The single most important event

[MRB1863]

All interesting thoughts. I find it most difficult to choose one single action as so many are so closely related directly or indirectly.

 

[Rhea Cole]

All interesting thoughts. I find it most difficult to choose one single action as so many are so closely related directly or indirectly.

I am surprised that no one has not nominated Longstreet's scout Harrison's report as the single most important event of the battle. It was Harrison who caused Lee to cancentrate at Gettysburg. No single person had anything like the impact Harrison did on the outcome of the battle. Without Harrison, there would have been no battle of Gettysburg at all. That's one hell of a turning point for an actor pretending to be a farmer looking for faithless wife.

 

[rpkennedy]

Thank you, same to you should you visit Middle Tennessee. I am a living history volunteer at Stones River National Batttlefield & can give you the "our side of the rope" tour. My wife's other relation of note was General John Sprague who received a Metal of Honor for defeating Wheeler's attempt to destroy Sherman's ammunition trains.

Actually, I was at Stones River just 2 weeks ago. My wife and I took a trip to visit family in Columbia and we took a side trip while there. It's too bad I didn't know that earlier.

Ryan

 

[Rhea Cole]

Actually, I was at Stones River just 2 weeks ago. My wife and I took a trip to visit family in Columbia and we took a side trip while there. It's too bad I didn't know that earlier.

Ryan

Catch you next time.

 

[rpkennedy]

Catch you next time.

I'm hoping to get back down next year with my daughter. She'd love to visit the battlefields.

Ryan

 

[datterbury]

What do you think the single most important event was during the three days of Gettysburg and why?

The most important day as far as how the battle evolved would have to be day one, when Lees Army could have taken the high ground and won at Gettysburg. By not doing this the advantage went to the north and the rest is history.

 

[paulmattjr]

What do you think the single most important event was during the three days of Gettysburg and why?

Wow, trying to come up with a single event for Gettysburg is like asking what's your favorite grain of sand. There are so many what if's. Was it Ewell not being able to take Culp's hill on the first day threatening the defense of Cemetery Hill? Was it Lee using the open to interpretation word "practicable" when he gave his orders? Was it all the great points that everyone's brought up so far? I couldn't pick one. One thing's for sure, it does make for a great discussion topic!

 

[BillO]

IMO the most important event didn't happen at Gettysburg but fundamentally changed that fight. The death of Jackson.

 

[Rhea Cole]

The most important day as far as how the battle evolved would have to be day one, when Lees Army could have taken the high ground and won at Gettysburg. By not doing this the advantage went to the north and the rest is history.

Some friends & I wargamed that scenario. One result was the AoP simply pulling back & forcing Lee to follow. Lee's precarious supply state crippled his army and it did not come out well for the A.o.N.V. My turn as A.o.P. Commander saw my very eager opponent charge up onto the high ground. I cut off his supply lines, and put him under an aggressive siege. My well supplied forces received reenforcements. He discovered that the Gettysburg high ground is very difficult to attack, but it is an absolute bear to attack from. Any attempt to mass troops for an attack left his flank dangling and subject to assault. I didn't get to play Lee because my only informed move was to not mass on the high ground.

Anyways, it was a very thought provoking exercise.

 

[ErnieMac]

I would say that the decision of Daniel Sickles to move forward to the Peach Orchard was the defining event. Whether you believe this movement thwarted Lee's battle plan for July 2 or that it's foolhardiness let Lee come close enough to success that he sent Pickett forward on July 3, I think Sickle's decision shaped the final outcome of the battle.

 

[Jack Bakstran]

What do you think the single most important event was during the three days of Gettysburg and why?

Lee's decision on Day 1 to commit Pettigrew's North Carolinians to battle around 3:00 o'clock. He was all in to fighting it out at Gettysburg after that. No turning back.

