When I read a review, I expect that it will give me a clear idea what the book is about and I didn't think Blake did that for my novel. In addition, I felt some of his points were in error. I was very pleased that their editor Kay Jorgensen allowed me an opportunity to see an advance copy of the review and write a response.

I want to thank the Civil War News and Mr. Blake Magner for doing a review on my novel Courage on Little Round Top. I appreciate Mr. Magner writing, "For a summer beach book or for something to curl up with in front of a roaring fire, this volume will do quite well." As Mr. Magner rightly pointed out, there are some minor errors in the book, which are embarrassing for my publisher and me. I do take some solace in the fact that I am not alone in making errors. My Sickles' information came from the Revised Edition of Mark Boatner's The Civil War Dictionary. The National Park Service's Soldiers and Sailors System has Mackenzie's first name as Ronald.

As Mr. Magner implied, if you are looking for a great deal of combat action, my novel isn't for you. Courage on Little Round Top is the story of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Robert Wicker, the young officer Chamberlain captured during the 20 th Maine's charge down Little Round Top, and more importantly, the series of events that brought them face to face. To bring the reader those events, it was necessary to revisit many familiar characters (as well as many additional ones like John Chamberlain, who was visiting his brothers for the summer), but with a bit more insight and different points of view than the works sited in the review. Also, for the average soldier, the War Between the States was hours upon hours of waiting, long marches, lack of sleep, health problems, and bad food, intermingled with very short stretches of intense life and death struggles. I strove to capture that entire experience for the reader.

When it comes to Robert Wicker, I wish I had done as Mr. Magner's wrote and "created Wicker" it would have saved me the difficult work of tracking down his military record, family, and educational background. As I used genealogical resources to track down living relatives, they wanted to know how I was related to Robert.

The novel is also a study in contrasts. Chamberlain, a married man, trained as a minister and a college professor, rose quickly to the rank of Colonel and command of a regiment, while Wicker was a young, single, college student, who was unfit to command even a small company. I did take some dramatic license (using what the reviewer described as "that darned voice in his head") as a way for Wicker to deal with the death of two sisters, who died from disease in May 1863, and contrast his grief and despair with Chamberlain's deep religious faith and confidence.

Also, if you are looking for detailed maps that show precise troop movements, they aren't in my novel. My maps are very general and are there only to help the Civil War novice visualize the storyline.

Researching Gettysburg or any Civil War battle can be difficult. It is not unusual for those who were there to disagree about the actual events or for their writings to lack details necessary to have a clear understanding of troop movements. Often historians and writers are forced to make an educated guess concerning what really happened during a battle, for example, the route of Longstreet's Corps' advance on July 2.

While the official records from some in McLaw's Division describe a counter march, the same is not true of Law's Brigade. Law wrote, ". . . the division was moved to our right (south), traversing the angle between the Chambersburg and Emmitsburg roads." Law also wrote about long delays. None of the official reports of Law's regimental commanders even mentions a counter march. My map reflects the route of only Law's Brigade and my educated guess is that the marching column was so long that when McLaw's Division started the counter march, Law's Brigade was still on Herr Ridge Road and waited there until McLaw's Division (and possibly parts of Hood's Division) completed the counter march before falling in behind.

I made a similar educated guess concerning the advance of Vincent's brigade. The writings of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and a map in the book Maine at Gettysburg clearly put Vincent's brigade at the Wheatfield before order to Little Round Top. Division commander Barns' official report also implies that they were at the Wheatfield. Howard Prince, the 20 th Maine's historian, gave a detailed description of the advance and while he doesn't mention the Wheatfield, his position is very close to it. In his book, The Attack and Defense of Little Round Top, Oliver Norton (he was Vincent's standard-bearer) doesn't mention where they started from but describes in detail Vincent's ride to Little Round Top and it is from the direction of The Wheatfield.

While Robert E. Lee's health concerns at Gettysburg are well known, I was surprised to learn that a member of his staff reported Lee (as well as many of his men) suffered from diarrhea during the battle. Disease, not bullets, was the leading cause of death during the war and diarrhea/dysentery was one of the most common diseases, as well as one of the most lethal. I hate to admit it, but I was one of those who grew up wondering how the early astronauts went to the bathroom in space, so between it being a major health issue and my curiosity about such things, I spent more time on the subject than most books about the war.

Once again, I wish to thank the editors in allowing me to share my thoughts concerning Mr. Magner's review. I greatly appreciate their kindness and professionalism and I look forward to being a subscriber for years to come.