The Lion of Round Top: The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War

by Hans G. Myers, Frank P. Varney (Foreword by)

Overview

“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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781636241128
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	07/07/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	731,244
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

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 Vincent
The Strongs and The Vincents: Early Life, Education, and Courtship
January to August 1861: Lieutenant Vincent of "The Erie Regiment"
August 1861 to March 1862: The Eighty-Third Pennsylvania
Late March to September 1862: The Swamps of the Chickahominy
October 1862 to January 1863: Colonel Vincent
January to April 1863: "I enlisted to fight"
May to June 1863: "I wish he were a brigadier-general"
July 1, 1863: March to Mortality
July 2, 1863: The Lion of Round Top
July 3 to July 7, 1863: The Road to Immortality
The Path to Being Forgotten: The Legacy of Strong Vincent

Editorial Reviews

This history of Vincent is well done. The book should be in the collections of Civil War buffs, as well as in public and school libraries.

March/April 2023 Pennsylvania Magazine

For an unknown Union officer, Myers has done well to provide the facts of his life and a cogent argument that Vincent deserves much more credit, not only for a short life lived but for a decision which ultimately affected a battle’s outcome and possibly the fate of a nation.

Fall 2022 Stuart McClung

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.

Winter 2023 Roger D. Cunningham

Well researched and readable, The Lion of Round Top provides insight into the making of a brigade commander that excelled at Gettysburg.

HMGS

Myers will do his best to convince us that Erie, as well as the man he calls “the Lion of Little Round Top,” have reason to roar… It is now for lay readers to enjoy the story of the indisputably valiant and highly effective Col. Vincent, who was promoted to brigadier general after the battle, and for historians, as the author states, “to tilt at the windmills of truth” and determine who, if anyone, was the real Lion of Little Round Top.

The Erie Times-News

"Myers has met the most formidable of challenges. Although well known for his actions during the Battle of Gettysburg, Colonel Strong Vincent has never received the full biographical attention lavished on less interesting and less deserving topics. Myers, in his well-reasoned and well-researched work, provides a thorough account of Vincent's life and career, tragically cut short at Gettysburg... in his first major monograph, has further announced himself as a promising young historian from whom more great work is expected."

Steven J. Ramold

Using never-before-published documents and records, this is the first modern biography of the man who really saved little Round Top for the Federal Forces.

ARGunners.com

Erie, Pennsylvania historian Hans G. Myers brings to life an overlooked Gettysburg hero… [weaving] into his book historical personages and events as they relate to Vincent and reveals the Erie warrior’s bravery at Fredericksburg… The Lion of Round Top is a good, well-researched biography certainly worth the read.

Maine at War

"When Strong Vincent surrendered his life at Gettysburg, he ceded to Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain the ground on which to shape a carefully crafted memory of the Union's defense of Little Round Top. With brisk prose and sound analysis, H. G. Myers reappraises the events on July 2, 1863, to position Vincent as the rightful hero who held the Federal left flank. Without Vincent's bold initiative and selfless courage, the Army of the Potomac may well have shattered on that fateful summer day."

Andrew F. Lang

Well researched and readable, The Lion of Round Top provides insight into the making of a brigade commander that excelled at Gettysburg.

Historical Miniatures Gaming Society

"H.G. Myers has burst upon the scene of Civil War historical writing much like Strong Vincent and his brigade burst among the Confederates at Little Round top on July 2, 1863. He has written a definitive biography of Chamberlain's superior officer, retrieving for Vincent much of the game he once enjoyed for saving the key hill and, quite possibly, the Union army at Gettysburg. Myers' crisp, well-researched narrative reminds us of the best that biographical history offers while avoiding its many pitfalls. This is an excellent work."

Christian B. Keller

"In this latest treatment, Myers aims to correct what he deems “the vanishing” of Strong Vincent at the hands of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain [...] Myers’s argument was cogent and well made."

Emerging Civil War

"The fighting at Gettysburg Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, stands as an iconic moment in the American Civil War. The Lion of Round Top rightfully places Colonel Strong Vincent among the panoply of Federal soldiers who successfully secured the Army of the Potomac's left flank that fateful day."

Jennifer M. Murray

"Modern scholarship and popular culture have pushed Strong Vincent into the shadows and increasingly minimized his central contributions to the defense of Little Round Top and the Federal victory at Gettysburg. H. G. Myers judicious biography of this nearly forgotten soldiers goes a long way toward fleshing out the man and restoring the soldier to his rightful place in the Gettysburg pantheon."

Kenneth W. Noe

For an unknown Union officer, Myers has done well to provide the facts of his life and a cogent argument that Vincent deserves much more credit, not only for a short life lived but for a decision which ultimately affected a battle’s outcome and possibly the fate of a nation.

The Journal of America's Military Past

In what is his first book Myers, a promising young historian, has written a first rate treatment of the life of this largely forgotten general, which will help the both scholars and buffs better understand who was the actual 'Lion of Little Round Top'."

NYMAS Review

Myers’ book is well-written and offers insight on the now-forgotten man whose initiative and decisions were critical to Union victory at Gettysburg, a consequence of post-war mythologies and self-serving narratives. 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 Military History

A valued and appreciated contribution to American Civil War history, this military biography clearly and informatively rescues from an undeserved obscurity on of the Union's key commanders at the battle of Gettysburg. An absorbing read from cover to cover.

Midwest Book Review