This Day in Civil War History April 1, 1865 Battle of Five Forks

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2153 ^

[meandog]

Would it? Would Jackson have attacked Culp’s Hill with night falling and an exhausted Corps after a day’s hard marching an an afternoon of fighting already? While I agree he wouldn’t have sat still, even he would have been more likely to end-around to the woods on the left, than attack the hill directly. I think the BIG difference had Jackson been there would have been the next day, with the Echelon attack under his control, ALL divisions would have stepped off as they were supposed to. He would have already scouted the woods to the east of Culp’s, and most likely been a loud advocate for Longstreet’s move AROUND the Round Tops, rather than over them. EITHER move would have forced a redeployment of the cavalry to cover the flanks, especially on the Union Left to counter Longstreet moving in the open, which would have allowed Stewart’s End-around to have much better results on the third day.

Lee had contended until the day he died that Gettysburg would have been far different if he had had Stonewall there. Gettysburg was a comedy of errors from the onslaught for the boys in gray. First, Ewell's command had one William "Extra Billy" Smith leading a brigade near the front and old (he was 65 or 66 at the time) Extra Billy was no soldier. He had been governor here in the Old Dominion and was a natural politician so, naturally, he stopped his troops to orate to the town's people why the Confederacy was marching through it on the way to Harrisburg. Meanwhile, a shoe factory was discovered and so the mostly-shoeless Johnnies decided to shod up. That gave just enough time for Union calvary leader John Buford ample time to grab the high ground around fat boulders and rocks that dominated the Pennsylvania fall line. The fate was sealed.

Jackson, IMHO, wouldn't have stood for it...you were held accountable under Stonewall for every blunder and he made you pay dearly so old Extra Billy would have been sacked on the spot. He also would have, IMHO, demanded that J.E.B. Stuart keep in constant communication instead of going around glory hunting. Lee would have had the skinny on what Meade was doing and would have been in a much better position to counter him!

[tcrlaf]

You seem to be looking at it from the viewpoint of Gettysburg alone, and forgetting that Stuart had been heavily engaged at Hanover, PA on the 30th of June.

While Stewart’s orders were to avoid protacted engagement, and screen far ahead of the army, even Jackson would have gone after the huge cache of supplies and weapons Stewart captured there, at that point of the war.

Stewart’s partial division held off nearly an entire CORPS of Union troops moving out of Harrisburg in to Hanover, allowing Wade Hampton time to get the capturd trains out, and down to Lee.

And remember, Lee had NO IDEA that Stewart had been in a heavy fight until his units arrived at Lee’s HQ, as two of his earlier messengers had been captured by Chambliss.

[meandog]

You seem to be looking at it from the viewpoint of Gettysburg alone, and forgetting that Stuart had been heavily engaged at Hanover, PA on the 30th of June. While Stewart’s orders were to avoid protacted engagement, and screen far ahead of the army, even Jackson would have gone after the huge cache of supplies and weapons Stewart captured there, at that point of the war. Stewart’s partial division held off nearly an entire CORPS of Union troops moving out of Harrisburg in to Hanover, allowing Wade Hampton time to get the capturd trains out, and down to Lee. And remember, Lee had NO IDEA that Stewart had been in a heavy fight until his units arrived at Lee’s HQ, as two of his earlier messengers had been captured by Chambliss.

Stuart's primary duty--and he was explicitly apprised of it at Hagarstown before the march into Pennsylvania--was to be the "eyes" for the army. But for almost 98 hours, Lee had no knowledge of where he was. He sent no couriers back; there were no messages forwarded. Also, when Stuart returned, the maps were poorly laid out (something that never happened when Jackson was commanding one of Lee's corps as he was meticulous in knowing exactly how his enemy was aligned). Lee didn't realize that Meade had configured himself in a classic horseshoe defense thus allowing each flank to rapidly reinforce the middle as well as each other. Thought the original intent had been on Harrisburg, Stuart had no business being that far north with the bulk of the army in his rear. Not only could he have been completely cutoff, there was little to be gained. IMHO, Stuart was out to duplicate what he had done a year earlier to McClellan and was bent on glory hunting.

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks mainepatsfan. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·