Fortunately, amid the din and confusion of bitter polemical warfare there is one historian to whom the general reader can turn with confidence-one who has devoted to this battle years of patient study and untiring research, has critically examined all the documents, reports, and publications to be obtained from reliable sources on either side of the controversy, has thoughtfully sifted the evidence for every statement made, has consulted with the surviving officers of either army, and then, "with malice toward none and charity for all, " and with an impartiality rare even in a foreigner of his exalted position and preeminent ability, has written the history of the greatest battle fought on American soil. The Comte de Paris' account of the battle of Gettysburg is widely acknowledged to be the fairest and most graphic description of the battle ever written.
To make the work still more complete, an itinerary of the Army of the Potomac and cooperating forces in the Gettysburg campaign, June and July, 1863, has beencarefully revised and enlarged from documents in the possession of the War Department. This gives the most complete organization of the Army of the Potomac, and details the name of every general and subordinate commander on the field, with a return showing the casualties by regiment and
An historian, journalist and outspoken democrat, Philippe volunteered to serve as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War along with his younger brother, Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres. He was appointed as an assistant adjutant general with the rank of captain on 24 September 1861 and served under the name of Philippe d' Orléans, the Count of Paris. He served on the staff of the commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General George McClellan, for nearly a year. He distinguished himself during the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign. He resigned from the Union Army, along with his brother, on 15 July 1862. Philippe's history of the Civil War is considered a standard reference work on the subject.