One hundred sixty years ago George Picket led his division in an assault on fortified Federal lines. When the survivors straggled back, the band played "Nearer My God To Thee" - a hymn made famous from the sinking of Titanic even though Pickett lost more men that day.
I wrote this 13 years ago, but last night I was flipping though the channels and saw they were playing "Gettysburg". Highly, highly recommended although it is an epic (rather than personal story) film. But it made me recall an earlier post, re-posted here.
To the men who fought there so long ago, rest in peace. Freedom isn't free. If you haven't visited Gettysburg, you should. This is sacred ground.
======= Originally posted 3 July 2010 =========
Robert E. Lee is without doubt one of the greatest generals these shores have ever seen - arguably the greatest of all. And so I've always been mystified why he ordered General George Pickett to lead 12,500 of the South's finest troops across nearly a mile of open ground against fortified Union lines, that July 3 afternoon so long ago.
The lesson of Fredricksburg from the previous year should have told him what to expect. General Longstreet had learned that lesson, and tried unsuccessfully to persuade his commander to call off the assault. Overcome with emotion - a premonition of slaughter, really - he couldn't even speak the final order to advance, but merely nodded assent to Pickett's request to charge. When the stragglers returned to their lines, General Lee (worried that the Yankees might charge to follow up their success) asked Pickett to rally his Division. Pickett replied, General Lee, I have no Division.
The War Between The States ("Civil War" to Yankees) was a brutal affair, where the weaponry had advanced faster than the tactics. It remains to this day the bloodiest conflict in the nation's history, with more casualties than any other war we've fought. When you consider how much the population has grown since the mid-nineteenth century, it was even worse.
The psychological scars of that war were to linger for a generation or more. The sense of loss - needless loss - is perhaps summed up by Pickett's Charge. William Faulkner captured this sense in Intruder In The Dust:
For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances ...
Pickett never forgave Lee. Asked many years later why the charge failed, he replied that he thought that the Yankees had something to do with the outcome. He might have said that Lee had, too.
======= End original post =========
This is what the soldiers coming back from that charge heard.
And to this day it boggles the mind that Lee even fought at Gettysburg, much less in the manner with which he did.
ReplyDeleteLee had a problem with managing his subordinates. His unwillingness to discipline them led to problems that festered. His Cavalry Corps, under Stuart, went off on a joyride as Lee crossed into Pennsylvania. Lee was blind when he stumbled into the Army of the Potomac outside that pretty little town. Lee also had trouble with Jackson and his eccentric behavior that was a serious problem in Leeks command structure.
ReplyDeleteLee’s biggest successes came against political generals who were rewarded with rank for recruiting, selling bonds, etc. Ultimately, Lincoln found Grant who was maligned by just about every member of his staff and high command. Lincoln said, “I can’t spare this man, he fights!”
Meade was a decent General. Sherman was superior.
Grant was a genius. His Vicksburg Campaign ended Southern hopes for a settled peace. Turning Sherman loose without a supply line on his trip through Georgia was incredibly risky. Yet, it proved a concept Grant had been working on and gutted the confederate bread basket.
Rarely mentioned amongst the greatest is George Thomas.
Thomas destroyed an army at Mill Springs, saved a defeated army at Chickamauga, totally routed an army at Chattanooga, and finished up by destroying another army at Nashville.
Thomas was despised by the North because he was a Southerner. He was despised by the South and his family for being a traitor.
Lee was indeed one of our greatest Generals, I don't care WHICH side he fought for. He was only one man, though, the North had a good distribution of Generals that knew their stuff.
ReplyDeletePaging Nathan Bedford Forest... the master of Deep Strike. Clever guy.
I find it very ironic (and spiritual) that Lee's estate was used for Arlington Cemetery, one of our greatest war cemeteries! It brings tears to my eyes to realize the incredible American Heroes that are buried there. It tickles me that, rather than a poke at Lee, Arlington turned out to be a sacred, sacred place.
It still rankles me that many Politicians are buried there - they did not EARN a plot there. A Pox upon their houses.
Sorry for the slightly off-topic rant.
NO, they really didn't hear the music at all. I made sure they heard it on my batttlefied but we were sailors once and young. Yes my CO asked to see my tape of Scotland the Brave by the massed Scottish bands and tossed it into the Persian Gulf.
ReplyDeleteAnd no. I've been to every battlefied in America and no you never would hear the music play, sadly.
and now i'm going back to give a full listen to that.
ReplyDeleteThere is a debate about who was responsible for the Confederate debacle at Gettysburg. Southerners like to blame Longstreet because he became a Republican after the war. Stuart gets blamed too. Revisionists blame Lee.
ReplyDeleteThe best assessment, however, was Pickett's . "I think the Yankees had something to do with it."
By the summer of 1863 Lee was growing desperate. Jackson was dead and Lee had suffered what is now believed to have been a heart attack. He knew the North was growing stronger militarily, while the South was growing weaker; and their leadership was continually improving while he had lost one of his most able commanders. He knew the South's only chance was a decisive victory on Northern soil which might attract a foreign alliance.
ReplyDeleteSo, he went all in on a bad hand and lost. Longstreet's idea of moving right around the Federals and fighting on more favorable ground was the better plan, in hindsight.
Hey Borepatch;
ReplyDeleteAll of your past posters are on to something and i will add this, The south by 1863 had pretty much "Shot its wad" and the north was finding theirs. The cauldrons of war had wiped out the political generals and the north found Grant despite Hallacks interference General Grant performed exceptionally well overall and this came to the notice of Lincoln who was desperate to find a general that would fight and General Grant was the first General that in my mind understood the concept of "Modern War", he mobilized the resources and men to go after Lee who he knew was the the center of gravity for the south's independence efforts. Before this, the other generals fought basically what I call "Napoleonic Standards" of war. Grant was different, Yes I am a Southerner but I give props where appropriate. General Lee was brilliant and he built this mytho's around him what scared a lot of union generals by his actions.
And I give you the Hurtgen Forest for another butchers bill of a band decision. It could have been flanked, bypassed and encapsulated but no one wanted to dissuade General Hodges of the folly. We lost so many men and material in the 55 sq miles of woods that the Germans could launch into the Bulge for more hand to hand annihilation. I know this is arm chair QB'ing but does anyone learn anything? Trump is trying to flank the Uniparty by rallying the people but the the GOPe/neocons either surrender in advance or its hey diddl-diddle right up the middle.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes I've been to Gettysburg and have run up the hill that was Pickett's charge, to continue to advance into that withering Union fire still amazes me to this day. The South died that day, they just didn't know it.
Spin
"The War Between The States ("Civil War" to Yankees)"
ReplyDeleteI always preferred The War Of Northern Aggression myself. Then again, I can be an asshole like that sometimes. ;)
Mr Garabaldi said "...General Grant was the first General that in my mind understood the concept of "Modern War", he mobilized the resources and men to go after Lee who he knew was the center of gravity for the south's independence efforts."
ReplyDeleteI've always thought of Grant as a strategic thinker when all the other Civil War generals thought tactically. Everyone else thought about battles while he thought in terms of the overall campaign. He saw taking Richmond as the key to defeating the South, and Lee was just in the way.
Grant saw taking Richmond as the key, because he knew, that politically the south absolutely had to hold it. The key to Grant (though his earlier victories are significant) was having the troops turn right (to the south) after some rough handling in the wilderness. After that it was willpower. Who would fold.
ReplyDelete