- Joined
- Jul 29, 2013
Enjoy,
Bill
I know! That was the biggest surprise when I visited the field, and why visits are so important to understand what happened. I had always thought it was akin to Little Round Top, but its more like a gentle rise. Not much of a hill at all.Not much of a hill really
You're right - and I'd add that its actual elevation/slope is pretty much irrelevant. A visit shows why a Federal gunner would see the topography as "designer" fields of observation and fire. As proved out. that's what it was. It is worth pointing out that there is some elevation on the extreme Federal left.I know! That was the biggest surprise when I visited the field, and why visits are so important to understand what happened. I had always thought it was akin to Little Round Top, but its more like a gentle rise. Not much of a hill at all.
This is from the union right looking left across the armies front
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This is the Union center
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This is the Union left..
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This is a three martini lunch..
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That Gunboat caricature is brilliant.
As a piece of propaganda, yes.
In reality, McClellan was at his HQ at Malvern House, watching the battle and directing reinforcements to threatened points.
It also usually has some basis in reality to make it effective. If McClellan hadn't spent time on the Galena on June 30 during Glendale and revisiting the Galena on July 1, the Republicans wouldn't have had much to work with.Political satire always has political spin on it. No doubt it was created by republicans to damage his image.
Lee never actually pulled the trigger on ordering an attack at Malvern himself. He set up a rough plan of attack whereby Armistead's brigade, which was best positioned to observe would kick things off once Confederate artillery softened the position up, and everyone else would charge when they heard the yells from Armistead's brigade. This plan ran smack into reality in a number of ways; first of all, the Confederates never got any significant volume of artillery into any kind of effectual action at Malvern Hill. Partly because there's a traffic jam and the artillery isn't close enough, and partly because no orders were sent to the artillery commander, Pendleton, and he didn't show any initiative aside from wandering around looking for Lee.It's been a long time since I've read, Extraordinary Circumstances the Seven Days Battle' by Brian Burton. If I recall correctly, Lee saw the federal batteries being withdrawn and he thought they retreating or withdrawing from the hill and immediately attacked but the federal batteries only withdrew to replenish their ammunition then returned to their position. By this time, the confederate attack was already underway, therefore the federal guns were now ready for them.
Its a perfect artillery platform.I have a friend who visited the battlefield. He said he didn't see a hill.