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- Jul 30, 2018
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- Germany
I'm currently reading Hell or Richmond by Ralph Peters, and came across this passage:
I checked with Gordon Rhea's Battle of the Wilderness if I could find why the marching order was as it was - that Hancock's II Corps would take the farther route via Ely's Ford and the rest filtered down via Germanna Ford and not another way around. But I couldn't find anything. I also checked Rafuse's bio on Meade and Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade but didn't find any hint in there either.
According to the plan Humphreys worked out, the AotP was to swing around and approach the Mine Run line from the flank. Meade supposed Lee would take up position behind his defenses there, so if he came up against the flank and from behind, he could surprise Lee. Hancock's corps therefore had the farthest way to travel.
Does anyone know why the II Corps was chosen to take the farther route and not someone else? Was it maybe because Meade trusted Hancock to advance according to the plan without supervision, that he could rely on him to be where he was needed when he was needed? Given that Lee would advance from the west - if he advanced that far - wouldn't Meade have made certain that the best troops he had were closest to where Lee might hit them unexpectedly? Even if Lee didn't come out and stayed behind the Mine Run defenses, the leading corps on the closer route would be the first on that flank. I would have thought you'd want your best troops for rolling it up and pitch in the less reliable corps as needed to support the initial attack.
Any ideas?
Meade sensed that, at least on this day, Grant had been right, that the proper action would have been to pitch right into Lee, first thing in the morning, with the forces at hand, and **** the risk. [...]
He wished the order of march had been different, that Hancock had been here in Warren's place. Had Win had Gibbon's or Barlow's divisions on this field in the morning, the only problem would have been holding them back.
I checked with Gordon Rhea's Battle of the Wilderness if I could find why the marching order was as it was - that Hancock's II Corps would take the farther route via Ely's Ford and the rest filtered down via Germanna Ford and not another way around. But I couldn't find anything. I also checked Rafuse's bio on Meade and Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade but didn't find any hint in there either.
According to the plan Humphreys worked out, the AotP was to swing around and approach the Mine Run line from the flank. Meade supposed Lee would take up position behind his defenses there, so if he came up against the flank and from behind, he could surprise Lee. Hancock's corps therefore had the farthest way to travel.
Does anyone know why the II Corps was chosen to take the farther route and not someone else? Was it maybe because Meade trusted Hancock to advance according to the plan without supervision, that he could rely on him to be where he was needed when he was needed? Given that Lee would advance from the west - if he advanced that far - wouldn't Meade have made certain that the best troops he had were closest to where Lee might hit them unexpectedly? Even if Lee didn't come out and stayed behind the Mine Run defenses, the leading corps on the closer route would be the first on that flank. I would have thought you'd want your best troops for rolling it up and pitch in the less reliable corps as needed to support the initial attack.
Any ideas?