150 yrs ago today: The second day at Gettysburg The Confederate leadership meets early in the morning. Flush with victory, Lee announces his plan for the day. The ANV will attack on both flanks: Longstreet on the Union left, Ewell on the right. Longstreet argues against this. Prior to the campaign, he later claims he and Lee agreed to take the offensive-defensive: they would invade the north, but only fight defensive battles. Yesterday was an exception. Lee, very out of character as he usually welcomes debate, cuts off Longstreet. He is short and abrupt with his subordinates this morning. Longstreet tries to renew his argument but is as quickly cut off. The other generals and staff officers present are shocked and keep quiet. Worse, Lee is depending on a scouting report that is very flawed. The staff officers who conducted the scout missed an entire Union corps; their report indicates where the Union lines end on Cemetery Ridge but they are off by almost a mile. Lee’s starting point for Longstreet’s attack is not on the Union flank and his advancing troops will be subjected to enfilade fire long before contact with the enemy. Post-war critics of Longstreet get plenty of fodder this day. Stung by Lee’s rebuke, Longstreet dawdles through the day. First, he pauses instead of advancing his troops to their take-off points. Then, the march to the points is slow and circuitrous. Almost there, he makes a disturbing discovery. On the Ridge, Meade and his generals agree to sit tight and await developments. They can outwait the rebel army, which has a supply line running all the way back to Virginia. Meade orders Cemetery Ridge be entrenched all the way south to Little Round Top, a bald hill several miles south of Gettysburg. Gen’l Governour Warren tours the bald hill and realizes that if the rebels take it, they could plant cannon there and blast the Cemetery Ridge line. Warren approaches those corps still approaching Gettysburg and diverts soldiers and artillery to Little Round Top. This suspicion and act will save the Union army. Among those sent to LRT is Col Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine regiment; they form up on the southern slope—they are the extreme left of the Union lines. One Union corps commander does not like his position on the Ride and decides to change things. Dan Sickles is a political appointee and he is too powerful to unseat. Not liking his assigned position on Cemetery Ridge, he advances his entire corps a mile forward. He is isolated out in the fields between the ridges and the Union line has a big hole in it. Longstreet is at his take-off point and barely a hundred yards before him is an entire corps of the Union army. Division commander Hood begs Longstreet to back off and move around to the south and really flank the Union army. Longstreet, under a barrage of Lee’s staff officers telling him to get on with it, refuses. The rest of the day…later.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:19:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015