...The failure of Pickett’s charge By Adam Salas The third day of the battle of Gettysburg was on Friday July 3rd, 1863. On that day was Pickett’s Charge. This was known as the mistake of mistakes because it was so unbelievably unsuccessful. This battle was so unsuccessful because the confederates were bouncing off of 2 failed attempts at beating the union already in the battle, their artillery launch was not impressive by comparison, they faced what the union faced in Fredericksburg, and they lost too many men in the fight. All of these things put together made Pickett’s charge famous. The day began with the largest artillery fire in the history of the world up to that point, but the damage they did wasn’t as bad as the attack was. Many southern soldiers aimed their guns too high and shot above them. Also, the shots were off target, some landed in the dirt way up front, some were off to the side, and some exploded in mid air. When General Pickett and his army charged towards hill, they were greeted with severe return fire! In the return fire, Pickets army quickly diminished and the north had no problem defending the hill. In the middle of the field, was a large fence. The confederate soldiers had to climb over the fence to get past it, making them easy targets. Pickett lost over 2,000 of his men. Other generals and commanders lost a several men. All-in-all, the Southern army lost about 5,575 men in Pickett’s Charge, due to death, capture or being wounded. General Armistead...
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...The most noticeable conflict in The Killer Angels is the argument between Lee and Longstreet over whether to use offensive or defensive tactics. Longstreet has come to understand the modern nature of warfare: he realizes that new technology, such as long-range artillery and repeating, breech-loading rifles, means the old strategies of war can no longer work as well. A single man armed with a good rifle and in a defensive position—behind a tree, for instance—can kill at least three men charging toward him from across a field, says Longstreet. That means that 1,000 men can kill 3,000 charging across the same field. Longstreet argues that even more men can be killed if the defender is aided by artillery. Longstreet believes that fortified, defensive...
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...http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-gettysburg http://americancivilwar.com http://www.gettysburgphotographs.com Day 1: July 1, 1863 On the morning of July 1, Maj General Heth, of Lt General A.P. Hill’s Third Corps, sent his 7,500-man division down the Chambersburg Pike toward Gettysburg. Encountering resistance, they initially assumed it was more of the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia that they’d been skirmishing with during the campaign. In reality, Colonel John Buford had deployed part of two brigades of Union cavalry as skirmishers in the brush along Willoughby’s Run three miles west of town. Two weeks prior, they were issued breech-loading carbines, and they used the guns’ fast-loading capability to create the impression of a much larger force and were able to slow the advance of Hill’s brigades for a time before they fell back. The Confederates followed them across the stream, only to meet a line of Union infantry on McPherson’s Ridge. The Army of the Potomac was slowly arriving unit by unit, and among the first to arrive was Union Maj Gen Reynolds, commander of the left wing of the Army of the Potomac (I, III and XI corps), assessing the engagement and took charge of the defense. His men fought tenaciously, and Reynolds was shot dead during the fighting. When Maj Gen Meade arrived, he set up his headquarters at Taneytown, and dispatched Maj Gen W. S. Hancock to take command at Gettysburg and assess whether or not the battle should be fought there...
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...disputes between the two regions. The South called themselves the Confederates, while the North called themselves the Union army.2 The battle of Gettysburg was one of the most horrific battles of the Civil War. Over fifty thousand soldiers were found dead, wounded, or went missing in a period of three days, July 1-3 of 1863. That is the most number of casualties that has occurred during any battle in American history.3 The battle took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where President Lincoln made a speech entitle the Gettysburg Address five months later, on November 19th of 1863.4 General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate Army, decided to invade the North in June of 1863. Thus, Lee and his seventy-five-thousand-man army began to march towards Gettysburg, coming from Fredericksburg, Virginia. In order to make his troops more manageable, General Lee divided his army of two corps into three corps. James Longstreet was to command the First Corps, Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell was put in charge of the Second Corps, and Lieutenant General A.P. Hill gained control of the Third Corps.5 Major General Joseph Hooker commanded the Union Army of Potomac. There were over ninety thousand men in his army. Later, President Abraham Lincoln would replace Hooker with Major General George G. Meade, since Hooker had proved to be a failure during the previous battles.6 In the middle of June, the Confederate Army crossed the Potomac River and entered Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.7 Hooker's...
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...10 Gettysburg The start of 1863 saw the Confederate States of America in a very optimistic situation. Continued success by General Robert E. Lee and the seemingly invincible Army of Northern Virginia had the Confederate high command wanting to push there winning streak with an invasion of the North. Many people on both sides of the conflict where starting to believe that Lee could not lose. Lee himself was quoted saying, “If properly organized and officered The Army of Northern Virginia would be invincible.” He had time and again out generald his northern counter parts leaving a slue of Union Generals unable to muster up the courage to even face him on the battle field. With President Davis’ approval, Lee set the army in motion which would ultimately end with an epic 3 day conflict, changing the fabric of the war and the course of American History. On the 3rd of June 1863 the Army of Northern Virginia left there positions near Fredericksburg to begin their long march north. Right from the start the topography of the area played a huge roll in the campaign. In order to screen his movements Lee moved his army west, over the Blue Ridge Mountains and into the Shenandoah Valley. After entering the valley, Lee ordered J.E.B Stuart and his Cavalry to ride along the eastern edge of the army to further help screen his movements. The tactics and lay of the land that Lee utilized was very successful in keeping the Union Army in the dark. While...
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