels, General James Longstreet is well aware of the causes of his fellow Confederates. He knows that some, like the late Stonewall Jackson, saw the Southern cause as a holy crusade...

The Northern army believes that the Civil War is about freeing the slaves. While the Southern army sees it as a cause for state's rights. "Chamberlain, who is probably the most idealistic...

Brigadier General Lewis Armistead (1817-1863) is portrayed by author Michael Shaara as a romantic character--perhaps the greatest romantic among a soldierly sea of romantics. He dreams of being...

Since author Michael Shaara went to great lengths to make his 1975 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels as accurate as possible, coming up with actual differences between the book and the...

Joshua Chamberlain, commander of the 20th Maine, and his younger brother, Tom, were not unique in that many close relatives served together in units, particularly in the state-supplied volunteer...

On the surface Kilrain is an Irish immigrant fighting for the Union Army, however I think your question can be better answered by digging deeper into the 'why' of Kilrain's fighting. Kilrain is...

General Trimble, who commanded one of Stonewall Jackson's divisions early 1863, became ill, left the army to recuperate, and lost his command, which went to E. A. Johnson. When Trimble realized...

Aside from the slavery issue, The Killer Angels doesn't address in-depth political aspects. It primarily retells the unfolding events of the epic Battle of Gettysburg--the bloodiest ever on...

A brigade commander serving in the Confederate division of George Pickett, Lewis Armistead laments that he has not seen his closest friend, Union corps commander Winfield Scott Hancock, since their...

The spy in The Killer Angels, like such men everywhere, is a man whose loyalty to any cause is ambiguous or non-existent. Longstreet does not trust him, though he's indispensable because the...

Death is something that is constantly on the minds of the soldiers, although most of them have accepted that it is a part of their duty. The fear of being killed in battle is not outwardly...

The Killer Angels was actually made into a film called Gettysburg, starring Jeff Daniels, which released a number of soundtracks. The first album, Gettysburg, was the music from the original...

General Richard Garnett is one of Longstreet's brigade commanders serving in the division of General George Pickett. Dick Garnett is a proud man, coming from an old Virginia family; his cousin,...

Unquestioned loyalty seems to be one of the themes that runs through The Killer Angels, and not only in the fictional characters created by author Michael Shaara but in the true historical context...

There is little documentation to the thoughts of the main characters during the days leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg, so author Michael Shaara fictionalized this aspect of his Pulitzer...

Confederate General Robert E. Lee first questions the possibility of advancing into Pennsylvania "blind" during his momentous march toward Gettysburg in Michael Shaara's superb Civil War novel, The...

One of the main themes of “The Killer Angels” is the different beliefs about the cause of the war. Both the North and the South believed they were right in the beliefs that they fought for. The...

Fremantle believes that Southerners are essentially Englishmen at heart, or to be more specific, English aristocrats. And like the English aristocrats they feel themselves to be deep down, they...

Pickett's Charge proved to be one of the most significant--and, for the South, disastrous--actions of the entire Civil War. It culminated Robert E. Lee's dream of taking the fight from Virginia...

Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania was done for a number of reasons. First, he thought that he would be able to get food and other supplies from the rich land of the area he was invading. Perhaps more...

Lieutenant General James Longstreet does not think much of spies, and he has apparently only met Harrison once, when the man was paid to bring him information concerning the movements of the Union...

The issue of slavery does not seem to have much relevance to most the main characters at the Battle of Gettysburg in The Killer Angels, aside from the passionate anti-slavery views held by one of...

Since the early days of our country's history, the U. S. military has been blessed with overwhelming success, thanks in part to its strong leadership and faithful subordinates. Aside from a very...

Please limit your eNotes queries to one question per post. I have edited your question accordingly. Robert E. Lee's mighty Army of Northern Virginia was fresh off another victory over the much...

This is really more of an individual character question rather than a general one. Whether or not a soldier was religious depends on a soldier's personal situation, or life, before, during, and...

You are not very specific about the time and place that Lee decides the fight will go on. First, he worries that the new Union commander, George Meade, will carry on the fight. A native of...

One thing that is troubling Armistead prior to the battle is his old friend, Union General Hancock, whom he will soon face on the battlefield. He considers the possiblilty of crossing the lines to...

Just as you stated yourself, the North vs. the South is definitely a significant example of opposing points of view (or the Union and Rebel). Another example would be the opposing points of view...

Following the Army of Northern Virginia's decisive victory at Chancellorsville in May 1863, General Robert E. Lee decided the time was right for a second invasion of the North. Marching into...

Robert E. Lee was already a living legend in the South when he decided to invade Pennsylvania following the great Confederate victory at Chancellorsville less than a month before. No Union army had...

A professor of rhetoric at Bowdoin College in Maine before the war, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain had enlisted in the Union army because of a simple belief: the dignity of man. The Southern cause...