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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSThe Killer Angels is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set during the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, told through the eyes of actual commanders on both sides, including Confederate General Robert E. Lee, his corps commander James Longstreet, Union cavalry commander John Buford, and Union infantry Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. The novel puts readers inside the minds of men deciding, hour by hour, whether to hold a ridge, launch an assault, or ask their soldiers to die, and it captures the weight of those choices with remarkable immediacy and depth. Shaara uses no invented characters and no invented dialogue beyond what history and imagination together can honestly support, staying close to the record of what was said and done during one of the most consequential battles ever fought on American soil.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Killer Angels
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Killer Angels. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a colonel tell mutineers "we're an army going out to set other men free"?
✓ Answer
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Chamberlain's speech to the Maine mutineers is one of the most famous passages in the novel. He persuades all but six of the hundred and twenty men to join his regiment by talking about freedom and the dignity of every individual.
- First half
In what book does a Union general climb into a Seminary cupola to watch a battle at dawn?
✓ Answer
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Buford climbs to the white cupola of the Lutheran Seminary to direct his cavalry's defense west of the town. He sends urgent dispatches to Reynolds while waiting for the infantry to arrive in time.
- First half
In what book does a commander recall that Stonewall Jackson never ate pepper because it weakened his left leg?
✓ Answer
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Longstreet shares this eccentricity of Jackson while talking with Fremantle. He also describes Jackson chewing on lemons and holding a finger in the air because it had been shot away. These details paint Jackson as a brilliant, strange man.
- Second half
In what book does a Confederate general beg to flank a rocky hill, warning defenders can roll stones down?
✓ Answer
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
John Bell Hood begs Longstreet repeatedly to let him move right and flank Little Round Top. Hood warns the defenders don't even need rifles, they can just roll rocks down. Longstreet, bound by Lee's orders, must refuse. Hood attacks under protest and is wounded in the arm within hours.
- Second half
In what book does a Confederate cavalry commander hand over his sword, expecting to be relieved for vanishing?
✓ Answer
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Late on the second night, Lee meets privately with Jeb Stuart, who had ridden off on a joyride capturing wagons while leaving the army blind. Lee tells him "You were the eyes of this army" and Stuart theatrically offers his sword. Lee refuses to accept the resignation, calling it merely a painful lesson.
- Near the end
In what book does a commander order Pettigrew, Pickett, and Trimble to guide their attack on an umbrella-shaped tree?
✓ Answer
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Lee points to a clump of trees on Cemetery Ridge with one large tree shaped like an umbrella as the objective of the grand charge. The clump becomes the focal point of fifteen thousand men marching uphill across open ground toward the center of the Union line on July 3.
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