General Lee's Battle Analysis

On July 2, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg was in its second day. Lee's plan was to attack Meade on his flanks. He placed General James Longstreet in charge of the main advance on the left flank of the Union line while General Richard Ewell was to lead the supporting attack on the right. Longstreet, however, was strongly against the idea of attacking. Instead, he wanted the main body of the Confederate army to move around the Union left to get between that army and Washington. This would have forced Meade to come out into the open and attack, thus giving the tactical advantage of defensive positions to the Confederates. Longstreet spent the better part of the morning on July 2 insisting his point to Lee but all to no avail. So much time had been spent in debate, though that long

General Robert E. Lee hoped that the Armory at Harper’s Ferry Virginia would be evacuated once the Army of Northern Virginia came up the Shenandoah Valley. On September 9, Lee divided his army into three groups under the leadership of Stonewall Jackson. He gave them orders to seize Harper’s Ferry. Meanwhile, Colonel Dixon S. Miles, the Union Commander at Harper’s Ferry, prepared to defend the Arsenal. The surrounding area, however, made it really difficult to defend. Harper’s Ferry is surrounded by three tall hills. Miles decided to defend two of the three hills, under the assumption that the Confederates wouldn’t be able to attack from that point. The soldiers Miles posted on the hills were very inexperienced. He kept most of the trained militia

The intent was to destroy the Union’s cannons and seriously weaken their infantry. Most of the shells fired by the confederates missed their targets, overshooting the Union lines with only a few finding their mark. The Union army swiftly replied by firing their own artillery, but only for a short while, the reason being that Meade ordered them to reserve ammunition for the impending attack. Soon after the Union artilleries went silent, Longstreet was told to attack with his troops. Initially, the charge was organized, but as they neared the Union forces they became disordered by the difficult terrain and flanking fire from the Union (Drake,

The second battle pitted the Federal troops in the Army of Virginia, commanded by Major General John Pope, against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by General Robert E. Lee.

He positioned his trained infantrymen on top of the first hill as the last line of defense. The militia was placed in front of the hill and the sharpshooters were place in front of the militia. The militia was the first line of defense and Morgan ordered his sharpshooter to target specifically the officers and cavalry and fall back in the line of militia before they get in firing range of the redcoats. Once the sharpshooter gets in position with the militia the British army advanced the attack the militia. The militia’s duties were to engage the redcoats for a short amount of then run away to the right side of the side of the hill. Tarleton expected the militia to run away. He sent one infantry unit and one cavalry unit after the militia. However, waiting behind the second hill was Lieutenant Colonel William Washington and his dragoon unit. The British cavalry didn’t expect to encounter another cavalry unit. Washington wiped out the Tarleton’s cavalry then flanked the right of Tarleton’s main element. Simultaneously, the militia ran around the hills to flank the left side. Tarleton found himself in a double envelopment. Tarleton receives 110 casualties, 229 wounded and 829 captured or missing, meanwhile Morgan suffered 25 casualties and 124

Around noon, Union and Confederate cavalry troops battled three miles east of Gettysburg but Stuart was eventually repulsed by cannon fire led in part by Gen. George Custer and the Union Cavalry. The diversion attempt failed. Back at the main battle site, just after 1 p.m. about 170 Confederate cannons opened fire on the Union position on Cemetery Ridge to pave the way for the Rebel Charge. This was the heaviest artillery barrage of the war. The Federals returned heavy cannon fire and soon the battlefield was covered in smoke and dust. Around 2:30 p.m. the Federals slowed their rate of fire, then stopped firing, to conserve ammunition and to fool the Rebels into thinking the cannons were knocked out-and that's exactly what the Rebels thought too. But as the Rebels got within range, Federal cannons opened fire using grapeshot which is a shell containing iron balls that flew apart when fired, and they also used deadly waves of rifle fire. Soon the Rebel army was torn apart but they still moved forward. Pickett’s charge was almost more after the once majestic army of 13,000 had its numbers of troops dwindle.. The Rebels still move forward, shooting then charging with bayonets. The battle lasted for about an hour mostly of hand-to-hand combat. Finally what was left of Pickett’s charge (5,500) retreated. Lee admitted this was his mistake and the tide of war now turned in the North’s favor. The Union lost (either dead, wounded, or missing) about 23,000, and the Confederates lost about

The first person who reported back to the Fairfax Court-House in Virginia after the skirmish was Major General Julius Stahel of the commanding Cavalry Division department of Washington due to the orders received. The skirmish began between the hours of seven and ten in the morning. Stahel states that it all started with an attack done by “Mosby, with his band of guerrillas, together with a portion of the Black Horse Cavalry and a portion of the North Carolina Regiment.” The strategic attack was done in the sneakiest way, Mosby and his conjoined calvaries and regiment blindsided their opponents without any warning as they came from Warrenton. So to sum it up, the army suddenly came out the woods and crept behind the troops stationed at the

