The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara was not just a fiction novel, it was a story of a man who actually saw the battlefield of Gettysburg and learned about the battle and its importance. When he returned from the battle sight he decided to write a novel based on his experience there. Instead of creating fictional characters he used the names and experiences he had directly with the main characters of the novel. Not only did Shaara study and review letters, documents and journal enteries of the men for the interpretation, he made it more realistic and personal by the portrayal of his characters. In the paper we will address four of those main characters with their background and how they were relevant to the war. Shaara, gave us a look at each …show more content…
Lee. The death of “Stonewall” Jackson paved the way for his importance to Lee. He suffers from depression due to the loss of his three kids during the winter before the Battle of Gettysburg. Longstreet was a crude, slow talking man from South Carolina. He sometimes challenged Lee’s decisions and authority because he was very knowledgeable of “modern warfare” of that era. Longstreet ultimately listened and took his commands from Lee, but not without a fight. He had no faith in the confederates winning the war because Lee orders the army to fight without proper tactics or plans, he just attacks. Some of his modern tactics were never attempted and those that were, sometimes never really panned out very well. In the book, Longstreet tells General Lee the Confederate army should go behind the hills between Washington D.C. and the Union Army, of course Lee doesn’t listen. This same tactic he had been preaching through the entire book Lee never listened to. If he had they may have not had so many casualties. It seems as his defensive war tactics are there because he has a hard time ordering the men to their deaths. The war through his eyes was being fought for the good of the country as a whole. Southern states were trying to secede from the United States as a whole and for a way of life and social order, even though it was built upon the conflict of …show more content…
He was a college professor who had a deep long time desire to be a soldier. Chamberlain was a colonel of the Twentieth Maine Infantry with a beautiful singing voice. With no experience whatsoever in war, he became a much respected soldier, he fought in the war because he believed in the Union and Humanity. He carried the Union over to victory in the battle of Round Top. As a colonel he was ruthless and fearless of going into battles. As a family man, always dreaming of his wife back home, he was essentially the poet of the novel giving realistic descriptions of the days in battle. When he gave speeches to his man it included him saying they were fighting for the freedom of other men. However, when he came across an escaped slave he could not help but feel slight revulsion, he himself is disgusted with the emotions that came about from him. Despite his odd emotions the escaped slave still received care from Chamberlain’s troops and was directed to safety. Once when he was a professor he came across a man who expressed disgust verbally of the black men and in that moment, his passive aggressiveness could not be found. Chamberlain in that moment wanted to kill him and realized one day these views would bring about a war. Never one to cower down to defeat, towards the end of the battle of Little Round Top the troops were running out of ammunition. Chamberlain immediately orders his men to fix their bayonets to their rifles