Lee's Excuse--Those Wagons---

[5fish]

In Lee's report on Gettysburg, he refers to his wagons as for a reason why he choose to stay and engage the union army. He states it would have been to difficult to retire and move due to the wagons. I have read this in other writing on Gettysburg about these wagons.

Well I disagree, he had no problem retreating from Gettysburg with those same wagons. He executed one of the great retreats in history with those wagons over the same roads he would have used if he had choose to retire or move from Gettysburg, instead of engaging the union army.

I think we have caught Lee making an excuse(yes, an excuse) for why he was forced to engage the union army at Gettysburg due to the wagons.

He argues its the wagons that force him to stay and fight at Gettysburg but in the end he had no problem retreating from Gettysburg with those same wagons.

I think these wagons are a half harted try by Lee to excuse why he choose to engage the union army on ground he did not chose.

Lee makes an excuse!

[ole]

The wagons, 5fish were (as I understand it) iffy before he headed out from from Virginia. One might expect that they were iffier before he headed out from Pennsylvania. Don't have a number, but they did leave some along the road, in both directions. And horses.

ole

[samgrant]

Maybe it was all those pesky free Blacks he rounded up that slowed him down. (?)

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[larry_cockerham]

I think Lee badly wanted the war to end, even to the point of a battle of such magnitude that it was all or not too much. Meade was more on his mind than wagons.

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by larry_cockerham

I think Lee badly wanted the war to end, even to the point of a battle of such magnitude that it was all or not too much.

So might we imply that you think Lee wanted to end the war one victor or another, and rolled the dice by invading Pennsylvania, and hoped that would settle it?

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[ole]

Not an entirely bad analogy, sam.

ole

[samgrant]

Well, I'm only half serious about that, but it might explain Pickett's charge. Like poker, was Lee putting it "all in"? And then after the defeat he reconsidered and decided to stay in the game?

I can imagine he just might have wanted the war over, even at the risk that his side would loose, but inevitably he could not let down the soldiers who fought under him.

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[ole]

Unlike "Poker on Line," Lee played his hand. But he didn't toss all in. Took his few remaining chips and went back to Vuhjinia to lose some weight.

Does anyone really think that, after Lee got back bruised but sound, it was not all over but the shouting?

Would very much like to see where Lee could have pulled off anything that would have stalled his getting crushed?

Lee didn't have the men. No matter how skillfully he placed them and moved them about, Grant was going to press. Really hard! Gotta admit that Lee pulled off some of his finest moves during the campaign. But he hadn't run across Grant. Who didn't know how to spell "quit." And then managed to dance across the James and declare what would become a checkmate.

No fault for Lee. He'd done about as much as any man could be expected to do. But he had no time to adapt to an opponent that would not quit.

It's a bit too simplistic to speculate that Grant's style put Lee off his balance -- he'd faced some fairly competent assaults before. But I have to believe that Lee didn't hold a high opinion of the AotP. And when Grant drove it into a line of battle, it was somehow different. Unexpectedaly aggressive.

Here is where Lee shined. He was dancing and sure of his footing. He made an excellent try. And a skillful, admirable try. It would have been quite nice if he had had the men to back it up. Grant uses his advantage, and SCORES!

It was over when Grant moved into the Wilderness. Apparently, good sense and realism had not been born yet.

ole

[Lefty]

It's a bit too simplistic to speculate that Grant's style put Lee off his balance -- he'd faced some fairly competent assaults before. But I have to believe that Lee didn't hold a high opinion of the AotP. And when Grant drove it into a line of battle, it was somehow different. Unexpectedaly aggressive.

Well done Ole.
That's about it (The Overland Campaign) in a nutshell.

I still don't quite understand the initial post about the wagons? Lee didn't fight at GB because of his concern for his wagon train. It was a meeting engagement.

Am I missing something?

[5fish]

Originally Posted by Lefty

Well done Ole.
That's about it (The Overland Campaign) in a nutshell.

I still don't quite understand the initial post about the wagons? Lee didn't fight at GB because of his concern for his wagon train. It was a meeting engagement.

Am I missing something?

Lefty,

If you read lee's report about Gettysburg, he mention that it would have been difficult to avoid an engagement at Gettysburg once started becuase of the wagons.