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Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2005
- Location
- Right here.
"They came on at a steady rate of about a hundred yards a minute, and before they had been three minutes in the open--barely clear of the line of friendly guns, whose cannoneers raised their hats in salute and wished them luck as they passed through--the Union batteries, as if in quick recovery from the shock of seeing them appear thus, massed for slaughter, began to roar. The gray lines dribbled rag-doll shapes, each of which left a gap where it had been while still in motion. Flags plunged with sudden flutters in the windless air, only to be taken up at once as the fallen colorbearers were replaced. This happened especially often in the regiments on the flanks, which came under galling long-range fire delivered in enfilade from the two heights, Cemetery Hill on the left and Little Round Top on the right. Pettigrew's troops had farther to go, since they had begun their march from Seminary Ridge itself, but this had been foreseen and allowed for; Pickett had been charged with closing the quarter-mile interval between the two formations, which would lengthen the distance his three brigades would have to cover in the course of their advance. Accordingly, once they were clear of the line of guns, in plain view of the little clump of trees just over half a mile ahead, he gave his troops the order, 'Left oblique!' They obeyed it neatly, executing in midstride a half-face to the north, which, at every full step of their own, brought them a half step closer to the flank of the undeviating marchers on their left. All this time, both groups were taking losses, a more or less steady leakage of killed and wounded, who lay motionless where they fell or turned and hobbled painfully up the slope they had descended." [Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol 2, pp. 553-554]
What about it? Was Lee nuts in ordering this assault or did it actually have a pretty good chance? Why?
What about it? Was Lee nuts in ordering this assault or did it actually have a pretty good chance? Why?