The Rashness of That Hour

No commander in the Army of Northern Virginia suffered more damage to his reputation at Gettysburg than Gen. Alfred Holt Iverson. On July 1, 1863, in little more than an hour much of his brigade (the 5th, 12th, 20th, and 23rd North Carolina regiments) were killed, wounded, or captured. Amidst widesp [...]
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No commander in the Army of Northern Virginia suffered more damage to his reputation at Gettysburg than Gen. Alfred Holt Iverson. On July 1, 1863, in little more than an hour much of his brigade (the 5th, 12th, 20th, and 23rd North Carolina regiments) were killed, wounded, or captured. Amidst widespread rumours that he was a drunk, a coward, and had slandered his own troops, Iverson was stripped of his command less than a week after the end of the battle.After months of internal feuding and behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring, the survivors of Iverson's ill-fated brigade had no doubt about who to blame for their devastating losses. Almost to the man, they placed the fault directly on the failed leadership displayed by their former commanding general. What remains is the lingering question of how such a disaster could have happened.Drawing on a wealth of newly discovered and previously unpublished sources, Robert J. Wynstra's The Rashness of that Hour explores the story behind one of the Civil War's most notorious blunders. An in-depth analysis of the events at Gettysburg is balanced with an insider's examination of a brigade that was in turmoil long before its final rendezvous with July 1 destiny. Wynstra's penetrating analysis paints, for the first time, a complete picture of a flawed general and the bitter internecine feuds that made his downfall nearly inevitable.About the AuthorRobert J. Wynstra recently retired as a senior writer for the News and Public Affairs Office in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Studies at the University of Illinois. He holds a BA and an MA in History and an MA in Journalism, all from the University of Illinois.