Posted on 07/03/2010 5:16:46 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
July 3rd, 1863
Pickett leads his infamous charge at Gettysburg
Troops under Confederate General George Pickett begin a massive attack against the center of the Union lines at Gettysburg on the climactic third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest engagement of the war. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia encountered George Meade's Army of the Potomac in Pennsylvania and battered the Yankees for two days. The day before Pickett's charge, the Confederates had hammered each flank of the Union line but could not break through.
Now, on July 3, Lee decided to attack the Union center, stationed on Cemetery Ridge, after making another unsuccessful attempt on the Union right flank at Culp's Hill in the morning. The majority of the force consisted of Pickett's division, but there were other units represented among the 15,000 attackers.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
May J.E.B. Stuart forever be damned for his part in blinding Lee and sealing the fate of states rights those July days.
My great-grandfather was on Culp’s Hill with Gen Williams 1st Division of the 12th Corps as they held the north end of the line all night and in the early morning. How humbling and thrilling it was to walk those lines a few years ago.
I’ve always wondered what would have been the South’s next move had they won the battle?
Just a point of information: In his highly acclaimed book, “April 1865,” Jay Winik says that an astounding 620,000 men died in the Civil War - more than the total COMBINED who died in every war from 1812 through Viet Nam! And this was when our population was only about 30 million. I’ve been to Gettysburg and several of my ancestors died, not there, but in other Civil War battles. My grandfather used to tell me that when he was young it was just a given part of life that one routinely saw men without an arm, leg or in many other ways incapacited as a result of that war. And they’d be seen sunning themselves on the porches of the general stores in South Jersey talking about McClellan, other generals, and their own battle experiences. “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!” - Wordsworth
Hyperbole aside, Stuart only took about half his cavalry with him. Lee could have used the rest more effectively to screen his army but he did not. The blame falls with both men.
They would have gone home; what other choice did they have? Had Lee won the battle he still would have been hundreds of miles in Union territory, with thousands of wounded to care for, no supply lines, and having shot off most of his ammunition. He had no other alternative but to return to Virginia to resupply and regroup.
An amazing and chilling place to visit, realizing the history of our country pivoted on this battle.
regards,
Gettysburg did not lose the war for the rebels. They lost it when Grant takes Vicksburg the day after Gettysburg.
Oh, and the states that pushed through the Fugitive Slave Act are in no position to argue they were defending "states rights", since the FSA trampled all over them.
It’s true that Grant’s victory at Vicksburg is often overshadowed by Gettysburg. It sealed the rebellion’s fate in the ‘west’.
regards,
Get away from the liberal propaganda and learn what the SOLDIERS fought for and not what the gawdamn politicians were after.
Sure could use some states rights right now couldn't we blue belly?
State's right to do what?
And almost 10% were at Gettysburg...
(Good Grief)”States Rights to do what!”
To undo what Obama is doing to us right now for one,pilgrim!
Lee wasn't brilliant on the field for three years by himself even though he was the greatest general in world history.
Stuart left Lee with at least two brigades of cavalry when he went on his ‘ride’. Lee just didn’t use them properly.
Stuart’s ‘ride’ occurred, in no small part, because of Lee’s penchant for issuing suggestions and nebulous orders, instead of clearcut directives [”Take the hill, if practicable” ring a bell?].
Lee knew who he was fighting at Gettysburg on Day 1, and despite having his Army spread in an arc from York, Pa, all the way back down into Maryland, he chose to attack with what he had on hand. He could have retreated. He could have dug in. He didn’t.
So while Stuart’s attempted third circling of the Union Army was both a strateig and tactical failure [although the wagons came in handy on July 4th to transport the wounded], and may have contributed to the loss, the fault is Lee’s.
And once again, the battle of Runnel’s Farm, where Custer whupped J.E.B Stuart BEHIND the Union lines is ignored.
Yes I have. Have you? More importantly, are you familiar with the history of the period? Because if your claim is that the Southern states seceded to get away from a big, intrusive federal government then that's ridiculous. That 'big intrusive federal government' would have been the fault of the Southern politicians themselves, and their concept of state's rights was highly selective - rights for us and not the other states.
To undo what Obama is doing to us right now for one,pilgrim!
So....you're saying that the Southern states rebelled in 1860 out of fear of what would happen 150 years later? Were they psychic or something?
Didn’t Custer have them Spencer rifles?
Even J.E.B. and the boys had to respect that kind of firepower.
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