ntsb
Private
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2014
- Location
- 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?
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?