Looking over the map, with good scouting, Lee ought to know that the South / South East was available to attack. What makes the Picket's charge so bad in my humble estimation is the open ground for the charge was super large. Made it easy to kill the attackers.
When we study this battle and others, we must try to account for the terrible smoke that they had at that time. We use smokeless powder yet they used powder that made a lot of smoke.
Lee knew how to use scouts. I am trying to recall the lay of the land on day 1 but if memory serves me, that attack came well past noon. Could be dead wrong.
Meaning it left Lee not a lot more time for a follow up attack.
I admit that I have not spent over 10 minutes studying that entire battle for all days.
Peter1469 (05-04-2014)
I looked over the lines of formed offense and formed defense. Your depiction from Wikipedia showed troop movements.
The well formed lines of the point of the Picket attack, show an open area to the South east and it seems to me that Lee should have gone for the part where the Union wasn't. Since he had to attack very wooded hills, the head on could have been best as done by Pickett were it not for that very huge open field. I believe he lost most of his men on that open field.
It's been a decade since I stood there trying to understand Picket's charge and to this day, I do not understand it. First, with powders that smoke, visibility is cut way down. Maybe Lee felt it to be an advantage over the field. If so, I still think he had an option open. South east was open.
Peter1469 (05-04-2014)
Well, Peter is discussing a strategic movement, hence the map I selected. You're obviously discussing Day 3. If we look at that map we see the Union fishhook. The reason why its a fishhook is because Ewell to the north and Longstreet to the south are crimping the Union lines.
Both positions were already the result of Confederate flanking attempts.
Walking the field you'll be shocked to see a Confederate artillery position out on Benner's Hill.....
Google that on google maps you'll see where it is of course, but its obviously cutting Hanover Road.
So why not flank on the left farther? Well, because it was hard to do, that's why.
Now google Big Round Top, and there's where you see how it would've been difficult for the Confederates to whack the Union left at that position, the only flank avenue there would've been Taneytown Road or to go even farther afield and to get to Baltimore Pike which is veering away from where the Confederates are coming from.
Day 2 saw Longstreet essentially try to flank Cemetery Ridge by coming up Emmitsburg Road. THAT was a practical plan until Sickles stuck his nose out and the rest of that day is essentially the Confederates trying to creep to the right of that conflagration.
The Union strength was in a fishhook, that's where the meat of the soldiers were, but they had pickets and guards and while the fishhook was hardened, that position still had some goose-egg in it.....
Lee was not going to sweep into an unexpected flank like Lee did to Hooker at Chancelorsville....
From Longstreet tower:
Big Round top and then sweeping left across the Union lines from there
Just as an aside too Ewell had received orders to attack at dawn and its likely Longstreet did too and delayed.....that would've helped them....
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields...flanks-of.html
Note the map and the Union units, particularly in this instance straddling the road a flank attack would have to come from....
the right flank of AoP is much farther curled back than you would think.....
Wonderful photos. Brings me back to when I was there. I had family with me and only spent a bit of time trying to work out the details of the war at that site. I am thinking of day 3 with the fish hook and noticed the opening from the south. We also spent quite a bit of time inside the museum there. My Son in law took me to the grave of one of his relatives buried there.
I need to go back. I was there once with the ex- just after we got married. And she didn't wear real shoes so I had a hard time getting around to places that I wanted to. I ended up moving into places she could walk just to help her understand that she should have practicle shoes. She did get pretty pissed at me. And I bought her hiking boots for the next Christmas, which pissed her off again, but she understood on our next trips to Iceland and the Baltic states when we walked miles and miles.
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