 

[dlavin]

Sam Elliott playing John Buford

 

[Carpenter 1st Minnesota]

The greatest attrition rate of Gettysburg was on the second day by the First Minnesota at 82%, in fact, it is the highest of the entire Civil War; this charge was described by President Calvin Coolidge in his speech: "The story of Col. William Colvill and the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry is too well known to need extended repetition. When President Lincoln called for volunteers to prevent the dissolution of the Union, this was the first regiment offered. It gave valiant service upon many a resolutely contested field, but its most conspicuous record was made at Gettysburg on the second day of that decisive battle. When the forces under the command of General Sickles advanced into action a little after noon, the First Regiment, of which only eight companies were present, numbering 262 men, took the position they vacated. The overwhelming forces of the Confederates under Longstreet and Hill repulsed and drove back the command of General Sickles and were advancing on the left flank of the Union Army, which was in grave danger of being rolled up in defeat. It was at this juncture that General Hancock ordered this depleted regiment to charge the advancing Confederates.
The gallant First Minnesota, led by Colonel Colvill, at once responded with an impetuosity that broke the first and second line of the enemy and stopped the advance. When the action was over but 47 men of the 262 who began the charge were still in line. The remaining 215 lay dead or wounded on the field. In all the history of warfare this charge has few, if any, equals and no superiors. It was an exhibition of the most exalted heroism against an apparently insuperable antagonist. By holding the Confederate forces in check until other reserves came up, it probably saved the Union Army from defeat. What that defeat would have meant to the North no one can tell. Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and the whole heart of the North would have been open to invasion, and perhaps the Union cause would have been lost. So far as human judgment can determine, Colonel Colvill and those eight companies of the First Minnesota are entitled to rank as the saviors of their country."

 

[JPChurch]

Some friends & I wargamed that scenario. One result was the AoP simply pulling back & forcing Lee to follow. Lee's precarious supply state crippled his army and it did not come out well for the A.o.N.V. My turn as A.o.P. Commander saw my very eager opponent charge up onto the high ground. I cut off his supply lines, and put him under an aggressive siege. My well supplied forces received reenforcements. He discovered that the Gettysburg high ground is very difficult to attack, but it is an absolute bear to attack from. Any attempt to mass troops for an attack left his flank dangling and subject to assault. I didn't get to play Lee because my only informed move was to not mass on the high ground.

Anyways, it was a very thought provoking exercise.

so, you're an armchair general and probing all of our thoughts regarding this battle?

 

[Descendant]

I believe that the most important event at Gettysburg was Lee's failure to hold a council of war late on the evening of July 1 - it should have happened by 10 pm - midnight - in which it would have been made clear to Longstreet that he was to attack the Federal left the next morning by 9 am. He had to have been available, because 2/3 of his corps reached Gettysburg around midnight - and he would have come in well ahead of them. Longstreet was always slow, and history knows full well that by the beginning of this campaign he thought himself superior to Lee, and thus argued every one of Lee's orders. If they'd had a council of war late on the evening of the 1st, the objections and arguments of Longstreet would have been dealt with and it would have been made firmly clear to him: Attack by 9 am.

Instead, Lee didn't hold this council until the next morning. Longstreet was ordered to attack by 11 am, argued unacceptably long, and then dragged his feet getting his men into position. History records his attack as beginning at 3.30 pm, but recent discoveries place it closer to 4 or 4.30 pm. Five hours of his tardiness gave the Federals time to bring at least two more corps into position in their center and left - or was it three? - and Little Round Top was occupied less than half an hour before Longstreet's men swept up it - and were terribly repulsed.

Had Lee issued his orders - firmly - the night of the 1st, Longstreet would have had plenty of time to feed and rest his men - and they would have been aroused before dawn - probably at 4 am - and been well in position for the attack on the Federal left by 9 am. Being short Pickett's division - they were back guarding the wagon train - Longstreet should have been given one of Hill's divisions for the attack. Hence, 22-25,000 men - rather than 16-18,000 - sweeping toward the Federal center and over Devil's Den and Little Round Top at 9 am with almost no one to oppose them would have resulted in a resounding victory. The Federal corps then occupying the right of the line would have been destroyed, the position taken, and the Federal corps that arrived later that day would have either been repulsed, destroyed, or withdrawn by Meade. The way to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington would have been open - and it's doubtful Meade could have stopped Lee then.