“This military biography clearly and informatively rescues from an undeserved obscurity one of the Union’s key commanders at the battle of Gettysburg.” —Midwest Book Review
Citizen-soldier Strong Vincent was many things: Harvard graduate, lawyer, political speaker, descendent of pilgrims and religious refugees, husband, father, brother. But his greatest contribution to history is as the savior of the Federal left flank on the second day at Gettysburg, when he and his men held Little Round Top against overwhelming Confederate numbers. Forgotten by history in favor of his subordinate, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Vincent has faded into relative obscurity in the decades since his death. This book restores Vincent to his rightful place among the heroes of the battle of Gettysburg: presenting his life story using new, never-before-published sources and archival material to bring the story of one of the most forgotten officers of the American Civil War back to the attention of readers and historians.
“This is a well-researched and well-written book, and the author makes a strong case for Colonel Vincent’s essential role in the union victory at Gettysburg.” —The Journal of America’s Military Past
“Erie, Pennsylvania historian Hans G. Myers brings to life an overlooked Gettysburg hero . . . a good, well-researched biography certainly worth the read.” —Maine at War
“Readers of battle history, in particular the voluminous literature on Gettysburg, will find interest in both the short life of Strong Vincent and the hereto unheralded role his decisions played in saving the Federal left flank at Little Round Top.” —Journal of MilitaryHistory
Hans G. Myers is an historian from Erie, Pennsylvania. A graduate of Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania (Class of 2019) and the University of Indianapolis (2021), Myers served as the inaugural Gerald and Marjorie Morgan Graduate Student Assistant in History at the University of Indianapolis. He studies social and military history in the nineteenth-century United States.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Vanishing of VincentThe Strongs and The Vincents: Early Life, Education, and CourtshipJanuary to August 1861: Lieutenant Vincent of "The Erie Regiment"August 1861 to March 1862: The Eighty-Third PennsylvaniaLate March to September 1862: The Swamps of the ChickahominyOctober 1862 to January 1863: Colonel VincentJanuary to April 1863: "I enlisted to fight"May to June 1863: "I wish he were a brigadier-general"July 1, 1863: March to MortalityJuly 2, 1863: The Lion of Round TopJuly 3 to July 7, 1863: The Road to ImmortalityThe Path to Being Forgotten: The Legacy of Strong Vincent