Gettysburg (History Channel's Civil War Week)

I like the story about Pickett years after the war when asked why the Charge failed:

"I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it."

 

Something that often goes unmentioned, in all the analysis of the Confederate screw-ups, is a big one the Union made. After the third day, with Lee's army on its heels and retreating to Virginia, the Union forces did not pursue them. That night, it rained hard and Lee's retreat was delayed because of a raging Potomac River.
Had the Union forces pursued, they likely could have trapped the Army of Northern Virginia against the river and cut them to pieces. That, combined with the taking of Vicksburg the same day, might have been a 1-2 punch that knocked out the Confederacy and ended the war two years earlier than actually happened.

 

Yeah, but the Union was licking its wounds too from Gettysburg. Not sure attacking Lee at the Potomace would have ended the war. Rather, it would have just added to the bloodshed.

 

Saw it. No better than another History Channel doc on Gettysburg of a few years ago. Very disappointed. All it did was fluff up a couple of bit players in the battle. For example, Dawes. Yes, he and his men played a key role. But the movie Gettysburg portrayed Calvary officer John Buford as the Union hero of the first day. Also felt the new documentary didn't give Joshua Chamberlain enough props but it put me to sleep late on the second day of the battle and I might have missed it.

 

Except that perfectly describes Lee at Gettysburg. Many credible reports are clear that he was not feeling well for one reason or another and was clearly off his game. Far, far from his finest hour.

Pickett's best quote was his purported reply to Lee when asked to assemble his division for the defense of the retreat:

"General I have no division."

If I'm not mistaken Pickett's troops were also decimated via KIA or capture at Five Forks. He also commanded troops on the San Juan Islands in Washington state before the war.

 

Longstreet came out of it looking better than anyone. If Lee had beat feet out of town and taken up a defensive position around Frederick, Md., between Gettysburg and D.C., might have been different.

 

I've always felt like Longstreet was the was the smartest of the lot at Gettysburg. He took a hammering after the war by Jubal Early and a few others because they had to blame someone other than Lee. It is written that Pickett never forgave Lee.

Longstreet didn't want any part of the third day. He was technically the field commander but tried to pass it off to AP Hill because he knew what the result was going to be and never officially gave the word to commence the attack. That's why he gets maligned some for his role on day three.

July 3-4 1863 was definitely the turning point of the war. In a 24-hour span, you had Union victories at Gettysburg killing thousands of men the South couldn't readily replace, and Vicksburg fell, cutting the Confederacy in half and giving the Yankees control of the Mississippi (Port Hudson not withstanding). Braxton Bragg's bumbling in the West and Joseph Johnston's failure to relieve Vicksburg had as much to do with outcome as anything.

I've liked both shows so far this week on Gettysburg and Lee & Grant, but I would liked to have seen History talk to some professors other than people from Yale, Princeton and Harvard. How about some folks from Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia to make it not so one-sided?

 

Shoeless, just because somebody teaches at Yale doesn't mean they're not from the South, or somebody teaching at Vanderbilt isn't from New Hampshire.

 

That's fair.
But it still comes across to me and I'd say many others as unbalanced.

 

Not watching it, so can one of you tell me if they've gotten to the part about the Civil War not being caused by slavery?

[/crossthread]

 

One of the "expert" academians is the president of my alma mater. He's not a Yankee, as evidenced by his accent, and my alma mater is not a Northern university by any stretch (nor an Ivy League school, I'll freely admit).

 

Yeah, there was one guy who was a native Southerner, like you said, as evidenced by his accent. I don't recall where they said he was from.
Too bad Shelby Foote is dead.