Longstreet's Plan for Turning the Federal Left

[ben_ross]

This has been Debated throughout history: Should it have been done, Should he have not tried to push it so much, should Lee have listened?

Personally, I am under the impression that it would not have succedded.

July the second, Longstreet pushed for the flanking movement, and Lee denied him. However, on a smaller scale, he did do his flank movement when attacking Sickels, and that wasn't completely as Lee planned, but he did have to imporvise. On July 2nd, a Flanking movement around the Round Tops would not have been in position before dark, and they would be tangling with the UNion 6th Corp...a mighty foe to say the least. Moving Longstreet's whole corp around the Union left would have left Lee with two seperate pieces of an army that was outnumbered to begin with. Thats a no no.


Then on July the third, (this is going to go to the old argument of "did longstreet get orders", but bare with me) Longstreet gets orders to prepeare for an attack with Pickett early in the morning, but he does not do so. Why? Because he was scouting around the flank and preparing for that movement. Longstreet knew Lee was against this. And thus, when lee arrives, expecting to see Pickett, he sees nothing... then we know what happens from there.

Now lee settled on his decision to use pickett late on the second, and issued the orders. It has been argued that had longstreet gone to see lee after the fighting on the second, and then presented the idea, maybe lee would have been swayed and then they could have developed the plan ****her. But instead, Longstreet choose not to see lee that night, leaving him to choose his own plan, withot longstreets aclaimed input.

Then, once lee had decided on a plan, Longstreet decides to do his own thing, without lees knowledge, and thus not being able to follow out Lee's decided orders. Longstreet shoudl have known that once Lee had a plan, it would be difficult to change his thoughts. Longstreet came to lee to late with his plan, and in this ruined the one Lee had planned.

Ben Ross

(Message edited by Ben Ross on August 26, 2004)

[bokscar]

Did Lee and Longstreet know where the Federal left was sited, if so, when did they know?
In another post, I have speculated that on the evening of 1st and the morning of the 2d, neither Lee nor Longstreet knew exactly where the Federal Left was (as opposed to where they thought it was), during those hours.
Lee's attention seemed to be on the Peach Orchard area, rather than the Round Tops. If Lee thought the Peach Orchard was the end of the Federal Left, then his insistence that Longstreet attack along the Emmitsburg Pike would be logical, as it would place Hood behind the Union Left Wing.
Longstreet was long committed to a war of maneuver and he would only favor a movement around either flank of the enemy, no matter the location or time (he would have been just as adamant about a flank march at Pipe Creek as he was at Gettysburg).