A few less-known things about the Battle of Gettysburg (1863)
Info drawn from John Bowman's Civil War Almanac:
- So where was Jeb Stuart during those days when he was out of contact with the main Confederate body? Ted Turner's movie "Gettysburg" never explains this. As it turns out, during the 5 days prior to the battle, Stuart had taken three of his five brigades* on a long sweep around the eastern side of the Union army, the opposite side from the Confederate advance up the Shenandoah Valley to the west. On the way, Stuart's cavalry pursued a wagon train to the gates of Washington, capturing 125 of 150 wagons, then double-timed north to try and catch up to the main Confederate body. At Hanover MD they were surprised to find a Federal cavalry division under Kilpatrick; the ensuing skirmish was a stalemate, but forced Stuart to divert further to the NE before finally managing to arrive in the Gettysburg vicinity after the first day of battle had finished. Lee's displeasure was notable at Stuart's lack of intelligence reports on the Union army's position during his raid: "I cannot think what has become of Stuart. I should have heard from him long before now."
* - Stuart left the other two covering the passes through the Blue Ridge Mountains per Lee's orders.
- Everyone who's studied the battle knows about Pickett's Charge on the third day. What usually goes unmentioned is that around 7 PM the day before, Anderson's division under A.P. Hill had assaulted the Union center over the very same ground, and had indeed punched through the Union line very close to the Angle in the stone wall where Pickett's attack finally was thrown back. Unfortunately for the Rebels, with darkness coming the one brigade the Confederates had in place (Wright's) needed support to hold, and due to communication mix-ups this was not forthcoming, and they were forced to withdraw. Their situation was better than Pickett's in that the Union army was still not fully in place yet, and directly to the south another breakthrough had been narrowly avoided when Hancock threw the 1st Minnesota into a gap to block a two-brigade assault until reinforcements could be scraped together to hold. The Union position would be much more stable and strong the next day when Pickett tried to force it, with predictable results. One does wonder, however, if this close call on Day 2 played into Lee's thinking about the likelihood of Pickett's attack succeeding, when Wright had held the same ground for a time the day before?
- Getting back to Stuart... around the same time Pickett's Charge was occuring, a pitched cavalry action was happening to the east of Gettysburg. Stuart had taken 5,000 mounted cavalry up York Pike and tried to go around the right flank of the Union line, only to run into two brigades of Yankee cavalry under Gregg, including one commanded by a fresh-out-of-West-Point George Custer. Unwilling to give up once he found his way blocked, Stuart ordered over half his force to charge across an open field - which was met by a countercharge across the same field by Custer, culminating in over 5,000 men and horses colliding at a combined speed of around 50 MPH. While this was going on, two forces of dismounted cavalry attacked the left and right flanks of the Confederate charge, and the confusion caused by the three near-simultaneous attacks caused Stuart's attack to come undone, and the Confederates withdrew to their original position. Dramatic as it had been, the battle had no bearing on the outcome of the larger engagement at Gettysburg.
- So where was Jeb Stuart during those days when he was out of contact with the main Confederate body? Ted Turner's movie "Gettysburg" never explains this. As it turns out, during the 5 days prior to the battle, Stuart had taken three of his five brigades* on a long sweep around the eastern side of the Union army, the opposite side from the Confederate advance up the Shenandoah Valley to the west. On the way, Stuart's cavalry pursued a wagon train to the gates of Washington, capturing 125 of 150 wagons, then double-timed north to try and catch up to the main Confederate body. At Hanover MD they were surprised to find a Federal cavalry division under Kilpatrick; the ensuing skirmish was a stalemate, but forced Stuart to divert further to the NE before finally managing to arrive in the Gettysburg vicinity after the first day of battle had finished. Lee's displeasure was notable at Stuart's lack of intelligence reports on the Union army's position during his raid: "I cannot think what has become of Stuart. I should have heard from him long before now."
* - Stuart left the other two covering the passes through the Blue Ridge Mountains per Lee's orders.
- Everyone who's studied the battle knows about Pickett's Charge on the third day. What usually goes unmentioned is that around 7 PM the day before, Anderson's division under A.P. Hill had assaulted the Union center over the very same ground, and had indeed punched through the Union line very close to the Angle in the stone wall where Pickett's attack finally was thrown back. Unfortunately for the Rebels, with darkness coming the one brigade the Confederates had in place (Wright's) needed support to hold, and due to communication mix-ups this was not forthcoming, and they were forced to withdraw. Their situation was better than Pickett's in that the Union army was still not fully in place yet, and directly to the south another breakthrough had been narrowly avoided when Hancock threw the 1st Minnesota into a gap to block a two-brigade assault until reinforcements could be scraped together to hold. The Union position would be much more stable and strong the next day when Pickett tried to force it, with predictable results. One does wonder, however, if this close call on Day 2 played into Lee's thinking about the likelihood of Pickett's attack succeeding, when Wright had held the same ground for a time the day before?
- Getting back to Stuart... around the same time Pickett's Charge was occuring, a pitched cavalry action was happening to the east of Gettysburg. Stuart had taken 5,000 mounted cavalry up York Pike and tried to go around the right flank of the Union line, only to run into two brigades of Yankee cavalry under Gregg, including one commanded by a fresh-out-of-West-Point George Custer. Unwilling to give up once he found his way blocked, Stuart ordered over half his force to charge across an open field - which was met by a countercharge across the same field by Custer, culminating in over 5,000 men and horses colliding at a combined speed of around 50 MPH. While this was going on, two forces of dismounted cavalry attacked the left and right flanks of the Confederate charge, and the confusion caused by the three near-simultaneous attacks caused Stuart's attack to come undone, and the Confederates withdrew to their original position. Dramatic as it had been, the battle had no bearing on the outcome of the larger engagement at Gettysburg.