 | The 16th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War, Revised and Updated Subjects: United States. Army. Michigan Infantry Regiment 16 th (18611865) -- History; United States -- History -- Civil War 18611865 -- Regimental histories; Michigan -- History -- Civil War 18611865 -- Regimental histories; On the hot summer evening of July 2, 1863, at the climax of the struggle for a Pennsylvania hill called Little Round Top, four Confederate regiments charge up the western slope, attacking the smallest and most exposed of their Union foe: the 16th Michigan Infantry. Terrible fighting has raged, but what happens next will ultimately--and unfairly--stain the reputation of one of the Army of the Potomac's veteran combat outfits, made up of men from Detroit, Saginaw, Ontonagon, Hillsdale, Lansing, Adrian, Plymouth, and Albion. In the dramatic interpretation of the struggle for Little Round Top that followed the Battle of Gettysburg, the 16th Michigan Infantry would be remembered as the one that broke during perhaps the most important turning point of the war. Their colonel, a young lawyer from Ann Arbor, would pay with his life, redeeming his own reputation, while a kind of code of silence about what happened at Little Round Top was adopted by the regiment's survivors. From soldiers' letters, journals, and memoirs, this book relates their experiences in camp, on the march, and in battle, including their controversial role at Gettysburg, up to the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House. Kim Crawford is a retired newspaper reporter and author of The Daring Trader: Jacob Smith in the Michigan Territory and coauthor of The 4th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War . He has written about Michigan Civil War soldiers for Michigan History magazine, served as guest curator for the Flint Sloan Museum's 2012 Civil War exhibit, The Brave and the Faithful , and has given talks on both the 4th and 16th Michigan Infantry regiments to historical societies and Civil War roundtables. |
