Gettysburg – Tragedy and Farce

Gettysburg Day Three: July 3, 1863

July 3, 2021July 3, 2021 lars4968Leave a comment

On the afternoon of July 3, 1863, 12,000 Confederate troops carried out a vain and desperate assault on the Union front along Cemetery Ridge seeking to break the Federal line and steal a victory from the jaws of defeat. The attack, which would cross over a mile of open field and come under a withering storm of artillery was easily repelled. The following day General Robert E. Lee gathered his forces and casualties and began the long retreat across the Potomac, back into Virginia. The second Confederate invasion of the North had again ended in failure.

The second day of the battle of Gettysburg proved as disastrous for the Confederacy as the first day was fortuitous. Every Confederate attack up and down the Emmitsburg Pike was beaten back. The rebels had their opportunities. They had broken the Union lines in spots but strong interior lines and and a reserve of reinforcements allowed the Federals to quickly plug any holes and push the rebels back.

Despite the failures of the previous day, General Robert E. Lee was committed to continuing the battle the following day. Longstreet continued to argue against any offensive operations but his objections fell on deaf ears. Having attacked the left and right of the Union line with little success, Lee reasoned that the Union center must now be weakened. He incorrectly assumed that the Union Army commander, General George Meade, must have pulled reinforcements from the center to blunt the Confederate attacks on he flanks. Moreover, the last of his army, General George Pickett’s division of Virginians had finally arrived.

Lee’s plan of attack was simple. He would soften up the Union center with an artillery barrage, then, Pickett’s division, augmented by select regiments from Henry Heth and Isaac Trimble’s divisions that bore the brunt of the fighting on the first day, would advance across a mile of open field and strike the Union center. Although the plan was simple, execution was anything but.

The plan began to go awry from the get go. Around 1pm, 150 Confederate artillery pieces in a 2-mile long line along Seminary Ridge opened fire on the Union Center. Their orders were to silence as many Union batteries as possible on the north end of Cemetery Ridge before the infantry advanced. However, the barrage did not inflict the damage on the Union guns that the Confederate leadership had hoped. The immense amount of smoke generated by the cannonade hindered the aim of the Confederate gunners while inferior shell fuses ensured that some Confederate shells failed to detonate properly rendering them ineffective and leaving many Union batteries relatively unscathed.

As Confederate artillery began to run low on ammunition the infantry was ordered to form up and prepare for their advance. Around 3pm, Confederate troops stepped out from the tree line along Seminary Ridge and began to move forward in a mile long front proudly and in good order. Crossing over the Emmitsburg Pike, the rebels soon came under a withering fire from Union artillery. Federal guns atop Little Round Top ripped huge gaping holes in the Confederate right flank while those on Cemetery Hill did the same to the rebel left. Once on the other side of the pike, the attack began to falter as Union gunners along Cemetery Ridge switched to canister shot and musket fire became increasingly accurate and effective. Despite mounting losses the Confederates pressed on until they reached a small stone wall which was their destination. The remaining men rushed the stone wall and brutal hand-to-hand combat ensued. The Union quickly reinforced their lines with fresh men and counterattacked. The rebels, expecting reinforcements that never showed, were forced to flee back to their original lines. As the survivors straggled back to Seminary Ridge, many of them passed Robert E. Lee, who told them, “It is my fault.” The attack failed and with it any hope of victory.

*Union forces push back the rebels at the stone wall*

In the words of William Faulkner, “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…

The Southern rebellion is now doomed. It is just now a matter of time.

Gettysburg, Day Two: July 2, 1863

July 2, 2021July 3, 2021 lars4968Leave a comment

On July 2, 1863, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and 350 determined volunteers from the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment beat back repeated Confederate assaults on the Union position at Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg thwarting General Robert E. Lee’s plan for a decisive victory on Northern soil that would secure European recognition of the Confederacy and possibly bring Great Britain and France into the war on the side of the South.

