James Gindlesperger presents The Medal of Honor at Gettysburg on May 6th
From July 1 through July 3, 1863 one of the most epic battles ever fought on American soil took place in Gettysburg. Those three days saw Union General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac repel Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from Lee’s farthest advance into northern territory. The battle is considered by most historians as the turning point of the Civil War.
The battle, and the weeks leading up to it, became known as the Gettysburg Campaign. That campaign saw 72 men of the Union army earn America’s highest award for gallantry, the Medal of Honor.
James Gindlesperger’s The Medal of Honor at Gettysburg discusses Medals awarded during the Gettysburg Campaign, beginning with an introduction of the account of the armies as they moved northward, followed by a detailed history of the Medal of Honor, including how it came about, the revisions it underwent over the years, and the numerous controversies that arose from its origination through today.
The main body of the book details the heroic actions of each of the 72 recipients of the Medal, followed by appendices that discuss why so many Medals were awarded for capturing flags of the Confederates, a second appendix detailing the official criteria for earning the Medal, and a third that tabulates the states represented by those who earned the Medal.
The executive director of the Seminary Ridge Museum in Gettysburg has said of The Medal of Honor at Gettysburg, “By compiling what were once divergent stories in a single work, Gindlesperger has provided students of the Gettysburg Campaign with a book that will be a useful accompaniment when studying narratives on the battle and campaign.”
Jim Gindlesperger Bio
James Gindlesperger is a retired Safety Manager from Carnegie Mellon University and an award-winning
author of nine books. He is from Johnstown, and his books have earned numerous national awards. Two have achieved best-seller status on Amazon, one of which has been on the list since October 2021. He writes a monthly blog article for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, is a regular correspondent to Johnstown Magazine, is on the National Civil War Round Table Congress’s Recommended 5-Star Speaker
List, and has been a contributing author to the peer-reviewed Gettysburg Magazine. Jim is a member of the Col. Jacob M. Campbell Camp #14 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and he sits on the Advisory Committee for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. He has also served as a consultant on a joint project conducted by National Geographic, NASA, Google Earth, and Carnegie Mellon University to map and digitally photograph Civil War sites using high resolution robotic cameras with 360o capability.
He and his wife Suzanne give lectures and book-signings up and down the east coast, and he has been presented with a citation from the Pennsylvania State Senate for his achievements. In addition to his two best sellers, his awards include the Batchelder-Coddington Literary Award for best book of 2020 about the Gettysburg Campaign, two George Washington Honor Medals of Excellence from the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, a Silver Medal at the 2017 Book of the Year Awards, Bronze Medal at the 2011 Book of the Year Awards, a feature on the Discovery Channel, a nomination for the prestigious Lincoln Prize, and a movie contract from Warner Brothers.
He will be speaking on his latest book, The Medal of Honor at Gettysburg.