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| Dr. Timothy Orr review: A Perfect Hornet’s Nest http://www.berdansharpshooters.com/usssbb/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=481 |
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| Author: | Bill Skillman [ Mon Apr 28, 2025 9:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | Dr. Timothy Orr review: A Perfect Hornet’s Nest |
Fellow Sharpshooters, The March 11, 2025 edition of Emerging Civil War features a book review by Dr. Timothy Orr, who provides an insightful and balanced review of Mark A. Allen’s book, The 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters at Gettysburg: Like a Perfect Hornet’s Nest Here is Dr. Orr’s introduction; “Mark W. Allen’s The 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters at Gettysburg: Like a Perfect Hornet’s Nest explores the Gettysburg history of a unique rifle regiment that deployed as skirmishers. As such, Allen tells the tale of the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters through a lens that most Gettysburg researchers tend to avoid: the battle as viewed from the perspective of squads and platoons.” “….Like a Perfect Hornet’s Nest makes useful contributions to Gettysburg’s historiography. It makes excellent use of a private photograph collection owned by Brian White, arguably the most diligent collector of U.S. Sharpshooter images. Allen also does well by unpacking the importance of Colonel Hiram Berdan’s reconnaissance to Pitzer’s Woods, reminding readers that Berdan’s engagement gave Major General Daniel Sickles the “reason he needed” to execute his controversial redeployment along the Emmitsburg Road. (56) Allen’s maps graft the movements of the 2nd U.S.S.S. expertly onto the battlefield’s southern end. Readers will not be confused about where the regiment started on July 2 and where it finished.” Dr. Orr is largely satisfied with Mr. Wells analysis until Well’s assertion that he had identified the previously unknown USSS sergeant that joined Captain Morrill’s 20th Maine company (that had been deployed to cover the regiments left flank). Cut off by the arrival of the 15th & 47th Alabama, Morrill command with the 12-14 Sharpshooters secreted themselves along the Weikert farm stone wall. Wells cited two sources, but neither one specifically confirmed the identity of the sergeant. “….This leads to a larger concern. Overall, Like a Perfect Hornet’s Nest attempts to construct a type of military history that preceding generations of Gettysburg historians have rarely attempted: small unit action. Readers should recognize that Civil War veterans rarely, if ever, explained battles from the perspective of squads or platoons. To the majority of combat veterans, the movement of larger organizations—regiments, brigades, divisions, corps, and armies—mattered most. They considered small unit tactics inconsequential to the story of battles, even if we historians wish they did otherwise” Dr. Orr concludes his review: But in developing its main argument—that the 2nd U.S.S.S. vitally assisted the Army of the Potomac in securing Little Round Top—Like a Perfect Hornet’s Nest does an impeccable job. If battlefield explorers wish to walk in the footsteps of the 2nd U.S.S.S., they should have this book in their pocket.” https://emergingcivilwar.com/2025/03/11/book-review-the-2nd-u-s-sharpshooters-at-gettysburg-like-a-perfect-hornets-nest/ During my last visit to Gettysburg, (as a guest of the Princess Anne Grays for the annual Gettysburg Sharpshooter weekend), I brought along a laser rangefinder. When I visited the Company B-20th Maine position, the distance to the abandoned 1880’s road bed/boulder was exactly 150 yards; ‘Oates boulder’ was 50 yards further; point blank range for a veteran sharpshooter. Colonel Oates (15th Alabama) reported seeing men struck in the side, back and front, nearly simultaneously. With unrelenting fire from the rear and a descending wall of bayonets to his front, Colonel Oates grasped the hopelessness of the situation and ordered his battered regiment to retreat. After the War, Colonel Oates and Major Stoughton corresponded about their regiments actions on July 2, 1863. Col. Oates gave full credit for the victory at Little Round Top to the Second U.S. Sharpshooters. Author Wells (as have generations of researchers), face the dilemma that no official history of the Second United States Sharp Shooters exists. Decades ago a fellow Wolverine historian told me a manuscript compiled by survivors of the 2nd USSS was lost in a fire in Lansing, Michigan. However, years of research has failed to confirm any evidence of a 2nd USSS regimental history, let alone lost to history by fire. Bill Skillman Berdan Sharpshooters Survivors Association |
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