Their Silent Vigil, Volume One
A Complete Guide To The Monuments Of The Gettysburg National Military Park
By: Robert J. Nixon
Published: October 2009
Format: Paperback, 512pp
ISBN-13: 9781607995883
ISBN-10: 1607995883
Publisher: Tate Publishing
"Gettysburg is a feeling as much as it is a place", writes student of the Battle of Gettysburg and the American Civil War Robert J. Nixon in his comprehensive and definitive book Their Silent Vigil, Volume One: A Complete Guide To The Monuments Of The Gettysburg National Military Park. The author provides drawings of every regimental monument, complete with description, dimensions, overall shape and a three dimensional view, along with countless photographs, bringing them to life as they speak their memories to us across time.
Robert J. Nixon understands that Gettysburg is more than than just a place where a battle was fought. The author sees the battle field as sacred ground, having been consecrated by the blood of thousands of young men wearing blue and gray uniforms. Through the mists of time, the echoes of cannon and gunfire, and the sounds of a terrible war, still hang in the air. For the author, the sense of the battle is still felt in every rock, hill, and inch of ground. He writes that the battle can be felt. This book of monuments is his tribute to those men who paid the supreme sacrifice on every one of those hallowed places. The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the American Civil War, and a pivotal moment in the history of the United States. That sense of awe permeates the entire place, and gives it an air of timelessness and immediacy.
Robert J. Nixon (photo left) writes that every regimental monument has a unique story to tell. Every regimental monument in the Gettysburg National Military Park is documented and included in the book. This incredible cataloging of drawings, photographs, and inscriptions is a valuable and crucial record of each memorial and the men it represents. Accompanying the carefully constructed drawings, showing all sides and views of the monuments, are photographs that add to their meaning and memory. Bob Nixon goes beyond simply displaying the appearance of the monument. He also shows what the monument says, with the original inscriptions and their bittersweet messages being given a permanent voice.
For me, the power of the book is how Robert Nixon, in the pages of this large format book, captures the power and impact of these incredible regimental monuments. His tireless efforts to catalog, draw, and photograph these important historical documents in stone and bronze, is itself a heroic task. At the same time, the author provides the sense that his work is for those who died in that terrible battle, and for those who live on today and forever. Robert Nixon captures the spirit of the place, and of that long lost time, as the monuments are presented in a logical and categorized order that helps them to covey their memories to the reader, and to the visitor to the site. The book conveys both the appearance of the monument and the story of sacrifice it has to tell.
I highly recommend the extensively researched and documented book Their Silent Vigil, Volume One: A Complete Guide To The Monuments Of The Gettysburg National Military Park by Robert J. Nixon, to anyone who studies history, but also to anyone who feels the great debt owed to those who sacrificed their lives long ago, for those who live today. On both sides of that terrible conflict, young men fought and died with honor and courage, for causes in which they believed. These silent monuments tell us their story for all time.
Read the phenomenal and seminal book Their Silent Vigil, Volume One: A Complete Guide To The Monuments Of The Gettysburg National Military Park by Robert J. Nixon and stroll through the regimental monuments at Gettysburg. Hear their voices and feel their presence, as they tell their story that deserves to be remembered forever. This book shows the record in stone and bronze of that critical moment in history.
