Three years in the Bloody Eleventh

"Hailing from the Keystone State's rugged western counties, the Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves was one of the Civil War's most heavily engaged units. Of more than 2,100 regiments raised by the North, it suffered the eighth highest percentage of battle deaths, earning it the gruesome sobriquet "Bloody Eleventh."". "Three Years in the "Bloody Eleventh" tells the story of this often-overlooked element of the Army of the Potomac from its formation in 1861 through the battles of May 1864. Drawing on letters, diaries, and archival documents, Joseph Gibbs writes of men such as Colonel Thomas Gallagher, who led his troops into battle smoking a cigar; Samuel Jackson, who became the regiment's commander following Gallagher's promotion; and company captains such as Robert Litzinger, Andrew Lewis, Daniel Porter, and Everard Bierer. He rediscovers the complexities of the men who commanded the brigades and divisions of which the Eleventh Reserves was a part - figures such as George Meade, John Reynolds, and Samuel Crawford."--BOOK JACKET.