"Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command"
by Kent Masterson Brown

Meade was the Union General who won the Battle of Gettysburg, but he was heavily criticized for not being more aggressive after the battle.  Lincoln thought Meade had missed an opportunity to win the war by finishing off Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it could escape back into Virginia.  This book looks at the actions of Meade from the time he took command of the Army of the Potomac just 3 days before the Battle of Gettysburg, on through the time when Lee finally got across the Potomac River to home territory.  It's a very interesting book.  Even though Meade won the battle, the Union army was about as crippled as the Confederates were.  Thousands and thousands of killed and wounded, lack of food, lack of ammunition, horses that hadn't been fed for a week and were worn out.  Dozens of high-ranking officers killed.  Men marching without shoes.  It was a mess.  Yet there was Lee, trapped against the Potomac River, which had flooded, his pontoon bridge gone.

Everyone likes to study battles, but it's what happens between the battles that is almost as important.  Someone once said, "Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics."

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