Posted on 07/03/2022 12:41:45 PM 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.
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. The Confederate army was at a disadvantage as its cavalry was not present the first two days of the battle. Confederate J.E.B. Stuart and 5,000 mounted soldiers were supposed to attack the Union rear and quickly return, but they were caught up fighting the Union cavalry led by George Armstrong Custer.
After two days of intense combat, with ammunition running low, General Robert E. Lee ordered a direct attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanminute.com ...
CNN, MSNBC and the DNC “We invoke the influence of Satan to destroy this country and all opposed to the Woke Agenda”.
That direct attack doomed the Confederacy.
They put too much much faith in the lengthy cannonade, the largest and longest firing ofcannon the history of the world. The majority of the balls passed over the heads of the union troops on the front line of cemetery Ridge. They landed and exploded into the area behind the front lines were tents and other support facilities were. Why the Confederates didn’t know this is a mystery to me. They had binoculars. So they attacked head on into a line of soldiers that had not been particularly damaged by the cannonade. It was doomed to fail
If you haven’t read “Killer Angels” I cannot urge you more urgently to do so. It is a wonderful book about Gettysburg that actually brought me to tears the first time I read it. This nation has rarely produced such men as fought there.
I buy up copies at used book stores and give them away to friends and family.
Gettysburg Music Video - Soundtrack
https://youtu.be/XiZ8cTeeeLE
Gettysburg - If It Be Your Will - Leonard Cohen
https://youtu.be/Nsu8XpMV5nQ
The Characters in the Movie Gettysburg
http://www.iment.com/maida/tv/misc/gettysburg.htm
A literary agent I turned down became my best friend, and asked me to get him a copy of the movie, which I’d never seen. I watched it as it copied and sat there stunned when it was over, then I played the whole thing again. Incredible. He was looking for a plot for a book that would be similar but would use the events at Appomattox Courthouse. That’s what got me collecting books on Gettysburg, and totally fixated on General Longstreet and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain through their autobiographies. I used to carry Chamberlain’s book everywhere I went, to read and reread whenever I sat down.
Nope. It was Vicksburg. Gettysburg was an enormous victory, but Vicksburg was the beginning of the end. IMHO
Bump
..and tomorrow marks the anniversary of the surrender of Vicksburg by Grant.
July 3 1863 is the day Lee made a really dumb decision and desperation overtook brains.
The Yankee do-gooders continue to force their will upon the rest of the country and the world. We continue to be stuck with these a-holes who have morphed into gender confused communists. Same people, new generation.
No known connection but 38 people have been shot down in the streets of Chicago since the start of the weekend.
I would disagree that if Jackson was at Gettysburg the outcome of the war would have been different.
Foote said the North would have just used both arms to fight instead of just one
You do know that is the basis of the Turner movie, right?
Such a shame about Jackson. What a difference one man might make.
Both of them together sealed the Confederacy’s fate.
bump for later
Sure but the book is way better
The artillery bombardment was not the largest or longest in the world. Some of the WWI pre-assault bombardments lasted days and involved thousands of artillery pieces. the largest in the new world, yes it was the largest.
In the spring of 1863, the fuse factory in Richmond blew up.
Confederate Ordnance ordered the arsenal at Selma AL. to ramp up production to supply the ANV with case fuses. The Selma fuses would fly about 200 yards further then the Richmond fuses when cut to the same length. Lee nor Pendelton were not informed of the change in fuse supply.
The Confederate artillerymen would have had a pretty good idea of the range to the Union front line. That range would have been used to set the case fuses for the bombardment.
Once the first volley was fired gun smoke would have obscured the view of Union lines. Almost no wind that day so the gun smoke just stayed close to the ground hiding the view of the target.
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