"The fighting on the first day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, was heavy, confusing, and decisive. Much of it consisted of short and often separate simultaneous engagements or "firefights," a term the soldiers themselves often used to describe the close, vicious, and bloody combat. Several books have studied this important inaugural day of Gettysburg, but none have done so from the perspective of the rank and file of both armies. John Michael Priest's "Strong Men of the Regiment Sobbed Like Children": The Defeat of John Reynolds's I Corps at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, rectifies this oversight"--
