Gettysburg, Some Thoughts

Little Round Top
Google Street View

In the middle of June in the year 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia crossed into the state of Maryland, beginning the Confederacy's second, and last, invasion of the United States. On the first day of July, near the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Confederate States Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of Robert E. Lee, and the United States Army of the Potomac, under the command of George G. Meade, met in battle.

The Army of the Potomac numbered 93,921 men, that of the Army of Northern Virginia numbered 71,699. At the end of three days of fighting, 28,063 men from the South and 23,049 men from the North became casualties, dead, wounded, or missing. One in four of those wearing Northern blue, two in five of those wearing Southern gray had shed their blood on that field, in the largest battle ever fought on American soil. 51,118 Americans paid the price.

For what?

The political differences which caused the southern states to leave the Union had existed long before Confederate cannon opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in April of 1861. I don't pretend to understand the full extent of those differences. There were many.

The balance of power between the Southern states and the Northern states in Congress was a key concern in the South. As Northern population grew, they would gain seats proportionally in the House of Representatives, however, as long as the number of states was equal, or leaned towards Southern interests, the Senate would favor the South. Or at the least not favor the North.

It boiled down, in many minds, to the issue of slavery. As new states entered the union the South wanted a balance of "free" and "slave" states. Figuring, quite rightly I suppose, that a "slave" state would lean more towards Southern interests and not Northern. While slavery was not "the" issue which led to the war, it played a major part. In reality, it was a struggle for power in the Nation's capital which led to the war.

What should we call this war in North America from April of 1861 to April of 1865? Some have argued that "Civil War" is inaccurate as the South did not wish to displace or change the existing system of government, they simply wanted no further part in that government. (An idea which I have only recently accepted, with thanks to Borepatch in his post.)

I don't like the term "War of Northern Aggression," for various reasons. The main one being is that the South wished to dissolve the Union and many in the North refused to accept that. They saw their cause as putting down an unlawful rebellion. Right or wrong, that's how it was perceived in the North by many.

The South's cause was tainted by the issue of slavery, as many Southerners of the time acknowledged. While it is possible that the "Peculiar Institution" may have eventually "gone away" of its own accord, I highly doubt it. Exploitation of the common laborer in the North didn't go away until the early years of the 20th Century and didn't happen without a great deal of violence. To think that slavery would have eventually withered away, on its own, is, perhaps, problematic. Greed never goes away. Eventually those held in thrall would have risen up and started trying to free themselves. No doubt with Northern help. No doubt with great violence as well.

As for the "War for Southern Independence"? Sure, why not, but as it failed, I prefer "The Rebellion." But that's just me. (Just don't call it the "Second American Revolution," that glorifies a somewhat tawdry cause.)

So Gettysburg. Why Gettysburg?

By 1863 it was obvious to the South that the North wasn't just going to quit, not without a huge effort on the part of the various Confederate armies in the field. The most important of those armies was Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. While I'm sure the Confederate armies in the West might dispute that, their string of defeats at the hands of Northern armies weakens their arguments for being "most important." The Army of Northern Virginia had gone from victory to victory for quite some time, Antietam (their first invasion of the North) being the sole "bump in the road" of their dominance of the Army of the Potomac.

Lee moved north for various reasons: (1) supply issues, northern Virginia, where most of the fighting took place, was devastated, (2) depress Northern morale, which may have actually worked had CNN been in operation back then, (3) a quest for foreign recognition. While the idea of Great Britain or France recognizing the Confederacy was something of a pipe dream, the British did support the South for their own economic reasons. But support a regime supported, in part, by slavery, the British would have never been able to stomach that.

So Lee moved north as his cavalry leader Stuart galloped off to make headlines. The Army of Northern Virginia went north without its eyes. They stumbled into the fight, thinking they were facing militia. Actually they were facing very good cavalrymen under John Buford. Buford's men held the ground long enough for the rest of the Army of the Potomac to coalesce. Oddly enough, the Army of the Potomac moved into the area around Gettysburg from the south (advancing up from the Washington DC area) and Lee's army moved in from the north and the west.

The first day's fighting was brutal and see-sawed back and forth, though Lee's often ragged and barefoot men eventually drove the Federals back in some disarray. But Meade's army gathered and occupied the ridge and hills south of the town and awaited Lee's attacks.

On this particular day, the 2nd of July, 156 years ago, an obscure colonel by the name of Chamberlain, commanding the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, stood atop that outcrop in the opening photo, along with his men, and drove back every attack thrown at them.

The position had been chosen by this man -

Brigadier General Gouverneur Kemble Warren,
US Army Corps of Engineers

While Chamberlain receives most of the glory for the Union stand atop Little Round Top, and rightly so, most do not remember that it was General Warren who recognized the importance of the position and got the troops there to do the job. (The general was later unjustly disgraced on the field of another battle by Phil Sheridan, a general I have never cared for, but that is a story for another time.)

Statue of Brigadier General G.K. Warren atop Little Round Top

Lee's failure to turn the Union left flank at the Round Tops led him to throw the dice in a different place on the 3rd of July. Tested on their right, then tested on their left, the Federals had held their ground, barely.

Surely they must be weak in their center? So Lee may have thought. Pickett's division discovered that they had not been weakened in the center. That charge collapsed in red ruin, and with it the hopes and dreams of Southern Independence.

Though in reality, that dream had been struck a mortal blow in May of that very year, when Lieutenant General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson died of his wounds after the Battle of Chancellorsville. Shot down by his own men when his party had been mistaken for Union cavalrymen.

Just a few thoughts, occasioned by the anniversary of one of the most eventful battles in American history...