From: KARLIN@BNLCL6.BNL.GOV (P.L. Cowan)
Newsgroups: alt.war.civil.usa
Subject: Re: Re: Lee-Longstreet
Date: 19 Aug 92 06:58:32 GMT
Organization: BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

In <1992Aug17.174444.1971@news.iastate.edu> pholland@iastate.edu writes:

: In article <1992Aug16.213302.6195@leland.Stanford.EDU> whale@leland.Stanford.EDU (Stephen Schmidt) writes:
: > (Deleted)
: >
: >As I understand it, all of the allegations raised against Longstreet at
: >Gettysburg are false. That said, it has always seemed to me that he was
: >guilty of not allowing Hood to move one brigade to the right of Little
: >Round Top. Hood believed that this brigade would have taken the Union in
: >rear and found itself among the Union trains, and I've never seen anyone
: > (Deleted)
: 
: Longstreet was Hood's superior.  He didn't need to give any reasons.
: 
: Losing a brigade would weaken the attack.  One brigade could mean the 
: difference between success and failure.  It was the middle of the afternoon.
: Delaying while the detached brigade moved around to the rear would bring
: evening closer and give the Union forces more time to reinforce Little
: Round Top.
: 
: Confederate forces moving south towards Little Round Top had to backtrack 
: to avoid observation from the Union lines.  I don't know the times involved
: well enough to judge whether they'd have hit LRT before Chamberlain's Maine
: troops got there, if the backtracking had not been necessary.  Anyone know?
: 
: Paul Hollander    pholland@iastate.edu
: 

No one knows the time of the attack precisely, for the simple reason that the
offical reports of the various commanders report times ranging from noon to 4PM
Even those from one point along the line disagree by several hours.

Col. Chamberlain and the other regiments of that Brigade only went to Little
R.T.  because the attack was underway. Brig.Gen. Warren realized its importance
and diverted  Col. Vincent's Brigade as it was on its way to join the meley in
the Wheatfield.

Had the Confederates attacked early in the morning (as many claim Longstreet
should have) Vincent's Brigade would still have been on the road (from Hanover
I believe) with the rest of the Fifth Corps. The trouble is that that early 
the Union Third Corp was still in position on Cemetary Ridge, and in principle
could have defended Little R. T. Lee's other problem was that Longstreet simply
did not have enough  troops in the vicinity of the Battle to launch an attack
that early.

Lee's problem at Gettysburg was that he was unable to follow through with 
his early advantage. He committed Ewell's Third Corps to an attack on the Union
right that Ewell did not make (at least not at the right time). In retrospect 
he should have swung Ewell's men around to his right and attacked the union 
left. Ewell was in charge of most of Jackson's "foot cavalry" and this is the
sort of fancy maneuver that Lee and Jackson were famous for. I doubt that
Meade, who had been in command for less than a week, would have picked up what 
Lee had done any better that Hooker at Chancellorsville etc.




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P. L. Cowan	Please send replies, comments etc. (no flames thank you) to 
COWAN@ANL.GOV 	(I'm posting this from a friend's account)
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