Posted on 07/03/2020 5:16:24 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
"It is my opinion that no fifteen thousand men ever arranged for battle can take that position."
Lt. General James L. Longstreet, CSA
“General Lee, I have no division.” - Major General George Pickett
Lee was a brilliant commander but hubris got the better of him.
not sure I would say hubris. Lee was out of tactical options by this time. A direct frontal assault, while fraught with risk, could work. Lee had the utmost confidence in the offensive power of his infantry. He may also have had some disdain for the staying power of Union infantry. His decision was a risk, but if successful, would have gained this strategic objective he hoped to achieve.
Longstreet saw at once that Lee had heard enough about a flank movement. "With some impatience," Lee rejected the proposal and, pointing toward Cemetery Ridge, said that he was going to attack the Federals there with the three divisions of the First Corps. "I felt then, "Longstreet related afterward, "that it was my duty to express my convictions; I said, 'General, I have been a soldier all my life. I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions, and armies, and I should know, as well as anyone, what soldiers can do.General, I have been a soldier all my life. I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions, and armies, and should know, as well as any one, what soldiers can do. It is my opinion that no fifteen thousand men ever arranged for battle can take that position.
As quoted in General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier: A Biography (1993), by Jeffry D. Wert, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 283
Thanks
The Union had the high ground.
There was pride, and he did behave rather flamboyantly at times, mimicking bits of Renaissance etiquette and dress (the hat, the flourish, etc.). Can’t say that he was different from many others of his time in that respect, though. The resurgence of romanticism was popular with the stylish folks during the later half of the 1800s.
There was probably more than the fatal error of pride in warfare, though. He had undertaken a long and difficult journey with his men and might not have been in the best of health. The frustration of having gone so far before encountering the terrain, positions and difference in conditions of men (one side much more fatigued) must have been nearly overwhelming.
As I recall, they had the high ground and enough time to have entrenched themselves and their weapons effectively before they were attacked. Frontal assaults on entrenched positions have been at least a risky idea, and often a bad idea, since at least early July, 1863.
If you ever visit Gettysburg and stand up there here Pickett’s Charge was aiming, you’ll see it was a suicide mission.
since 1862. Lee launched a frontal assault up hill against the AOP at Malvern Hill. The results were exactly the same as at Cemetary Ridge, lots of casualties and nothing to show for the price paid.
“Lee was a brilliant commander but hubris got the better of him.”
Lee most certainly was not guilty of hubris; the reason Lee lost at Gettysburg was that he tried to fight the battle as if he still had Jackson.
Maybe the reason Lee lost at Gettysburg was that General Meade and the Army of the Potomac defeated him in battle.
JEB Stuart let him down.
It was Lee that gave Stuart the option to choose the route for his cavalry into Pennsylvania. The fact that Stuart choose, in retrospect, the worst possible route is Stuart’s fault. The fact that Lee let him make the choice is Lee’s fault.
July 4th. 1863 was even better. Grant, after a month long siege took Vicksburg.
I'm not sure that would have made a difference. Lee was planning on dividing the army into three corps before Chancellorsville. Ewell would still have commanded the third corps and would likely still have come in from the north so his failures on the Union right would still have happened. Jackson likely wouldn't have done any better than Hill on the first day, and after that Lee exercised control
Lee’s decision to not listen to Longstreet is still costing the South to this very day.
maybe, maybe not. What other options would Lee have exercised to try and defeat the AOP. There was zero guarantee of victory.
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