The Lion of Round Top

A valued and appreciated contribution to American Civil War history, this military biography clearly and informatively rescues from an undeserved obscurity on of the Union's key commanders at the battle of Gettysburg. An absorbing read from cover to cover. -- Midwest Book Review Erie, Pennsylvania historian Hans G. Myers brings to life an overlooked Gettysburg hero... [weaving] into his book historical personages and events as they relate to Vincent and reveals the Erie warrior's bravery at Fredericksburg... The Lion of Round Top is a good, well-researched biography certainly worth the read. -- Maine at War In this latest treatment, Myers aims to correct what he deems the vanishing of Strong Vincent at the hands of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain [...] Myers's argument was cogent and well made. -- Emerging Civil War Myers will do his best to convince us that Erie, as well as the man he calls the Lion of Little Round Top, have reason to roar... It is now for lay readers to enjoy the story of the indisputably valiant and highly effective Col. Vincent, who was promoted to brigadier general after the battle, and for historians, as the author states, to tilt at the windmills of truth and determine who, if anyone, was the real Lion of Little Round Top. -- The Erie Times-News H.G. Myers has burst upon the scene of Civil War historical writing much like Strong Vincent and his brigade burst among the Confederates at Little Round top on July 2, 1863. He has written a definitive biography of Chamberlain's superior officer, retrieving for Vincent much of the game he once enjoyed for saving the key hill and, quite possibly, the Union army at Gettysburg. Myers' crisp, well-researched narrative reminds us of the best that biographical history offers while avoiding its many pitfalls. This is an excellent work. --Christian B. Keller, Prof. of History and Director of the Military History Program, U.S. Army War College Modern scholarship and popular culture have pushed Strong Vincent into the shadows and increasingly minimized his central contributions to the defense of Little Round Top and the Federal victory at Gettysburg. H. G. Myers judicious biography of this nearly forgotten soldiers goes a long way toward fleshing out the man and restoring the soldier to his rightful place in the Gettysburg pantheon. --Kenneth W. Noe, author of 'The Howling Storm' Myers has met the most formidable of challenges. Although well known for his actions during the Battle of Gettysburg, Colonel Strong Vincent has never received the full biographical attention lavished on less interesting and less deserving topics. Myers, in his well-reasoned and well-researched work, provides a thorough account of Vincent's life and career, tragically cut short at Gettysburg... in his first major monograph, has further announced himself as a promising young historian from whom more great work is expected. --Steven J. Ramold, Ph.D., Eastern Michigan University When Strong Vincent surrendered his life at Gettysburg, he ceded to Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain the ground on which to shape a carefully crafted memory of the Union's defense of Little Round Top. With brisk prose and sound analysis, H. G. Myers reappraises the events on July 2, 1863, to position Vincent as the rightful hero who held the Federal left flank. Without Vincent's bold initiative and selfless courage, the Army of the Potomac may well have shattered on that fateful summer day. --Andrew F. Lang, Associate Professor of History at Mississippi State University, a recipient of the Society of Civil War Historians' Tom Watson Brown Book Award, and a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize The fighting at Gettysburg Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, stands as an iconic moment in the American Civil War. The Lion of Round Top rightfully places Colonel Strong Vincent among the panoply of Federal soldiers who successfully secured the Army of the Potomac's left flank that fateful day. --Jennifer M. Murray, Oklahoma State University and author of 'On a Great Battlefield'