Private John C. West numbered among the stalwart Texans who fought in the Devil's Den and along Little Round Top during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Less than a week after the fighting ended, during the retreat to Virginia, West described the action in two letters to his family.

John C. West, who served in the ranks of Company E, 4th Texas Infantry, Hood's Brigade, participated in the long march through Virginia on the way to invading Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 1863 campaign that ended at Gettysburg. Here's his vivid recollection.

At the end of July 1863, from his camp in Culpeper, Va., Pvt. John C. West of the 4th Texas Infantry wrote his brother back in the Lone Star State about the Battle of Gettysburg, where "Breakfast in Virginia, whiskey in Maryland and supper in Pennsylvania" ended unexpectedly.

On the afternoon of July 1, 1863, Capt. Thomas Clark of the U.S. Signal Corps stood high above Gettysburg in the steeple of the town’s prominent two-story courthouse. From this perch—one of the tallest points in the town—he had a commanding view of the surrounding countryside—and the Confederate ...

On July 1, 1863, at Gettysburg, color sergeant Burlington “Burl” Cunningham expressed his eagerness to unfurl the regimental colors of the 19th Indiana Infantry. A staff officer ordered him not to do so. Cunningham brought them out anyway—here is what happened.

It can be fairly stated that Maj. Gen. George G. Meade believed he had no chance at becoming the commander of the Army of the Potomac. As much as he might have aspired to higher office, he also realized that what he wanted and what he might get were very different. In two letters to his wife, wri...