In the Thickest of the Fray

"Joseph L. Owen and J. Douglas Ashton have thoroughly researched and stitched together from letters, journals and official records, first-hand accounts of Mississippians who participated in one of the most bloody, hard-fought and decisive battles of the war, Gettysburg." ~H. Grady Howell. Author, Publisher, and Historian Emeritus, Mississippi Department of Archives & History

"The story of the battle of Gettysburg is best understood through written words of the survivors from both armies. Though small in number compared to other southern states represented in the Army of Northern Virgina, Mississippi troops under Joseph Davis and William Barksdale were in the center of fighting on all three days of the battle. Joe Owen and Doug Ashton have meticulously compiled memorable accounts by Mississippi veterans to tell the story of what they saw, heard and experienced at the pivotal battle of the American Civil War." ~John S. Heiser, National Park Service, retired.

"More than 790,000 people lived in Mississippi at the start of the Civil War. More than half were enslaved. Most of the 354,000 whites who lived in the state supported secession in 1860-61. Mississippi was the second state to leave the Union, formally seceding on January 9. Over the course of the war, more than 80,000 men served in the Confederate military. Eleven infantry regiments or battalions, a cavalry legion, and a single artillery battery fought at Gettysburg. Doug Ashton and Joe Owen aptly detail their actions in the tumultuous engagement through the words of the soldiers in their book, bringing to life the stories the old veterans told their neighbors, friends, and descendants." ~Scott L. Mingus, co-author of If "We Are Striking for Pennsylvania: The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg", Recipient of the 2023 Bachelder-Coddington Award from the Gettysburg CWRT.