The Killer Angels Resources

This is a great resource for all kinds of information on the Civil War. We're talking everything and the kitchen sink here.

If you're tired of all the Ancient Aliens episodes on the History Channel—don't worry. They still have some real historical things now and then. Like this.

If you're thinking of going to see where this all went down, well, you can. It's a national park now.

This movie, based on The Killer Angels, is over four hours long. Jeff Daniels plays Chamberlain, and Martin Sheen plays Lee. Hey, Roger Ebert was a fan.

It might seem like a tough book to adapt for the stage, but it's apparently been done by Karen Tarjan.

Michael Shaara spent seven years doing in-depth research and writing The Killer Angels. Before that, he'd worked as a boxer and a policeman.

Ebert gave the movie three out of four stars and thought it had given him a real understanding of the Civil War.

In case you don't have four hours to spare for the Gettysburg movie, historian Gary Adelman's got your back with this super-quick summary of the battle.

This is a guided tour of the hill where Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine saved the entire Union line with their bravery.

This hour-long documentary gives a pretty substantial and interesting look at the battle.

Jeff Daniels gives Chamberlain's rousing speech from the beginning of the book, when he tries to persuade some mutinous Mainers to fight for freedom and equality.

Michael Shaara's son Jeff is an author in his own right: he wrote a successful Civil War novel himself, called Gods and Generals. (Yup, there's a movie of that one, too.) Here, Jeff chats about his dad's book.

Although you won't get to see Lincoln giving his famous speech in The Killer Angels, you might as well brush up on this old staple of classroom memorization.

If you ever stop by the Gettysburg battlefield, you can take a tour on your iPod (or other device) using one of these.

McPherson is a big-shot Civil War historian, so it's worth listening to his take on things.

Here's a recording of the song from the movie Gods and Generals. In The Killer Angels, Longstreet and Armistead listen to a soldier sing it.

This modern-day folk track is sung from the perspective of Buster Kilrain, the only fictional character from The Killer Angels.

Here's the man himself. Nice 'stache, right? They had Jeff Daniels play him in the movie, but maybe he looks more like Matthew McConaughey?

Buford looks pretty intense—but we can totally imagine this dude riding on the plains out West, enjoying the freedom.

Who else could possess this shaggy white mane?

We don't get to see much of Meade in the book, but this is what he looked like: another sweet beard.

Yeah, but who had the sweetest beard of all? It would be hard to deny Longstreet the honor.

Fremantle looks less skinny than you'd expect after reading The Killer Angels.

Here's the Confederate general who died tragically, breaking the vow he'd made to his best friend, Win Hancock.

The artist really makes the boulders look huge for this dramatic scene, with Chamberlain totally saving the day.

This is it: the beginning of the Confederacy's epic defeat, illustrated.

This is the stone wall where the Union soldiers shot the approaching Confederates, as Pickett's division charged.

This is the hill where Chamberlain saved the day—and maybe even the war. You can tell why the Confederates referred to it as "Rocky Hill"…

This is the author himself—a former boxer, paratrooper, and policeman.