Posted on 07/03/2019 10:02:55 AM PDT by Perseverando
Washington, D.C., was in a panic!
72,000 Confederate troops were just sixty miles away near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
What led up to this Battle?
Two months before, at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly shot by his own men on May 2, 1863, and died shortly thereafter.
Though Confederates won the Battle of Chancellorsville, the loss of Jackson was devastating, as most historians speculate that had Jackson been at Gettysburg two month later, the South may have won.
Robert E. Lee was now under a time deadline.
Mounting casualties of the war were causing Lincoln's popularity to fall, so if Lee could get a quick victory at Gettysburg, he could pressure Lincoln to a truce.
But this window of opportunity was fast closing, as Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was about to capture Vicksburg on the Mississippi, which would divide the Confederacy and free up thousands of Union troops to fight Lee in the east.
American Minute-Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred
On the Union side, Lincoln replaced Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker with Maj. Gen. George Meade to command the 94,000 men of the Union Army of the Potomac.
The Battle of Gettysburg began July 1, 1863.
After two days of intense combat, with ammunition running low, General Robert E. Lee ordered a direct attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at myemail.constantcontact.com ...
In a little less than one hour from now, exactly 156 years ago then men from Pickett’s, Pettigrew’s, and Trimble’s divisions set forth across the open ground towards the Union troops entrenched on the high ground around Cemetery Hill.
The Army of Northern Virginia (of which my gg grandpa was an infantry soldier in the 29th VA infantry) failed to take the high ground of Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill on day 1. It easily could’ve been taken. This inaction allowed the Union to dig in and have superb defensive positions in which they could easily move troops to and fro via their horseshoe style placement of their lines. The ANV never really had a chance at Gettysburg thereafter.
Now, one could say the Union simply would’ve retreated and taken the high ground some 30 odd miles away where they thought the big fight was going to be anyway and Gettysburg would’ve simply been a small skirmish in the bowels of Civil War history, but.... maybe they wouldn’t have retreated. We’ll never know.
Pickett’s Charge, which was ill-conceived, was Lee’s only real option left on the 3rd day. I think he knew it was very likely to fail, but he had not other option than to try to ‘close the deal’.
I’ve been to Gettysburg many times... it’s hallowed ground, with amazing energy and the battlefield is very much like it was in July of ‘63.
Really not all that long ago....
For the record, the 29th Virginia Infantry, which was part of Pickett’s Division, was pulled back at the last minute by Lee and assigned the duty of defending Richmond while the rest of the ANV moved into PA. So my gg-grandpa was not at Gettysburg... but he did fight in 13 major engagement and was only 1 of 31 members of the 29th to surrender at Appomattox with Lee in April of ‘65. Original muster roll had 771 soldiers if I remember. Almost half were casualties during the Bermuda 100 campaign in May of 1864.
Ewell should’ve take that hill.
Lee should’ve listened to Longstreet.
Stuart should’ve been there by the 1st.
It wasn’t just one mistake that cost them the battle.
Do not forget about Vicksburg. It was just as important as Gettysburg.
Visitors to Gettysburg should also take the opportunity to visit President Eisenhower’s ranch, which can be reached by shuttle bus from the visitors center. It’s just a few miles from the battlefield and is filled with original artifacts from the time Eisenhower and his wife lived there during the 1950’s and 1960’s.
"The 29th Virginia was authorized in November, 1861, and was to contain seven companies under Colonel A.C. Moore and three companies at Pound Gap. However, this organization never took place. Moore's five companies from Abingdon and companies raised in the spring of 1862 evidently made up the nine-company regiment. The men were recruited from the counties of Fayette, Raleigh, Mercer, Wise, Russell, Tazewell, Wythe, and Carroll."
If Jackson had not been shot by his own men by mistake, Lee would have more than likely listened to him.
the wiki article is mostly correct, but there are a lot of inaccuracies and omissions.
For instance, the 29th was in the trenches at Cold Harbor and wiki doesn’t show that. There’s more.
The 29th was constantly attached and detached to the ANV throughout the war. The soldiers, as shown by the counties they came from, were mostly ‘mountain men’ from the edge of Appalachia.
CSA 12 pounders did not have the distinctive bell shape at the end of the muzzle.
I had ancestors in the 1st, 6th, and 8th Florida and 18th Alabama. Have done a little research mostly on the 18th Alabama. I do think all of them were in a lot of battles.
Can’t recall about Gettysburg but probably.
Stuart’s cavalry unable to break through custard's cavalry in the rear and support pickett’s charge ...
lost opportunities ...
“For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it’s all in the balance, it hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even begun yet, it not only hasn’t begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it’s going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn’t need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose than all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago.”
- William Faulkner
The 15th Alabama was definitely at Gettysburg.
There were several small things that if they had been different, the outcome would have been different... Like much of history.
It's unlikely that Jackson would have disagreed with Lee's plans.
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