The first week of July is special for history geeks. In addition to Independence Day, last week marked another anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg. The town of Gettysburg is still a little hamlet (well, little for fifty-one weeks of the year) and one of the most historically significant places in human history. A truly special place right in our backyard. I visit it often and never tire of the beautiful scenery and the remarkable story.
Over three hot and muggy three days in July 1863, fellow Americans wearing wool uniforms slaughtered each other in the largest military battle in the history of the Western Hemisphere. One-third of the troops suffered a casualty and seven thousand were killed. For you animal lovers, about five-thousand horses and mules died as well. Gettysburg was hell on earth on July 4th, 1863.
Referred to as the “high water mark of the Confederacy”, the dramatic Union victory at Gettysburg - by a razor thin margin – entirely reversed the course of the Civil War and eventually led to the Confederacy’s defeat, the ending of slavery and the preservation of the country as we know it.
Gettysburg was an extraordinary accident of history; it just happened to be where the two large armies literally bumped into each other at a rural crossroads farm village populated mainly with German-speaking residents.
The Army of Northern Virginia’s commanding general was Robert Lee, whose strategy was to move the war out of Virginia. His plan was to build on momentum from recent military victories in Virginia by road-tripping to Pennsylvania, seize Harrisburg and defeat the Union army on their turf.
If successful, Lee’s strategy would damage the North’s resolve to keep fighting, gain recognition of the Confederacy from Europe and drive them to negotiate a peace agreement with the South. A peace agreement meant a new country formed with the institution of slavery preserved.
To be clear, the Confederate’s ultimate goal was the preservation of slavery, not the fixation on state rights as purported by the “Lost Causers”. From the outset, the southern rebellion was directed by plantation owners who represented the wealthiest business owners in the world at the time; the slave-based economy was their meal ticket.
In July 1863, President Lincoln had a simple wish: Find a general of the Army of the Potomac who would finally deploy the North’s superior advantages to prosecute the war with competence and crush the Army of Northern Virginia. Fortunately, just days prior to Gettysburg, Lincoln finally hired a competent one in George Meade.
Throughout the Pennsylvania campaign, Lee made a series of tactical mistakes. At the outset, he permitted his talented calvary officer, Jeb Stuart, to separate from the Confederate army to raid southern Pennsylvania and gather supplies, seize horses and cause general havoc Stuart accomplished these objectives, but his absence left Lee’s army moving through unfamiliar countryside with bad maps and no clue as to the location of the pursuing Union army.
On July 1st, the first day of battle, Stuart was occupying the village of Dover (York County), completely unaware of the unfolding events. This was Lee’s mistake, not Stuart’s, even though Stuart still shoulders the blame for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg by Lee’s apologists.
However, another key mistake by Lee that changed the course of history occurred at the end of the first day of battle. Unbeknownst to Lee, much of the Union army was not yet on the field but still in Maryland. The outnumbered Union troops fought gallantly but were trounced by the larger Confederate army and forced to retreat chaotically through the town, regrouping on two hills and in a cemetery overlooking the town and surrounding farmland.
The Confederate commanding general on the first day’s battlefield was Robert Ewell, recently promoted due to the death of Stonewall Jackson weeks earlier. While the Confederates were routing the Union army, Lee issued his famous order to Ewell to pursue them through town and to seize / occupy the steep heights south of town – Culp’s Hill - by the end of the day, “if practicable”.
What the hell does that term even mean? By sunset on July 1st, Ewell’s troops were exhausted from the intense fighting, which led him to render the fateful decision not to take Culp’s Hill. These heights eventually became the right flank of the Union Army as part of their stout fishhook defense line.
A tenet of military leadership is not to issue ambiguous orders, but especially when given to an unproven field commander. US Grant wouldn’t have issued such a muddled directive at a critical moment in battle.
Since the bulk of the Union army did not arrive on the battlefield until nightfall after the first day, it’s not illogical to assume the Confederates would have captured Culp’s Hill and likely changed the dynamics of the battle, if not history.
Indeed, if Ewell had successfully executed Lee’s order, the outcome at Gettysburg could have ended differently. Ponder if Stonewall Jackson was serving as the field commander. It’s no stretch to assume that he would have sustained the day-one attack and likely seized Culp’s Hill. In that scenario, the Confederates would have controlled the key defensive ground.
The strong defensive position was a decisive factor in the ultimate Union victory. It also caused Lee’s dumbest mistake - Pickett’s Charge. Despite strong protests by his trusted general, James Longstreet, a strangely overconfident Lee allowed a meaningful portion of his army to be massacred by crossing a mile-long open field into the teeth of the Union army that effectively settled the outcome of the war.
The reality is Lee’s poor decision-making during the entire Gettysburg campaign debunks the myth that he was one of history’s great military strategists.
One of the popular cottage industries in Gettysburg today is leadership training, in which the successes and failures from the battle serve as educational resources for today’s business leaders. I’ll save the financial and business planning lessons learned from Gettysburg for a future blog.
Until next time, be well….Tim