The first day was a clear and unequivocal victory for the Confederates. Lee’s army pushed the Union I and XI Corps south of town. However, Ewell’s failure to deliver the coup de grace and drive Union forces from their stronghold atop Cemetery Hill presented Lee with a dilemma. Should he follow the recommendation of his trusted “Old Warhorse” General James Longstreet to retreat, get between the Union Army and Washington, and to initiate a battle at a time and place of its choosing. Lee, the normally bold and aggressive strategist would have nothing to do with a retreat. He wanted to press his first day advantage.

For the better part of the day Lee and his staff vigorously debated the merits of continuing the battle or retreating. Six out of the seven corps that formed the Union Army of the Potomac were now on the field outnumbering the Confederates. In addition, they occupied a strong defensive position south of town in the shape of a fish hook. Union forces entrenched on Cemetery Hill constituted the barb of the hook while a long line of troops running along Cemetery Ridge formed the shaft. Longstreet argued it was imprudent to attack such a fortified position. However, the left flank of the Union army was exposed, ending at a lightly defended hill with the colorful name of Little Round Top. Here, Lee would focus his attack.

The Confederates began their assault around 4:30 pm led by Major General John Bell Hood’s Division. The right of Hood’s division, General Evander Law’s Alabama brigade spearheaded the attack on Little Round Top. In an effort to obscure their advance, Law’s men scaled the neighboring larger hill, Big Round Top. By the time they were in position to launch their attack, the men from Alabama were already exhausted and without water on what was a sweltering July day. Moreover, Confederate efforts to conceal their intentions went for naught. Union observers spotted the Confederate advance and reinforcements, including the 20th Maine, were rushed to Little Round Top. Chamberlain and his regiment arrived on the scene, taking up a position at the extreme left of the Union line, roughly 15 minutes before the Confederate attack began.

The Confederates stormed up the side of Little Round Top led by the 15th Alabama Regiment. Over the course of an hour, the 20th Maine repulsed two determined Confederate charges seeking to dislodge the Federals, sending the Alabamians tumbling back down the hillside. The Confederates launched a third charge against the 20th Maine as the regiment exhausted its ammunition. Faced with few good options, Lieutenant Colonel Chamberlain quickly ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge downhill to meet the advancing Confederates. Chamberlain’s counterattack would sweep the Alabamians from the field and for all intents and purposes end any further Confederate attacks against Little Round Top.

Despite their setback at Little Round Top, the Confederates would continue their echelon attack up and down the Emmitsburg Pike. The two sides would fight an incredibly bloody battle in the Wheat field in which control of the field passed back and forth between the two sides with the Union ultimately prevailing. Confederate General Ambrose Wright’s brigade of Georgians almost broke the Union line further up the Emmitsburg Pike if it were not for the timely arrival of the 1st Minnesota Regiment that blunted the Georgian advance and sent them retreating back towards Seminary Ridge. A twilight attack against entrenched Union forces on Culp’s Hill by General Edward “Allegheny” Johnson’s division was also turned back. The second day ended as a clear victory for the Union. All of Lee’s assaults had been repulsed. Even though the battle would continue into a third day, it was anti-climatic as the decisive Union victory on day two all but ensured the Confederates defeat.

Gettysburg Day One: July 1, 1863

July 1, 2021 lars4968Leave a comment

On July 1, 1863 two Confederate brigades, one from Tennessee and one from Mississippi advanced down the Cashtown pike engaging elements of Union General John Buford’s Cavalry division west of the sleepy little Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. Bufford’s mission is clear, Buy time for the first Corp and the rest of the Union army to arrive. Buffords cavalry is able to halt the Confederate advance for two hours allowing the first infantry brigades of the first Corps to arrive on the scene. However, Confederate General A.P. Hill deploys two more divisions and the Confederate II Corps under General Ewell is advancing from the North. By late afternoon the Rebels have taken Semminary ridge and forced the Union forces to retreat south of town. The rout is on. With the sun setting General Lee gives an ambiguous order to General Richard Ewell to push the scattered Union forces from Cemetery Hill, “if practical.” Ewell decides against such action, which becomes a pivotal point in the battle. Day one goes to the Confederacy but Ewell’s failure to act is a major turning point.