Days of Darkness: The Gettysburg Civilians » (REVISED)

"Long after the armies of Robert E. Lee and George Gordon Meade left Gettysburg, the townsfolk continued to nurse and feed and bury the tattered remnants of those armies." "Gettysburg's 2,400 citizens began the months-long task of caring for the 22,000 wounded. Many died, but most survived because of the men, women, and children who sacrificed their time, their food, their homes, and even their own health for soldiers who had almost shot their town from the face of the earth." Never in American history have the people of a single town been so overcome by battle. Through the reconstructed experiences of the real-life people of Gettysburg, all readers can be brought to the all-too-real trauma and tragedy of all civilians in all wars.