Gettysburg-"Turning point"of the Civil War?

[Wild Bill]

For what it is worth, my MA thesis was on the Union Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign and I have written on the First Day’s Battle and the Cavalry Battle of Kelly’s Ford that preceded the Gettysburg Campaign. My apology for being so long and voicing contrary opinions to the usual story.

No army really had good intelligence in the CW on either side. The information was meager and usually out of date. Usually the South has an advantage in that the war was fought there and locals and some soldiers knew the area. But the Yankees used slaves and freedmen in much the same way. Often both sides sent spies into the field to uncover enemy intentions, as did the scout Harrison for Longstreet in the Gettysburg Campaign (it is in the movie, gang).

Lee is usually said to have been without cavalry, Stuart and his mounted legions on a raid round the Union forces and essentially cut off from Lee because the Union army was in their way. This is only partially true. Lee had 4 brigades of cavalry with his army (Jones, Robertson, Imboden, and Jenkins) while Stuart had 3 brigades (F. Lee, Chambliss, and Hampton) with him.

Lee did not ever learn how to employ cavalry. He blew it in the Seven Days’ Campaign before Richmond when he sent Stuart off on a raid to White House Plantation instead of watching McClellan in his retreat. Lee commanded all his units, foot and horse, this way. He set out general objectives and allowed the unit commanders to figure out how to carry out his orders—much like the Germans in WW II.

Men like Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, and even Longstreet thrived on this system. But at Gettysburg, Lee’s prime maneuver element was no longer commanded by the aggressive Jackson. Now it had been broken into 2 halves, commanded by A P Hill and R S Ewell.

A tough fighter, Hill always got sick the day of battle. Ewell, a commander under Jackson, had just recovered from a leg amputation and rejoined the army. But Ewell was Jackson’s main subordinate and Jackson commanded by iron discipline. Everyone followed his orders to the tee or got court-martialed. Ewell was used to than system, so when he was told to do what was right at Gettysburg but not bring on a general battle, he hesitated and the first day’s battle was incomplete. He failed to take the last hill in front of his force, and gave the Yankees the position that would ultimately cost the battle.

The first Confederates on the field were the units that had been decimated a couple of months earlier at Chancellorsville. This meant that the fully equipped and manned Union Cavalry could hold on longer the first day, which also helped Meade, through his subordinate Hancock, hold the crucial hills South of Gettysburg.

But the Confederates won the first day’s battle, anyhow. The next day, both armies were reinforced. Mead constructed his famous fishhook position South and East of Gettysburg. Longstreet came up and maneuvered around the Union left flank. Facing him was General Dan Sickles with the Union III Corps.

Sickles knew the Rebels were going around his left. The same thing had happened at Chancellorsville and he was nearly cut off and destroyed. He refused to have it happen again. So he advanced his Corps out a half mile or so in front of his selected position to some high ground.

Sickles lost his whole Corps in the fighting as Longstreet came through the wheat field and the peach orchard and right up on top of Cemetery ridge. But Anderson’s Confederates did not commit completely and the Union line held, particularly holding on to he Round Tops. (20th Me in the Movie). This was the last battle that Lee’s army really won.

Since June 30, 1862 to July 2, 1863, the Rebels never really lost a battle. Some were close but none was truly lost. Lee and Longstreet argued what they should do next—Longstreet wanted to slide off toward Washington, DC, while Lee wanted to end the war here and now. Lee was army commander so he won out. The result was Picket’s charge right through the center of the Union line.

What most commentators leave out is the Pickett was supported by a Confederate cavalry attack that was supposed to come in behind the Union line at the same time that Pickett hit it in front. But led by George Armstrong Custer, the Yankees dealt Stuart’s men a rare and decisive defeat at Rummel’s Farm or Cress Ridge and left Pickett hanging in front of the Union position where he was cut apart.

Meade was criticized for letting Lee get away. This was unfair on Lincoln’s part and historians retell it all the time. Remember two things: A retreating army almost always out-marches a pursuing army. Both armies were completely shot to pieces. Lee moved to survive, Mead followed and hoped no big battle would ensue. Now he would have to attack and he had seem Lee wreck his whole army and Meade’s too in the last 3 days.

Could the Rebs have won Gettysburg? Yes. On any of the 3 days.

But there is another factor that often is not referred to in military history. As Napoleon once said, he would rather have a lucky general that a capable one. Lee’s luck seemed to have run out.

Another theory is that Lee suffered a heart attack before and during the battle and was not up to snuff.

One thing for sure, the Confederate cavalry’s “absence” did not defeat Lee. Stuart’s only defeat came at the hands of Custer.

Jeff Davis realized all this. When Lee handed in his resignation, Davis refused to consider it. It is like Rob Wick said, Lee was not losing the war. The commanders in the West did it, especially Joe Johnston, Braxton Bragg, and John C. Pemberton. They inflicted around 10,000 casualties against Grant’s Yankees and lost a 30,000 army to captivity in the process. Lee lost 27,000 and Meade 23,000—the difference was Pickett’s charge. But Lee lived to fight on for another year and 9 mos.

I doubt Gettysburg hurt Lincoln’s popularity. I doubt the Emancipation Proclamation had anything to do with it. Fate, destiny, God seem more important.

A final theory was voiced by Pickett himself—the Union army might have had a hand in Lee’s defeat, he opined after the war.