Upon arriving to Malvern Hill, the Confederates had a lack of information, affecting their understanding of the contour of the land. This greatly affected their use of artillery movement and emplacement, causing the Confederate artillery to be ineffective. This was caused by the swamps, not allowing the caissons to maneuver through (Hill M. , 2012). Because of this obstacle, the Confederate had to push their reserve artillery pieces down Willis Church Road, causing them to be exposed to the open field, which they were then bombarded by Union artillery fire (Krick, 2014). The Union had the advantage over the

On the last and final day of the endless firing of the Gettysburg Battle, Pickett’s Charge began when Union Major General George Meade with his 6,500 men was facing 15,000 Confederate troops led by General Pickett. This happened because General Robert E. Lee thought he had weakened the first lines in the center and started to bombard them with 150 Confederate cannons, the largest amount ever assembled in the U.S. In reply, the Union sent 75 cannons back until ordered to cease fire. Fortunately, most of the South cannons overshot their targets and hence gave little damage to the North

Late in the day, Major. General Ambrose Burnside’s corps pushed across a bullet-strewn stone bridge over Antietam Creek and with some difficulty managed to imperil the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, A.P. Hill’s division arrived from Harpers Ferry, and counterattacked, driving back Burnside and saving the day for the Army of Northern Virginia.

General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia launched their Second Invasion of the North following the Battle of Chancellorsville in June 1863. General Lee understood military tactics and understood that if he wished to help his nation win the war he would have to use the teachings of Carl von Clausewitz. In Clausewitz’s book ‘On War’ he stated, “War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfil our will.” Clausewitz goes on to state, “If we desire to defeat the enemy, we must proportion our efforts to his powers of resistance. This is expressed by the product of two factors which cannot be separated, namely, the sum of available means and the strength of the will. (Clausewitz, 1832)” General Lee understood

In day one (July 1, 1863), the Confederates attack first in the west of Gettysburg. The day starts off with General Lee and General Longstreet discussing tactics while riding, Longstreet wants to out flank the Union army and cut off the road to Washington, forcing the Union to attack. Lee prefers that the Confederate army attack the Union army at Gettysburg and defeat them, then take Washington, as Lee believes that defending is not as honorable as attacking. They are interrupted by the sound of cannon fire and Lee decides to ride toward the guns. It is discovered from Buford’s point of view that the rebels have begun to attack, and his line is able to repel the first rebel charge. The rebels attack once again and once again they are held off. It is discovered that General Heth of the Confederacy is leading the charge, and a last large rebel attack is given. Buford knows he cannot hold the lines, but is saved by reinforcements from General Reynolds, who is shot in the open and killed. The Union line does not give in. Later, in Lee’s point of view, we learn that he has established a base of commands and the readers learn of the calamity of the battle, how Heth initially believed he was only attacking militia. The battle continues and Lee is informed that it appears the Union line is falling back. Lee meets Longstreet again to discuss tactics and Lee concludes that he will attack. In Chamberlain’s point of view, it is learned that Twentieth Maine is approaching Gettysburg, and

It is our duty, as soon to be Second Lieutenants in the Army, to learn from history. Learning from mistakes in the past is necessary to understand the responsibilities we will soon have. The Battle of Gettysburg shows prime examples of the nine principles of war: Objective, Offensive, Mass, Economy of Force, Maneuver, Unity of Command, Security, Surprise and Simplicity. In the military today, we are overwhelmingly blessed with every asset that we have including technology and monetary resources the list could go on forever but the most invaluable asset is history. Although all nine principles of war are pertinent to success on the battlefield, only five will be discussed in this analysis.

In total, there were over 370 Union Army artillery units at Gettysburg during the battle on November 19th, 1863 (Newton, 2005). This gave the Union Army a stout advantage over the Confederate Army, who only had about 280 artillery unit’s available (Newton, 2005). Of the different pieces used, the 12 pound smooth bore Napoleon was the most common. With a range of 1,300 yards, this artillery piece was used for direct fire on enemy troops and advancing artillery (Newton, 2005). In most cases, the Napoleon used a canister shot, which consisted of one round and one charge (Newton, 2005).When massing artillery fires on enemy artillery, it was common for artillery sections to use a double canister, a canister with two rounds and one charge (Newton, 2005). This was done to increase the chance of critical damage to enemy pieces. Often times when engaging enemy artillery directly, Union artillery would focus the battery on one enemy piece at a time, using the double canister (Newton, 2005).

An interesting turn of events would soon favor the Federal Army as General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry were north and east of Gettysburg causing a lot of fear in the North but consequently were not performing adequate reconnaissance, the result was that General Lee did not know where General Meade and the Army of the Potomac were or what their strength was (Freeman, 147). When Confederate General Henry Heth moved into