Glenn Tucker: the strange case of the retiring artillery

ntsb

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Feb 17, 2014
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northern virginia
Let me begin my post with a disclaimer that I am very new to Gettysburg study, so please be patient if I have my "facts" wrong.

In reading Tucker's "High tide at Gettysburg", he makes several references to the occurences near Culp's Hill on the evening of July 2. He refers to Johnson's soldiers hearing the rumbling of artillery, receding along Baltimore Pike. He states that many on both sides believed it was the beginning of a federal retreat in the middle of the night. Then, he goes on further to state that it was not the council of war that changed Meades mind to stay and fight, but the result of intelligence from intercepted rebel communcations by Cpt. Dahlgren that Lee would not be receiving reinforcements, among other things.

So, my question is, why is this situation so unclear? Seems pretty significant not to know if the federals did or did not begin to retreat, and if so, what was the thinking behind it?
 
You'll find many so called well documented things about Gettysburg unclear and murky. Don't sweat it, sometimes the more you find out, the muddier it becomes.
 
Meade had probably already decided to stay and fight by the evening of July 2, and the council of war was likely the action of a "new" commander making sure there were no great differences from his own opinion. By then he knew from prisoners taken and battleflags seen that Lee's whole army was "up" or present - only Pickett's Division and Stuart's cavalry had yet to be heard from, so where would any so-called "reenforcements" have come? This part seems questionable and somewhat unlikely for the reasons given. As for the retiring artillery, the trains of the artillery reserve were parked on or near Powers Hill so I'd suppose it was those moving on the Baltimore Pike into or shifing position that was heard and unfortunately left alone by Johnson and the men of his division.

Welcome to the forum!
 
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