spy) Union Joshua L. Chamberlain (Colonel) John Buford (Brigadier General) Thomas Chamberlain (Lieutenant) Winfield Scott Hancock (Major General) William Gamble (Colonel) John Fulton Reynolds (Major General) George Meade (Commanding general, Army of the Potomac) Ellis Spear (Captain) Buster Kilrain (Private, former Sergeant; the only fictional character) Publication Publication of The Killer Angels and release of the movie have had two significant influences on modern perceptions of the Civil War. First, the actions of Chamberlain and the 20th Maine Infantry on Little Round Top have achieved enormous public awareness. Visitors touring the Gettysburg Battlefield rank the 20th Maine monument as their most important stop. Second, since Shaara used the memoirs of General James Longstreet as a prime source for his history, the book has renewed the modern re-evaluation of Longstreet's reputation, damaged since the 1870s by the Lost Cause writers, such as Jubal A. Early. Literary significance General H. Norman Schwarzkopf described The Killer Angels as "the best and most realistic historical novel about war that I have ever read." The filmmaker Ken Burns has mentioned the influence of the book in developing his interest in the Civil War and his subsequent production of the PBS series on the subject. The book has also been cited by Joss Whedon as the original inspiration for his science fiction/Western hybrid series Firefly. Awards and nominations The Killer Angels received the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Killer Angels has been required reading, at various times, at the US Army Officer Candidate School, The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Army Special Forces Detachment Officer Qualification Course, The Basic School for Marine Officers (TBS) and Saint Joseph's University. It is one of only two novels (the other being Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer) on the U.S. Army's recommended reading list for Officer Professional Development. Other media The Killer Angels was adapted into the 1993 movie Gettysburg. Much dialogue in the movie comes directly from the book. The Firefly science fiction television series was developed by Joss Whedon after reading The Killer Angels. Homage to Shaara's novel was paid in the series' final episode, "Objects in Space". Singer-songwriter Steve Earle included a song on his 1999 bluegrass album, The Mountain, called "Dixieland", sung from the point of view of the character