My long - 1000 Words - July 4th essay. Read at you own risk! :-) It is going to be a dramatic Fourth The nation is going crazy talking about the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg. It all leads up to a dramatic Fourth of July, just as it did 150 years ago. The nation was divided then – it is now. Debate, discussion and civil discourse had not solved the problems – and they are not doing much that way now. It had degenerated to civil war, and those who would decide the fate of the nation were on the battlefields. There had been a long string of bad news for those who hoped to preserve the union, and the future of the country (as one country) and a constitution they believed worth saving. Some are despairing and worrying about the same thing now. Even the battlefield was against them. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been defeating the Union army at almost every turn. Fredericksburg had been a disaster and then at Chancellorsville the southerners marched around the Union right flank, surprised the careless defenders, “turned the flank” and basically routed the Union army - with far fewer numbers. That was in May of 1863. Lincoln’s Army of the Potomac was just not very tough and not very good. The leaders were not that good. An air of inevitability shrouded every meeting of the two armies. By June 1863, a little more than a month later, the Confederates were in Pennsylvania, threatening Washington D.C. and daring the Federals to come out into the open and fight. Both sides had a feeling Lee and his outstanding soldiers would win, no matter what. Many conservatives today feel despair. There is a malaise and a sense that, no matter what, the “other side” would win. They have “turned the flank” with alarming speed time after time. Many conservative leaders simply quit fighting on (what many feel are) critical issues. Others seem to have fled the scene. With recent cave-ins by major institutions, it sometimes seems that defenders of traditional values are being routed. Nowhere was this more evidenced than in the past few weeks media storm around recent Supreme Court decisions. All of that might lead up to a fairly depressing July 4th. But something happened at Gettysburg. Something different. [Embarrassed] Union soldiers quit snoozing on the flanks. They quit being passive. On the first day, Buford’s Federal cavalry stubbornly held a field against a force far larger, giving the rest of the army time to occupy the high ground south of town. Other soldiers on Culp’s Hill threw up entrenchments and determined never to give in the Union Right, no matter what. Though hugely outnumbered, they fought so hard that the Confederate generals thought there were far more of them than there were, and held back from committing their reserves. In three days of fierce fighting, they never took Culp’s Hill. And then on day two, the Confederate general Longstreet marched a long way around the Union left flank to “roll them up” on Little Round Top. Except – they didn’t. The 20th Maine held off an attacking force over twice its size, and prevailed with mere bayonets - they were out of ammunition. The flanks held, surprising observers on BOTH sides. Something had changed. This was not Chancellorsville. The “inevitable” was no longer so. But the third day, July 3rd, Lee pushed forwards with a huge charge to the center of the Union lines. His southerners had never failed. They believed they were tougher and stronger, and they could – with huge sacrifice – break the Union line in the middle and pierce all the way through with reserves. The battle – and likely the war – would be theirs. The charge (Pickett’s Charge) almost worked. They did pierce the Union line in the middle. But something very strange happened as they did. As Pickett’s men made an oblique slant to the left to enhance the [piercing] power of a combined attack, General George Stannard, just to the south on the Union lines, acting without orders, swung two regiments, the 13th and 16th Vermont, straight out into the extremely dangerous firing zone and enveloped the right flank of Pickett’s men. There they poured murderous crossfire into the advancing spearpoint. At about the same time, on the north side of the same spear, the 8th Ohio stepped out into the middle, also exposing themselves, and flanked the north side of the attack. They routed the troops they were facing, the first time any of Lee’s troops had ever given in to a major rout. The effects were amazing. The attack faltered and then failed. Ever since, that very moment has been called “the high-watermark of the Confederacy.” As the southerners retreated, the Union troops cheered, yelling “Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg.” How had things changed so radically in the course of a few months? How had they overcome the aura of “inevitability” that surrounded their battles? The very soldiers that had once passively allowed themselves to be outflanked again and again were now defending their flanks to the death and outflanking the attacks against them, instinctively and without orders. Somewhere along the way, they had realized what was at stake, counted the cost, and decided they would pay it. They did not have to wait for orders. They just had to do it. That transformation changed the course of the war and the history of the United States. As social conservatives face this July Fourth, perhaps it is time to stop running and giving in. Intense spiritual and moral warfare bears similarities to a battle such as Gettysburg. And spiritual warfare is what we have. Little things can matter a lot. Critical events can turn on a single person standing by the colors and not budging, no matter what is coming. Defending the flanks at all costs is absolutely essential. And when the opposition attacks the center, the heart of the corps, stoutness, ingenuity and a willingness to step out into the dangerous middle ground might well win the day. Americans – on both sides – believed in a higher calling and a higher cause in that era. It was a national tragedy that it had had to be solved on the battlefield and at such high cost. But the fact that they finally stood and gave it their all – something Lincoln and others attested to again and again – for those on BOTH sides, made America what it eventually became: an incredible nation. Alan Eason, July 3, 2013.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 12:55:31 +0000
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