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 ...
Yes Gen. Early was fighting the war, unrepentant to the very end. He did to speak and/or visit with Lee though (who would calm him down on occasion, when he'd write Lee, going CRAZY about something he read, or something someone said). Lee was an incredibly mature individual who saw the big picture; telling him they (Confederates) have to suffer in silence now, so the next generation will not.
Henry Kyd Douglas was a staff officer for Gen Jackson, who kept a concise journal, over his campaign. A nephew published it well after the war - it is used today as THE accurate source of much of the Shenadoah campaign.
In fact it was used (by actor Steven Lang) who did a great job here; in a very historical-factual 'goodbye' when Jackson was promoted upstairs from the VA First Brigade General. There was, more he said, but this condensed version was quite accurate, and almost exactly from Henry Kyd Douglas' notes.
If I screw it up - someone pls fix the HTML;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29HFaG9aOqo
I believe this was from a talk at Washington and Lee University, in Lee Chapel. Find it on C-Span or Youtube. In the Q&A session after his talk.
Yep.
Game Changer.
Big Time.
And suffered a defeat so resounding and horrific “Pickett’s Charge’’ has become a noun in military terms to proceed with a strategy or attack that is doomed to failure from the start.
Indeed it was. It split the Confederacy in two geographically and gave the North control of the Mississippi River. Folks in Vicksburg were so pissed off about that for some eighty years after the war they didn’t celebrate The Fourth Of July.
From what I read, he was trying to accomplish a repeat of his famous “ride around the Union Army of 1862”.
His boys had some raids and a handful of skirmishes with Union Cavalry under Judson Kilpatrick - but nothing significant.
He was worthless for the battle from a Southern perspective.
Dowdey’s critique is harsh and unnecessary.
He didn’t ride or march the thousands of miles that the General did. He didn’t have to keep his composure in front of thousands of men as they are cut to pieces by shrapnel and bullets.
Quite frankly his comments come across as your typical Monday morning quarterbacking, no different from a sports analyst who never put on a set of pads.
Some of us who’ve never experienced war possibly think of it as fantasy and that’s why it romanticized a lot by writers and students (yours truly). It’s quite possibly the most horrific experience a human being could ever go through, save for being put in a death camp of some sorts. War & it’s effects messes with the human mind. We humans were never created to have to endure this type of trauma or violence.
Dowdey never went to war from what I’ve read of him (too young for WWI and too old for WWII).
FWIW, I think Longstreet cared a hell of a lot more about his men than did Lee (yes I’ve got my flame suit on for that one). He suffered greatly for carrying out those orders.
What Lee did on July 3rd was nothing short of murder IMO. His attack was as vain as Grant’s attack on Cold Harbor or Burnside’s on Fredericksburg. No strategy whatsoever and completely arrogant to think that only 15,000 men or so could split the Union line.
I have no idea why Lee is literally worshiped in historian circles. His fights in 1862 were grand and I think Chancellorsville was his greatest moment, but after that he was just hanging on hoping for some type of armistice or political solution.
but part of the fault also lies with Lee, who, in his courtly manner of speaking, told Ewell to attack Cemetery Hill “if practicable.”
agree with you about lee. You forgot the second part of Lee’s order to Ewell. “But do not bring about a general engagement.” Lee’s thinking was if Ewell could take the hill with a brigade or two, well and good. But don’t send two divisions to take the hill. Lee didn’t want to get into major fight later on the first day.
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