The Irish at Gettysburg by Phillip Thomas Tucker PhD

Author:Phillip Thomas Tucker PhD [Tucker, Phillip Thomas PhD]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, Middle Atlantic (DC; DE; MD; NJ; NY; PA), Photography, Subjects & Themes, Historical, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
ISBN: 9781439664186
Google: 6MtQDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2018-03-26T16:01:03+00:00

LEE AGAIN TAKES THE OFFENSIVE ON THURSDAY, JULY 2

To exploit the gains made on July 1, Lee was determined to maintain the tactical offensive in order to deliver a decisive blow to the battered Army of the Potomac. He had decided to turn the Army of the Potomac’s left with the veterans of his best corps, General “Old Pete” Longstreet’s First Corps, which was not available unlike on the first day. However, Longstreet did not agree with his superior’s final decision about the wisdom of unleashing the offensive on July 2. The defensive-minded Longstreet, a stubborn contrarian at Gettysburg, thought differently when Lee pointed to Cemetery Hill during their open air conference on parallel Seminary Ridge and emphasized in no uncertain terms, “If the enemy is there tomorrow, we must attack him.”192

Striking Meade’s vulnerable left flank called for, first, a wide flank march of Longstreet’s First Corps to the south, which had been ordered by Lee to begin early on July 2. However, Longstreet encountered a number of unexpected complications and problems. Even more, he had earlier made the mistake of deciding to await the arrival of his rearmost Alabama brigade before embarking on the lengthy march south that began belatedly not long after noon with the two divisions of his First Corps. Longstreet’s objective was to gain an advanced and the most tactically favorable position along the Emmitsburg Road in order to advance his nearly fifteen thousand troops northeast (toward Gettysburg) and parallel to the dusty road, then hit Meade’s left flank on the south and well below Cemetery Hill. Relying on his well-honed tactical skills for which he was famous, Lee had correctly reasoned that Meade’s left hung in midair, which made it ripe for inflicting a decisive blow.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.