"I promise, you will know a lot more about Gettysburg when you finish reading Those Damned Black Hats!"---Midwest Book Review<BR><BR>The Iron Brigade, an all-Western outfit famously branded as The Iron Brigade of the West, served entirely in the Eastern Theater. Hardy men were these soldiers from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan, who waged war beneath their unique black Hardee Hats from Brawner's Farm during the Second Bull Run Campaign all the way to Appomattox. In between were memorable combats at South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, the Overland Campaign, and the grueling fighting around Petersburg. None of these battles compared with the "four long hours" of July 1, 1863, at Gettysburg, where the Iron Brigade was all but wrecked.<BR><BR>Those Damned Black Hats! is the first book-length account of their experiences during that fateful summer of 1863. Drawing upon a wealth of sources, including dozens of unpublished or unused accounts, Herdegen details for the first time the exploits of the 2nd, 6th, and 9th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana, and 24th Michigan regiments during the entire campaign. On July I, the Westerners stood line-to-line and often face-to-face with their adversaries, who later referred to them as "those damned Black Hats." With the help of other comrades, the Hoosiers, Badgers, and Wolverines helped save the Army of the Potomac's defensive position west of town. Their heroics above Willoughby Run, along the Chambersburg Pike, and at the Railroad Cut helped define the opposing lines for the rest of the battle.<BR><BR>Herdegen's account is much more than a battle study. The story of the fighting at the "Bloody Railroad Cut" is well known, but the attack and defense of McPherson's Ridge, the final stand at Seminary Ridge, the occupation of Culp's Hill, and the final pursuit of the Confederate Army has never been explored in sufficient depth or with such story telling ability. Herdegen completes the journey of the Black Hats with an account of the reconciliation at the 50th Anniversary Reunion and the Iron Brigade's place in Civil War history.