Corps Commanders at Gettysburg

[Gte0417]

Do you think Lee should have had Longstreet´s Corps leading the invasion into Pennsylvania ? Ewell and Hill were new to the strains of Corps command. I think with having Hood and McClaw`s divisions on the first day would have led to more aggressive maneuvers. Not to dampen the bravery of the first days participants.

 

[Wizard of Cozz]

Do you think Lee should have had Longstreet´s Corps leading the invasion into Pennsylvania ? Ewell and Hill were new to the strains of Corps command. I think with having Hood and McClaw`s divisions on the first day would have led to more aggressive maneuvers. Not to dampen the bravery of the first days participants.

No, not necessarily. There's alot of hindsight here, but Second Corps had much experience in the Valley, and that was their avenue north, and they did well in destroying Milroy's command. Longstreet was actually in the middle for much of the campaign, which made sense as if Ewell gets attack Longstreet can support, or if the Union attacks his rear of Hill, Longstreet is again there to support. Longstreet is again then at Chambersburg where he can support Ewell north or Hill at Cashtown. Lee's lack of knowledge on Union forces because of Beverly Robertson's bungling of his ordes is a big reason for why the battle was fought as it was.

 

[Kearny The Magnificent]

Ewell did well as the spear point of Lee's offensive from June up until the night of July 1. Just because he didn't launch himself from his high beam into somersault followed by a triple-twisting double tuck that night and scare O.O. Howard off Cemetery Hill with the raw power of the human body like armchair gymnasts speculate Stonewall Jackson would have doesn't mean he did anything wrong either. What does "if practicable" even really mean except for "use your discretion because if you fail it's not my fault"?