1863. The Battle of Gettysburg concludes with Pickett's Charge.
As most reading this will be aware, Pickett's Charge is one of the more famous moments in American military history. I won't bother to belabor the entire Gettysburg campaign, which of course has filled volumes. Those interested in exploring the depths of this fascinating battle would be well-advised to read Stephen Sears book.
http://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Ste...8681023&sr=1-1
In brief, however:
After nearly two years of inconclusive campaigning back and forth across Northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general commanding the Army of Northern Virginia, after his stunning (and what he perceived to be demoralizing to the Union) victory at Chancellorsville, resolved to take his army over to the offensive and invade the North.
There were a number of reasons for this momentous decision. First, he thought that by threatening a number of Union states and key cities, such as Baltimore, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg and potentially Ohio, he might give strength to the peace movement in the North. Second, Northern Virginia had been the site of years of campaigning, and its farms, lands and inhabitants were depleted and downtrodden. Moving the scene of the action woudl provide better forage for his frequently malnourished army. Third, he was by nature an aggressive commander, and because of the relative numbers of the two armies (the Union Army of the Potomac, which he faced, was at nearly all times anywhere from one-third to one-half as large as his, and often better supplied with ammunition and food), he had been forced to remain on the defensive. He was, without doubt, tired of it, and longed to bring the war to his enemy.
And so he did. Marching up the Shenendoah Valley, he entered Pennsylvania. Soon, completely by accident, more or less, the Union and Confederate armies started gathering at a small and insignificant town called Gettysburg. What started initially as a small skirmish eventually brought bought armies into full contact with each other. By the second day (July 2), the armies were fully assembled. The Northern troops, under the command of General Gordon (Old Snapping Turtle -- see picture below if you wonder why he had that nickname) Meade took some high ground just outside the city, and had defenses laid out roughly in the shape of a fishhook.
An interesting side note here is the effect of the recent death of General Stonewall Jackson on the Confederate actions. On the first day, Union troops took excellent defensive positions on heights south of the town, but were nto there in significant numbers. Both sides recognized their importance, and Lee issued an order to General Ewell, who had previously served under Jackson. Ewell was used to Jackson's peremptory orders, and Lee's orders to "take Cemetary Ridge, if practicable" led Ewell to decide that such an attack was not "practicable" and left the Union in command of the best defensive position in the area. Had they been disloged, the rest of the Battle of Gettysburg would have unfolded very differently.
Repeated heavy assaults on the Union army's flanks were repulsed, including a critical battle on Little Round Top, at the extreme end of the Union line, where Colonel Joshua Chamberlain led his 20th Maine troops in a famous downhill bayonet charge to break the Confederate lines once his men had run out of ammunition. His actions would result in the award of a Medal of Honor, and Chamberlain would go on to continued success in teh Union army, including a battlefield promotion to brigadier general which was given by Grant during the Siege of Petersburg when he was shot through the hip and not expected to live. Grant acted quickly in promoting him, in response to the corps' commander's urgent request.
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Originally Posted by General Warren, to General Grant
"He has been recommended for promotion for gallant and efficient conduct on previous occasion and yesterday led his brigade against the enemy under most destructive fire. He expresses the wish that he may receive the recognition of his services by promotion before he dies for the gratification of his family and friends." [ |
Chamberlain would recover and return to command. He would be wounded six times during the course of the war, and have six horses shot out from under him. He was selected by Grant to attend the surrender of Confederate troops at Appomatox, and would issue the controversial (at the time) yet gallant order for the Union troops to honor the Confederate soldiers laying down their weapons by saluting their passing ranks.
Back to the main action. On the third day, Lee was clearly frustrated. He was absolutely convinced that, although outnumbered, his was the superior army. His efforts to roll up the Union flanks had been repeatedly thwarted, but only by a hair's edge. His initial plan for the third day was to repeat the attacks on both Federal flanks, but early in the morning the Federals, with heavy artillery support, launched thier own attack on a key position on Culp's Hill, on the Confederate left, which spoiled his plans.
He resolved instead to charge the Union center. His attack would be made by his trusted stalwart General Longstreet's First Corps, led by the Virginia Division of General George Pickett. At around 1:00 p.m., approximately 160 Confederate cannon began firing to softed Union lines, one of the heaviest concentrated artillery bombardments of the war. The Union return cannon fire was sporadic and uninspiring.
And the reason for the Union's response was General Henry Jackson Hunt. A brilliant military commander, Hunt had commanded all Union artillery during early parts of the war, but had been sent to the rear and his artillery dispersed under General Hooker at Chancellorsville, which greatly weakened the Union efforts there and led to their defeat. Now, Hooker was himself relieved, and all Union guns were once again under Hunt's command. Knowing that a charge would soon follow, Hunt conserved his ammunication and his gunner's strength for the key moment. The Confederate salvos went mostly unanaswered.
Short on ammunition, as always, however, the Confederate bombardment did not last long. By 3:00 p.m. the firing subsidied, and 12,500 Confederate troops stepped forward and began a charge of three-quarters of a mile towards Cemetary Ridge, which the Union was defending. As they charged, Hunt's artillery opened up and fierce flanking fire came from all along the Union lines. Amazingly, some Confederates reached Union lines and briefly broke them at a weak defensive spot known forever after as "the Angle". Union reinforcements, however, drove them off and this geographic spot became known as "The High Water Mark of the Confederacy", as it was arguably the closest they ever got to winning the war.
The charge failed. On July 4th, Independence Day, the two armies stared at each other across a rain-soaked and ravaged battlefield with casualties everywhere. That same day, Vicksburg, the "Key to the Mississippi" fell to General Grant. The war was effectively over, though two years more bloodshed needed to be spilled to prove it to the proud and stubborn South.
Late in the afternoon of the 4th, Lee withdrew his army, heading back to Virginia. The two armies suffered nearly 50,000 casualties, or approximately 30% of the forces that had met on the battlefield. Nearly 8,000 were killed outright, and over 3,000 horses. In the July heat, the stench quickly became overwhelming, and the townspeople performed much of the work in burying the dead and burning the horse carcasses.
Despite Lincoln's frantic efforts, Meade refused to follow up his victory closely, and let the Confederate army "escape".
Pickett, a thoroughly mediocre general, would reportedly never forgive Lee for ordering the charge in which over 50% of his division would be rendered casualties. When his surviving men scrabbled back to their lines, Lee ordered him to form his division for defense. He replied, "General Lee, I have no division." According to one source, he would tell friends that "That man destroyed my division." Historians are unable to credit this fully, however, as other reports indicate that when answering why the charge failed, he would reply "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it."
Perhaps the most important result of the battle, however, was the breaking of the aura of invincibility that had surrounded Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia.
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Originally Posted by Abraham Lincoln, to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles
"Our army held the war in the hollow of their hand and they would not close it!" [ |
General Gordon Meade (Old Snapping Turtle)
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
George Pickett
