Children's Books

[Gene C]

Gettysburg - Tad Lincoln's Story, by F N Monjo
Illustrations by Douglas Gorsline. Written in 1976, with 45 pages.
Several illustrations of photographs, and composites of old photographs.

The quality of the illustrations appears to me to be better than the previous book. In the two illustrations of Stanton, he has a much softer, less harsh expression.

The book is Tad's telling of the events of Gettysburg, as seen from his perspective. The details of the battle are not given, except he does describe Pickett's charge and General Lee personally taking the blame for its failure. Tad does describe his father's disappointment in Meade not capturing Lee's army when he had the chance.

The premise of the books are interesting, it's as if Tad was there telling you about what happened. He says this about his father,
"I told Pa he must hate the Rebels a whole lot, for tying to bust this country apart. But Pa surprised me. He told me he didn't really hate 'em. It wasn't as simple as all that, he said. Because, he told me, he thought he might have turned out a Rebel himself, if he'd happen to live down there in the south.
It made me think a lot different about the war, when Pa said that. Made it a lot harder to understand, too. But it showed me that beating the South wasn't the big thing. Having one country back. whole, in one peace, is all that matters."

The book does not glamorize battle or romanticize the war. Nor does he avoid describing some of the horrors of battle. The following passage is why I do not suggest this book for grade school age children.
"Their was something else that I heard at the telegraph office, that I wish I hadn't. It was about all the suffering. If a soldier gets hit in the leg or the arm, most likely the bullet smashes up the bone so bad that gangrene will set in, unless the doctors amputate.
That means there were piles and piles of arms and legs stacked up beside the hospital tents at Gettysburg after the battle. And the soldiers had nothing to deaden the pain while their arms and legs were being cut off.
It was even worse for the Rebels. Their wounded had to jounce and jostle in those horrible wagons, day after day, riding through the rain.
I heard the men in the telegraph office say that they'd heard some of the soldiers were begging to be left behind, to die, so that they wouldn't have to suffer in those wagons anymore....
And it gave me terrible bad dreams to think about it."

There were also two illustrations of old photographs of dead soldiers on the battlefield.

The book ends with President Lincoln going to Gettysburg, giving his address (recorded in full) and a few closing comments by Tad.

Well written, but it is not a book I would have wanted my boys to read before they were in middle school.

https://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Lincol...=f+n+monjo