Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies: General Alfred Pleasonton's Account of Gettysburg and the Pennsylvania Campaign (Illustrated)

Alfred Pleasonton (July 7, 1824 – February 17, 1897) was a United States Army officer best known for being a political general who commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Chancellorsville Campaign and the Pennsylvania Campaign. Although he was ineffective at Chancellorsville, his command fought against J.E.B. Stuart in the largest predominantly cavalry battle of the war at Brandy Station and fought the Confederate cavalry to a standstill at Gettysburg. In 1864 he was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Theater, where he defeated Confederate General Sterling Price in two key battles, effectively ending the war in Missouri.

In the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union Cavalry fought the Confederate cavalry to the south and east of the main battle on Day 3, but Pleasanton's new commander, General George G. Meade, understood Pleasonton's reputation (and his father's) and kept him on a short leash. For the three days of the battle, Pleasonton was forced to remain with Meade at army headquarters, rather than with the Cavalry Corps headquarters nearby, and Meade exercised more direct control of the cavalry than an army commander normally would. In postwar writings, Pleasonton attempted to portray his role in the battle as being a major one, including predicting to Meade that the town of Gettysburg would be the decisive point and, after the Confederate defeat in Pickett's Charge, that he urged Meade to attack Gen. Lee and finish him off. He conveniently made these claims after Meade's death, when dispute was impossible. At the same time, however, Pleasonton cannot be blamed for Meade’s decision to order the division of Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick to attack the right flank of the Confederate army, which resulted in a suicidal assault against entrenched infantry and the futile death of Elon Farnsworth.

Pleasonton wrote an account of the Pennsylvania Campaign, focusing on Day 3 of Gettysburg, and it was preserved in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, reflect this. This edition of his account includes illustrations and maps of the Pennsylvania Campaign, and it also includes pictures of the important commanders of the battle.