- Joined
- May 18, 2011
- Location
- Carlisle, PA
What book is that in?
From Earl Hess' Pickett's Charge: The Last Attack at Gettysburg, pages 46-47 (Kindle version):
...The division approached the battlefield just as the assault of July 2 started. Bright reported the arrival of the division to Longstreet, who asked about the condition of the men. Bright told him they were game for an hour or two of heavy fighting, but not much longer than that; the march from Chambersburg had been rushed and the men were tired. Longstreet then told him to encamp the division near Marsh Creek, about five miles from the fighting, and said, "Tell Pickett I will have work for Him tomorrow." Lee agreed with this, and the Virginians bivouacked within sound of the guns...
Pickett's men were up at 3:00 A.M. on July 3 to eat breakfast and start their march forward. They soon halted for some time so that twenty additional cartridges could be distributed to each soldier. The column was headed by Kemper's brigade, then Garnett and Armistead followed. Leaving Chambersburg Pike, the division made its way by a circuitous route across the rolling countryside. First it moved southward along Knoxlyn Road, then east on Hereter's Mill Road. It crossed Herr's Ridge, the starting point of the first Confederate attacks on July 1, and angled off to the southeast to cross Hagerstown Road, which was the southern boundary of the fighting zone on July 1. Then the Virginians headed east on a small lane leading to Emanuel Pitzer's farm, shielded from Federal view by the low rise of Seminary Ridge, until they reached Spangler's Woods at about 9:00 A.M.
It took at least 4 hours to get from Pickett's bivouac to Seminary Ridge. If Lee wanted the First Corps ready to attack at dawn, he would have had to get them up and moving around midnight. Personally, I think Lee was looking to attack both flanks in the morning as early as possible but not at dawn. After all, he didn't even visit Longstreet to discuss an attack with him until 4:30 am and couldn't expect Pickett to be up and ready to go at that time. Regardless, the Union troops on Culp's and Power's Hills took the decision out of Lee's hands and he had to come up with a new plan, which he started to formulate shortly thereafter.
Ryan