The Second Day at Gettysburg
Most people do not really understand the Second Day at the Battle of Gettysburg. They saw the movie and thought that one Chamberlain charged down hill, it was over. Wrong. That was just one tiny part of the battle that day, and while Chamberlain prevented a great loss, he did not win a great victory.
Lee's plan for the day was an "attack in echelon" with each brigade, starting from Hood's division on the right, starting its advance just after the one on its right. (Lee did this because Union General Sickels had advanced the 3rd Corps into a very dangerous and exposed position.) The intention of attacking in this way was to get the "cautious" Union commander Meade to send his reserves to the point of the attack. (Unlike what every wargame tells you, the attacks Lee made this day were mostly at 1:1 or worse odds, and they all worked.)
The Union troops were crushed, pushed back. Third Corps was destroyed as a fighting force. Most of 1st and 11th corps had been destroyed the first day. A newly arrived corps was thrown into the battle as 3rd corps collapsed, and was destroyed. (By the end of the second day, 25 of Meade's 51 brigades had been more or less destroyed and were incapable of combat, offensive or defensive.) General Hancock "the Superb" threw most of his splendid 2nd corps in the maelstrom and watched it be destroyed. The only combat-capable brigades of the 1st and 11th corps were thrown in, and destroyed.
At the critical moment, Meade was standing on Cemetery Ridge. He had no more reserves to throw in. He had a huge open gap in his lines just north of where the last Confederate attack had landed. He watched, knowing that once the last two brigades of Anderson's Confederation Division attacked, the Confederation Light Division under Major General Dorsey Pender would attack into the empty gap, and two more Confederate Divisions would storm Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, annihilating what was left of the shattered 1st and 11th Corps. Meade was, literally, in the act of issuing verbal orders to his cavalry commander on where to establish the screen behind which the devastated Army of the Potomac would try to escape. Meade and his Army were beaten, defeated, poised for a devastating disaster. At the end of the day, at least half of the Army of the Potomac would be dead or prisoners, and the remainder would be running at top speed for Pipe Creek, the last defense line before Washington DC.
What happened?
Those last two brigades of Anderson's Division never attacked. The first was the brigade of Carnot Posey. This idiot had fired off all of his ammunition driving a couple of hundred Yankees out of a farm house in the way of the attack, when one good bayonet charge would have done that trick. The other brigade was commanded by Mahone, an officer who some days was a fearless genius and other days was a coward and fool. Anderson sent a staff officer to tell Mahone to attack, and Mahone refused. (He said that Anderson had told him to stay there, which Anderson had not, and even if he had, Anderson just gave Mahone new orders. Duh!)
The Splendid Light Division was ready to attack, and Major General Dorsey Pender rode south toward Mahone to find out what the hold up was. Hello Mister Cannonball! Pender went down and nobody realized that (at this critical moment) NOBODY was in command of the Light Division. By the time they figured out who was next in line, it was dark. Meade did not know until decades later why the heck the Rebels had not annihilated him.
Gettysburg, if anything, proves that there is a God and that he doesn't care much for slavery. Every Confederate general had three "bad brain days" while the Yankee generals did their duty and held their line.
But would it have mattered? Nothing was going to bring Britain into the war on the Confederate side; that's a pipe dream that refuses to die. But a devastating defeat might well have forced a political negotiation. More likely, Lincoln (stubborn!) would not have agreed to a deal. Lee might have rampaged around for a month, maybe even burned Philadelphia, but would eventually have had to leave. The Washington defenses were too tough a nut to crack, and the Union still had plenty of un-drafted men.
Lee's plan for the day was an "attack in echelon" with each brigade, starting from Hood's division on the right, starting its advance just after the one on its right. (Lee did this because Union General Sickels had advanced the 3rd Corps into a very dangerous and exposed position.) The intention of attacking in this way was to get the "cautious" Union commander Meade to send his reserves to the point of the attack. (Unlike what every wargame tells you, the attacks Lee made this day were mostly at 1:1 or worse odds, and they all worked.)
The Union troops were crushed, pushed back. Third Corps was destroyed as a fighting force. Most of 1st and 11th corps had been destroyed the first day. A newly arrived corps was thrown into the battle as 3rd corps collapsed, and was destroyed. (By the end of the second day, 25 of Meade's 51 brigades had been more or less destroyed and were incapable of combat, offensive or defensive.) General Hancock "the Superb" threw most of his splendid 2nd corps in the maelstrom and watched it be destroyed. The only combat-capable brigades of the 1st and 11th corps were thrown in, and destroyed.
At the critical moment, Meade was standing on Cemetery Ridge. He had no more reserves to throw in. He had a huge open gap in his lines just north of where the last Confederate attack had landed. He watched, knowing that once the last two brigades of Anderson's Confederation Division attacked, the Confederation Light Division under Major General Dorsey Pender would attack into the empty gap, and two more Confederate Divisions would storm Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, annihilating what was left of the shattered 1st and 11th Corps. Meade was, literally, in the act of issuing verbal orders to his cavalry commander on where to establish the screen behind which the devastated Army of the Potomac would try to escape. Meade and his Army were beaten, defeated, poised for a devastating disaster. At the end of the day, at least half of the Army of the Potomac would be dead or prisoners, and the remainder would be running at top speed for Pipe Creek, the last defense line before Washington DC.
What happened?
Those last two brigades of Anderson's Division never attacked. The first was the brigade of Carnot Posey. This idiot had fired off all of his ammunition driving a couple of hundred Yankees out of a farm house in the way of the attack, when one good bayonet charge would have done that trick. The other brigade was commanded by Mahone, an officer who some days was a fearless genius and other days was a coward and fool. Anderson sent a staff officer to tell Mahone to attack, and Mahone refused. (He said that Anderson had told him to stay there, which Anderson had not, and even if he had, Anderson just gave Mahone new orders. Duh!)
The Splendid Light Division was ready to attack, and Major General Dorsey Pender rode south toward Mahone to find out what the hold up was. Hello Mister Cannonball! Pender went down and nobody realized that (at this critical moment) NOBODY was in command of the Light Division. By the time they figured out who was next in line, it was dark. Meade did not know until decades later why the heck the Rebels had not annihilated him.
Gettysburg, if anything, proves that there is a God and that he doesn't care much for slavery. Every Confederate general had three "bad brain days" while the Yankee generals did their duty and held their line.
But would it have mattered? Nothing was going to bring Britain into the war on the Confederate side; that's a pipe dream that refuses to die. But a devastating defeat might well have forced a political negotiation. More likely, Lincoln (stubborn!) would not have agreed to a deal. Lee might have rampaged around for a month, maybe even burned Philadelphia, but would eventually have had to leave. The Washington defenses were too tough a nut to crack, and the Union still had plenty of un-drafted men.
posted by Federation Commander at 6:04 PM
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