Interesting facts about the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The temperature during the day was around 87 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine fighting in a pitched battle in such hot and humid conditions while wearing a heavy uniform and gear. General James Longstreet had strong misgivings about General Lee’s plan of attack which would send 3 brigades to assault the Union center while General J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry would move southward to assault the Union rear. He was concerned (correctly) that the Confederate troops might march across open ground into a hail of devastating cannon fire. As the famous Pickett’s Charge occurred, 170 Confederate artillery pieces exchanged fire with 80 Union pieces that inflicted severe casualties on the Confederate forces. Despite their superior number of cannons, the Confederate artillery often aimed too high and missed their targets due to poor visibility. Their shots instead hit many of the Union wagons and supplies and even forced the Union General in charge, General George Meade, to move his headquarters. Though it is known as Pickett’s Charge, General George Pickett’s forces only made up a third of the Confederate troops who made the charge. The other two thirds consisted of men under Generals Isaac R. Trimble and J. Johnston Pettigrew. As the Confederate forces made their way across the field, they began to crowd together at a point in the Union lines called the “Angle” so named because the Union forces were arranged at a 90 degree angle. At this point, the massed Confederates numbered between 15 to 30 men deep. Confederate General Lewis Armistead bravely led his brigade of approximately 200 men further into the Union lines than any other officer in an event often called the “High Water Mark of the Confederacy.” His forces almost overran the 69th and 71st Pennsylvania regiments and reached the artillery battery of the 1st New York before being beaten back by the timely aid of further Union regiments from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York. Armistead was shot three times and died later from complications related to his wounds. Besides the German immigrants who serving the Union, Irish immigrants also contributed greatly to the Union cause. They too experienced prejudice like the Germans. They were unfairly considered to be racially inferior and debased. That many of them were Catholic was also a source of distrust for others in the Union Army. Even today, while they are portrayed much more often than the Germans in popular media and history, it is often as comic relief or to contribute a bit of “Old World” wisdom. The 69th Pennsylvania, made up of several sons of the Emerald Isle in Philadelphia, showed just how valuable they could be on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. As Armistead’s forces crashed into their lines, they bent, but refused to break. They held the line in fierce hand to hand fighting ensuring that this Confederate attack would indeed be its “High Water Mark.” As historian Ralph Peters says, these Irishmen “were heroes, not leprechauns in blue suits.” During the charge, the Confederacy lost 23 flags. While Pickett’s Charge was occurring, Union General George Armstrong Custer led Michigan cavalry units on a dramatic charge against the cavalry units of General J.E.B. Stuart, shouting “Come on you Wolverines!” Though this part of the battle was mostly a stalemate, Custer did prevent Stuart from completing the task Lee gave him to attack the Union rear successfully. During the retreat from Gettysburg, the Confederate hospital train stretched 57 miles. At the end of the day, General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces had lost 15 general officers killed or seriously wounded, suffering a 41% officer casualty rate. These losses could not be adequately replaced. The two states which had the most troops engaged in the battle were Pennsylvania and Virginia. Pennsylvania had 34,530 troops suffering 5,886 casualties. Virginia had slightly more than 19,000 troops suffering 4,500 casualties. In conclusion, three days of fighting caused a staggering 50,000 casualties. The Confederacy’s plan to invade the North had failed, but two more years of fighting yet awaited the Blue and the Grey.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 04:30:13 +0000