On July 1st-3rd, 1864, Union troops fighting from heavy cover on wooded ridges repelled repeated Confederate assaults determined to dislodge them and open a road to Washington, DC, the nation's capital. The federal troops fought heroically against enemy formations with great numerical superiority (not to say that there wasn't any heroism on the part of the Confederates). On July 4th, after suffering a terrible defeat in Picket's Charge across an open, upward-sloping field, the remnants of the Confederate Army retreated. The Battle of Gettysburg cost the Army of Northern Virginia approximately 25,000 casualties, and ruined its capacity for further offensive action.

The same day, July 4th, word reached President Lincoln that Ulysses S. Grant's troops had secured the surrender of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, which denied the entire Mississippi River to Confederate Navigation. The Confederacy had been cut in two.

The Battle of Gettysburg and the end of the Siege of Vicksburg, taken together, represent a crucial turning point of the Civil War. From this point onwards, the Confederate States could no longer hope to win the American Civil War, and the institution of slavery that had pervaded our nation for so long had its coffin nailed shut.

This post is the first of many of its kind. I will update with similar posts on relevant historical dates.

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Corporation, noun: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
~Ambrose Bierce

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.

~Dom Helder Camara

Businessmen have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public.

~Adam Smith

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Liberate the world one mind at a time.

Subsidize freedom with some profit.

Uh... it was July 1st - 3rd 1863. You can't even get the dates of the events right.

The Confederates did not attack a heavily wooded area on July 1st-3rd but an areas called Cemetery Ridge, Seminary Ridge, Little and Big Round top (wooded), Devils Den, Wheat Field, Culp Ridge/Hill (wooded) most of the fight which was not woods but open area. Hell, only a few areas of Gettysburg is wooded and the Federal forces (Army of the Potomac had 93k compared to the 75k Confederates), so the Confederates were out numbered. Going to Gettysburg wasn't about dislodging Union troops and finding a road to Washington D.C. It was about finding supplies and taking the War to Northern States.

If the Confederates wanted to get to Washington they would have gone to Manassas as they did 2 times before that (Bull Run and Second Bull Run).

Adams and Franklin Co Pa were important areas due to its industry and food supplies. Just as Fredrick and Washington Co Md were as well.

These counties were raided by Confederates through out the whole war. Chambersburg Pa was sacked 2 times (October 10th, 1862 and July 30th 1864), one of those times it being burned to the ground on July 30th 1864.

During the Gettysburg Campaign Confederates went all the way to Harrisburg Pa looking for supplies. The Confederates even out flanked the Army of the Potomac when they were Harrisburg and Wrightsville Pa along the Susquehanna River (on June 28th and June 29th)..

So your conclusions are wrong.The Confederates could have marched all the way to New York City with ease.

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"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

Sorry, buddy, but you're just nitpicking because you were rooting for the racist dickwads to win.

__________________
Corporation, noun: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
~Ambrose Bierce

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.

~Dom Helder Camara

Businessmen have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public.

~Adam Smith

Actually, on the point of terrain, at the time of the battle Gettysburg was actually only sparsely wooded. In the century+ since the battle, they've allowed the woods to grow up and take over. Now, though, they've been chopping down the forest to return the battlefield to its state at the time of the actual fighting and have been tearing down the ugly eyesore buildings that... were eyesores. I actually did not recognize Devil's Den or the wheatfield when I went back last summer, it's changed so much.

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"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...."
- The Declaration of Independence

Oh, I see. Thank you, I didn't realize this.

I still don't think it's particularly important--the federal troops held the high ground, regardless of whether it was wooded (and some of it was).

__________________
Corporation, noun: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
~Ambrose Bierce

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.

~Dom Helder Camara

Businessmen have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public.

~Adam Smith

As AHFN told you.. I was right. I grew up near Gettysburg (little down called Waynesboro).. I know the area and I know the Battle like the back of my hand as it was drilled into my head every year growing up. In fact, the town I grew up in was the first stop in Pa for the Confederates (stayed there for a total of 13 days) and it was the first stop during their retreat.

So the Army of Potomac had more troops.

LMAO, Sector? The those hills weren't even 2 miles from the whole Army of the Potomac on the 1st and 2nd day. It was a Command decision that "put them outnumbered".. and by the way holding a hill is a hell of a lot easier then storming up a hill.

It wasn't to destroy the Army of the Potomac. He could have done that at Fredricksburg or Chancellorsville but didn't because the Rule of War at the time were about being "gentlemenly". It was about supplies and getting the Army of the Potomac on the Defensive. Lee achieved that.


No, during the First Bull Run, the Federal Army (Army of the Potomac) fled from the battle. The Army of the Potomac would have easily been crushed if basic Military squabbling didn't happen.

Second Bull Run was a win for the Confederates as well.


It did not destroy the offensive capability. A year later Jubal Early marched all the way Washington DC.. they fought 2 little known battles one called Monocacy and Fort Stevens. 23k casualties happened at Gettysburg, the Union had the same amount.

I just proved your statement factually incorrect on both accounts.




No, I am nitpicking because you are incorrect. Ah yes, because you know so much about the Confederates to make that kind of judgment.

__________________
Pioneers are walking all around singing songs about Lenin and they should be shot for it.

Handlebars

"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

Bull****.

Again, you have no idea what you're talking about. Local superiority.

Wrong.

Yep, and then they ended up getting their asses whooped later on. So going through Bull Run wasn't just a great idea.

Was Jubal Early in command of the Army of the Potomac?
I know the Union had the same amount of casualties, but as you say the Union troops outnumbered the Confederates overall and they also had a tremendous numerical advantage over the Confederates in terms of population, in a wider, strategic sense. This does not mean that they outnumbered the Confederates in every single combat situation, which you seem to simple-minded to understand.

Again, you don't have to nitpick, just say you disagree because you wanted the Confederates to win. Go slavery, right?

__________________
Corporation, noun: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
~Ambrose Bierce

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.

~Dom Helder Camara

Businessmen have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public.

~Adam Smith

Tact, my friend, tact. Tact is your friend.

__________________
"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...."
- The Declaration of Independence

Its not my fault you are trying to make 10 regiments who held those 2 hills out to be some kind of heroes.



From the horse's mouth (so to speak)..

Must suck that I can go and find Communications between General Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis to prove you wrong on the intent. Where is your proof?





They didn't lose at Bull Run. So your point is moot.



LMAO, He was a Confederate that marched all the way to Monocacy in 1864 unmolested. He was 3 miles outside of Washington D.C. In 4 days will be 144 years to the day this battle happened.


Yes, and you also claimed the Confederates lost 25,000 men. They did not.


No, never said it did. But there was the ability to march troops to shore up the lines, if it came down to it. Despite what the movies tell you. We aren't talking about a Special Forces unit dropped in the middle of nowhere facing 1,000 enemy combatants with no back up.




Again, show me your evidence you being even 1/10th right? I've shown you the Communications from Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis that puts your whole D.C. theory to bs.

__________________
Pioneers are walking all around singing songs about Lenin and they should be shot for it.

Handlebars

"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87