07/03/2003 Entry: ""
Posted by Maynard @ 07:19 AM MST
Gettysburg: Day 3
Of all the missed opportunities and failures of judgement, errors in planning and shortcomings in battle, none surpassed that of General Lee's orders to charge the center on the third day. It would cost him the battle, but his humility would retain the army's love for him.
The day began badly for the South, with General Buell being driven off Culp's Hill and J.E.B. Stuart, who had arrived late the day before, being prevented from driving around the left flank by a young cavalry officer named George Custer. These were just prepatory, distracting measures, designed to pressure Meade and distract him from the center, where the real fighting was supposed to take place. This fighting was preceeded by an artillery barrage designed to soften up Union lines.
The problem with Lee's strategy the fateful third day was that it failed to take into account the geography and line of fire that the Union enjoyed. The Union was on the eastern hills, the Confederacy on the western, lesser hills, with a slight dip between them. It was this wide, clear dip that Lee instructed Longstreet's and Hill's corps to drive across and attack. The Union could see them coming for almost the entire march, and had a clear line of fire the whole way.
Lee's strategy also failed to take into account Lee himself. As Longstreet put it, Lee's blood was up on the second day, and Lee meant to fight the Union and beat them, or be beaten by them, there. His personality was such that it was difficult to disobey or disregard orders he gave. His was an aura of authority, and it led him to believe (rightly so in many cases) that the Southern soldier would gladly give his life for Marse Robert. If he told those boys to march across the field under certain heavy fire and take that hill, they would do it or die trying. From his perspective, the will and strength of Johnny Reb could beat back other forces of war and win the day.
But the Union Artillery could win the field.
As the I and III Corps moved out at 1500 (3 PM), the entire Union line took notice. Men charged their weapons and waited, patiently knowing the dread that was to come. The artillery opened up when the rebels came in range and it continued, unceasingly. Confederate regiments evaporated into the gunsmoke, being wasted away like paper before fire. Still the divisions came on, driven by their love for their general and their desire to whip the Yanks.
When they closed to 200 yards, General Alexander Hayes ordered his men to open fire with their rifles. The fighting devolved into brutal, painful combat where the dead covered the ground and the wounded fought on despite their wounds.
The Confederates reached the Union line only at The Angle, a point where the Union line took two right angle turns, one to the right, one to the left, as you traversed the line. This gave an artillery emplacement infantry cover on its two sides while it occupied the point, at the same time covered by another battery farther down that could fire on the flanks of those attacking the point of the Angle. It was a miserable point to finally reach since there was so much cover, but Confederate Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead was able to leap over the wall and sieze a battery before being shot dead. The Union line had held.
The retreat was uncoordinated, as one can imagine. General Lee rode out to meet his retreating men and exhibited a quality that many consider weakness today. He said "All this has been my fault."
Plain english. Plain words. No passing the buck, no dodging the question. He took the fall, and rightly so. His error caused the final fall of the battle, but he took it with more manliness and humility than all the politicians ever caught making excuses for their secretarys and interns combined.
He offered his resignation but Jefferson Davis would have none of it. 6500 CSA men had fallen but Davis understood that Lee was the best man for the job. His humility and grace were adequate to cover his mistakes but could not make up for the deficiencies in his provision. His army was outnumbered, underequipped, and poorly fed, but he would carry them on in victory and defeat for another two years.
But the offensive, and the war, was lost.
Rain fell in Gettysburg the next day.
Replies: 
(2)
cool
Posted by dick @ 01/20/2004 08:11 AM MST
didn't find what i needed!!!!!
Posted by dick @ 01/20/2004 08:12 AM MST
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