Same at Slaughter Pen at the other side of the battlefield. Sending a Division at a time forward. One would think someone like a Hancock or Meade would have talked him out of it.
Remember that at that time both Hancock and Meade were only Division Commanders. The Slaughter Pen was supposed to be where the main fight occured, if not for Franklin the battle may have been won there
Remember that at that time both Hancock and Meade were only Division Commanders. The Slaughter Pen was supposed to be where the main fight occured, if not for Franklin the battle may have been won there
Franklin has to work within his orders and his orders told him to attack with "at least" one division while keeping the rest of his command ready for a rapid road movement; they did not say his attack was the main effort, but that both he and Sumner were going to be sending an attack on the scale of a division or so with the intent of forcing the Confederates to evacuate the middle of their lines.
Franklin wanted and argued for a full effort by his entire grand division, but that's not what his orders said.
ED: it's kind of interesting to contemplate that given what Franklin actually did. He functionally assigned half of his command to the attack (a full corps) with 1st Corps going in 2-up 1-back (but Reynolds screwed up committing the reserve division as he was not where he was supposed to be.) This is arguably Franklin exceeding his orders!
Bringing the