One would say the same thing about Shakey's Hill! I was 17! 5th of the 7th, Gary Owen mother f#%&er!
On this date in 1863, Lee rolled the dice and lost.
- Thread starter fairgambit
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Meade's Chief of Artillery, Henry Hunt, also played a pivotal role in the victory at Gettysburg, especially on July 3. Placing McGilvery's batteries on Cemetery Ridge out of sight of Confederate gunners allowed them to survive to decimate Pickett's brigades before they could reach the Union lines.
One of the questions my father and I wonder about during our discussions was why didn't Alexander direct several of his artillery pieces to destroy the fences along Emmitsburg Road. When Armistead and Garnet's men reached that point, they had to climb the fences on each side. It backed up all the men waiting to scale the fences and the Union gunners/artillery absolutely mauled them at that point.
Good question. Failure to knock down those fences cost a lot of southern boys their lives.
Not sure they would have had that capability at the range they were at. Fence rails and posts are an awfully small target. Would have used up an awful lot of ammo, which they didn't have a lot of. Should have sent sappers out the night before to dismantle the fences.
we've discussed that book a few times on this board. I highly recommend it
You're right. It's not. Meade retained formal command of the Army of the Potomac until the end of the war. Grant was named general-in-chief of all Union armies in March, 1864, so he became Meade's boss, and made his headquarters with Meade, but Meade was never relieved of command.
this is not all that uncommon. commanders have tendencies, weaknesses, etc. You can find examples in most wars, and its not a characteristic that is only exhibited by the commanders of the losing side.
Rev War enthusiasts like to chuckle about Gen Washington basically making the same mistake for most of the Rev War, at least in the larger battles. He consistently left his flank unprotected, and the British exploited that in most of the battles. Washington was saved from himself by a combination of his changing operations to avoid the larger battles, as well as the initiative of some of his younger officers.
Maybe, maybe not. There's some really interesting stuff out there on how the importance of Little Round Top is quite overblown.
While it was a great platform for Union artillery facing confederate lines, the number of guns able to be placed in enfilade against Union lines was minimal.
The reverse slope of the hill was wooded, so it gave the Confederates zero advantage on the Union rear.
Once Sickles advanced his corps without orders, LRT wasn't even the Union flank anymore, it was more of an outpost.
Lee's orders to Longstreet and Hood were to "advance up the Emmitsburg road" which is well short of LRT. So possibly Lee saw minimal benefit in capturing the hill.
Chamberlain was one of the few regimental commanders to survive the war, and he was quite the self promoter (taking away nothing from the actions of the 20th Maine)
For more on it...Gary Adelman is one of the National Park service guides and he published a book The Myth of Little Round Top.
alternate history question. Lee and South 'win' Gettysburg in that the Union retreats some. What happens. I am not sure if it does anything but lengthen the war. Even if the South won, they still would have lost a huge amount of troops. the 'win' would have been ceremonial at best as Lee didn't have the supply lines or manpower to really follow up Gettysburg with anything. Grant had essentially started his conquest out West moving to the deep South.
I think if Lee 'win's', the Union just re-groups back around Philly and DC, builds up more Army for X weeks and then attacks Lee and wins by a war of attrition, it just takes longer.
I think if Lee 'win's', the Union just re-groups back around Philly and DC, builds up more Army for X weeks and then attacks Lee and wins by a war of attrition, it just takes longer.
If Lee won at Gettysburg, the political pressure on Lincoln to end the War would have been substantial.
The European powers (notably Britain and France) never officially recognized the CSA as an independent nation. A big win in the heart of the North changes that calculus in a radical way.
This is one of my favorite Civil War photographs. 3 Confederate prisoners at Gettysburg. I find the man on the far right especially interesting.
Here is a colorized version.
Here is a colorized version.
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PCN had a Ranger battlefield talk called something like Battle of Monterey Pass, a couple of years ago. It described the Confederate escape from Gettysburg, most on Chambersburg Road. Those able to fight, escaped through Monterey Pass. Custer met them at the Pass and battled them through the night,in a viscous thunderstorm. I believe Custer harassed them all the way to the Patomac.
It was a very interesting program, but I can't find it to watch it again.
It was a very interesting program, but I can't find it to watch it again.
This is one of my favorite Civil War photographs. 3 Confederate prisoners at Gettysburg. I find the man on the far right especially interesting.
There was a scene in the movie "Gettysburg" based on that photo where Tom Chamberlain talks to three Confederate prisoners. I remember thinking, "Hey, I've seen that before."
This is one of my favorite Civil War photographs. 3 Confederate prisoners at Gettysburg. I find the man on the far right especially interesting.
Here is a colorized version.
If my memory doesn't fail me, I believe I read these 3 were from Archers Brigade captured on the 1st day, Tenneseans.
You may be right. I've seen a lot of speculation on who they were and I don't recall a definitive answer, but I will keep your answer in my memory bank.
