In The Thickest of The Fray: Mississippians At Gettysburg ─ In Their Own Words
The Magnolia State sent eleven infantry regiments and one artillery battery to Gettysburg. The individual memories were published in newspaper articles, written in diaries, and recorded in interviews throughout the lives of the veterans. This is the first book collecting the recollections of the common Mississippi soldiers who fought at Gettysburg and in the Pennsylvania Campaign. Tracking from the march to Pennsylvania, on each of the three days, and through the retreat back into Virginia, this work describes what the soldiers related about their participation in the great battle. Included is a brief history of Mississippi in the Confederacy and the Mississippi brigades within the Army of Northern Virginia that participated in the fight. This book brings the action to life with photographs and maps.
Advance Praise for In The Thickest of The Fray
In 1861 Southern men stepped out of dusty plow furrows, from behind school desks, merchants’ and mechanics’ counters, and pulpits; armed themselves, bade their loved one’s farewell, and stepped into the pages of History. Their lives would become the stuff of legends, and Mississippians were usually found in the front of the phalanx!
Joseph L. Owen and J. Douglas Ashton have thoroughly researched and stitched together from letters, journals and official records, first-hand accounts of Mississippians who participated in one of the most bloody, hard-fought and decisive battles of the war, Gettysburg.
Such deeds, as recorded here by Owen and Ashton, can never be forgotten! In these pages you will learn Duty, Discipline, Sacrifice and Honor as you go forth with valiant Mississippians “In the Thickest of the Fray!”
H. Grady Howell. Author, Publisher, and Historian Emeritus, Mississippi Department of Archives & History
The story of the battle of Gettysburg is best understood through written words of the survivors from both armies. Though small in number compared to other southern states represented in the Army of Northern Virgina, Mississippi troops under Joseph Davis and William Barksdale were in the center of fighting on all three days of the battle. Joe Owen and Doug Ashton have meticulously compiled memorable accounts by Mississippi veterans to tell the story of what they saw, heard and experienced at the pivotal battle of the American Civil War.
John S. Heiser, National Park Service, retired.
More than 790,000 people lived in Mississippi at the start of the Civil War. More than half were enslaved. Most of the 354,000 whites who lived in the state supported secession in 1860-61. Mississippi was the second state to leave the Union, formally seceding on January 9. Over the course of the war, more than 80,000 men served in the Confederate military. Eleven infantry regiments or battalions, a cavalry legion, and a single artillery battery fought at Gettysburg. Doug Ashton and Joe Owen aptly detail their actions in the tumultuous engagement through the words of the soldiers in their book, bringing to life the stories the old veterans told their neighbors, friends, and descendants.
Scott L. Mingus, co-author of If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania: The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg – Recipient of the 2023 Bachelder-Coddington Award from the Gettysburg CWRT.