Civil War History - "What if..." DiscussionsWhat if they had attacked instead of digging in...? What if he was in charge of the army instead...? Did you ever have a "What if..." question, and you weren't sure where to post it? Here's the place to ask these speculative questions!
Here's something I believe no one has thought about. If Jackson was in command of II Corps ANV, I believe there would not have been a gettysburg. I think Jackson would've saw the advantage of controlling the roads. Remember, gettysburg had up to 10 roads coming in and out. Jackson would've seized the roads creating all sorts of logistical possibilities for Lee. With control of these important roads Meade would've been inclined to seek battle somewhere else. Maybe back in Maryland.
I agree that Jackson may have helped turn the tide for the rebs, but like many have said, it still would not matter much to the yanks, who had nearly unlimited resources to spare. They could have stayed in Penn. as long as they wanted.
Green beat Johnson at Culp's Hill (not unliuke Chamberlain did at LRT) and I think Green would've bested any commander Jackson would have thrown at him. It was Green's time and place...too bad he received so little credit compared to other commanding officers at Gburg.
__________________ 'If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed,
if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.'
Mark Twain
Here's something I believe no one has thought about. If Jackson was in command of II Corps ANV, I believe there would not have been a gettysburg. I think Jackson would've saw the advantage of controlling the roads. Remember, gettysburg had up to 10 roads coming in and out. Jackson would've seized the roads creating all sorts of logistical possibilities for Lee. With control of these important roads Meade would've been inclined to seek battle somewhere else. Maybe back in Maryland.
Not even Jackson could have controlled 10 roads against 7 Corps of US Infantry and all that cavalry roaming about. Had he been there, and had he tried, he would have severiously divided his force into 10 ineffectual units to be squashed sequentially. Jackson's pugnacity might have gained him some minor victories, but each would have been matched in the multiple by disaster on the other fronts.
Lee's response on learning of US presence was to redouble his efforts to concentrate. Scattering Jackson's command would not have been permitted. Jackson was a fighter, but he couldn't have fought effectively without the entire ANV, in a cohesive body, supporting.
One of the poorest presentations, of postwar history, is what would have happened at such and such a place if Stonewall Jackson lived.
In fact, if Stonewall Jackson, one soldier, was so important to the Confederate cause, then perhaps the Confederacy should have avoided secession, in the first place.
Can one imagine the Confederate founding fathers getting this sage advice at the start of the war?
Looking bemused at one another, they would say -Whose this Stonewall Jackson?
The key in Old Jack's foot cavalry taking Culps Cemetary hill on day one would be for Pendleton to set up artillery aiming towards the Union columns coming up the Baltimore Pike and Taneytown Road. Assuming JEB wasnt off on a joyride, he could have used his Horse artillery to harass the columns coming up from the south, slowing the union down so the corp could be destroyed piecemeal after they arrive under fire and weakened due to Stuarts harassment. If Meade threw all 7 corp into the effort, that left no credible force between Lee and Washington DC. Although vicksburg was critical, its effects would have been counteracted by destruction of the AOP and presumably a negotiated peace after a major southern victory at Gettysburg, most importantly on Northern soil. Even if the North did not aggree to end the war, Gettysburg would show the British and French the CSA could win away from its home soil possibly opening a France 1778 repeat, instead of forming the country, breaking it apart.
The chances of actually destroying the AOTP was extremely slim. Even if Lee had won at Gettysburg his army would have suffered heavily in men and supplies. He was operating in enemy country too.
What would he have done after winning the battle? Wander around the Pennsylvania countryside?
Meade wasn't a moron and Washington was heavily fortified. Regardless of what Lee did Vicksburg would still fall to Grant.
Gettysburg's importance is overhyped. New Orleans and Antietam were greater victories.
Horse artillery was going to lead to the destruction of a 90,000 man army? Now that is quite a stretch.
Well, my analysis of any Jackson "what if" is colored by the fact that I find Jackson very overrated. I find nothing in his combat record to suggest that he would have adequetly handled Culp's Hill or anything else.
And, as Porter points out, that is a very great leap in the dark to say that the AOP could be crushed or destroyed. A Cannae does not happen every day.
Respectfully
__________________ Up men, and to your post! And let no man forget today that you are from old Virginia!
Your right, a cannae does not happen every day. As for the horse artillery, that is but one segment of the plan and the HA would eventually back off letting the infantry and main artillery the rough work. the HA would simply soften the columns up. Since the Potomac was flooded, assuming Lee kept right on Meade's heels, eventually Lee could have pressed him against a flooded Potomac leaving Meade no way to cross. Or if Meade managed to get to washington with what was left of the AOTP Lee could lay siege to the capital, do to Meade what Grant did to Lee at Petersburg.
Respectfully,
Matt
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