Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-19

when they criticized the tactics
burg. They didn't.
It never has been q secret
model Of military maneuver. In
deed, the multiplicity of mistakes
made there, the might-have-
beens, make one reason why the
battle has become such q fasci-
mating study.
The arguments about Gettys-
burg were under way before the
armies left the field. They have
been going on ever since. Some
Of them never will be settled to
everyone's satisfaction. but over
the years a pattern and weight
of evidence has developed that
is fairly conclusive. The point
here is that President Eisen-
hover and Viscount Montgomery
said little that had not been said
before.
Collided Accidentally
First. a brief summary Of the
battle. 1t was 1863. the third
year of the war. The Confed.
eracy. flushed with the victory
of Charlottesville. decided To
invade the North. Robert E. Lee
marched his divisions up the
mountain-shielded avenue oil
Virginia's Shenandoah Valley
then spread out over Pennsyl.
vania, striking as far as Harris.
burg and York.
The Union Army under Fight.
ing Joe" Hooker pursued until
late June, when George Gordon
Meade replaced Hooker. Tht
armies, cropping for each Other
like wrestlers in a fog, collidec
accidentally at Gettysburg.
For three days they fought
in the hills around the town, 8
battle that cost $4,000 casualties
The Confederates were defeated
but retreated with their army
intact. Although the Confederacy
fought on until April. 1865, Il
never again mustered strength
for an offensive thrust.
Now consider the Eisenhower.
Montgomery criticisms, one b.
one:
The famed charge of l5,00I
Confederates led by Gen. Georg,
Pickett against the Union centei
on the third day of battle. Jul!
3. 1868, was "a monstrous thing.
In Montgomery's words II
1888, the Comte de Paris. writing
a history long regarded as 1
standard work. concluded tina
the attacking column wa
doomed to certain destruction
In 1855. Clifford Dowdey, one o
the best of modern historians
wrote in THE Land They Tough
For" that Pickett's charge wa
the "anticlimax of three day
Of laundering"
Lee displayed poor generalshil
The late Douglas Southal
Freeman. acknowledged peer o
Lee biographers. wrote in 1874
that next to Malvern Hill
where Lee threw his division
headlong against an entrenchet
position-Gettysburg was "th
worst fought Of all" Lees battles
Meade should have crushed
the defeated Confederate Arm,
of Northern Virginia E. r
Alexander, chief of artillery il
James Longstreet's LIST Corps
dealt lengthily with that ques
ton in his Military Memoirs o
q Confederate" published ii
1907. 1T must ever be. held
colossal mistake that Meade diI
not organize a counter -stroke
after Pickett was repulsed. h
said. "An advance by a singl
fresh corps" - and Meade ha
that corps-'would have cut u
in two" Among the moderl
school, Kenneth P. williams sal
in Lincoln Finds a General,
published in 1919. that "a gres
victory might have been won
II Meade had counterattacke
on July 8.
Instead Of attacking the cen
ter, Montgomery would ''hav
thrown a right hook aroun
Little Round Top" the knob {
a hill at the southern end Of tn
Union line That was Ions
streets idea; he argued stut
bornly for 1t on the field, an
Lee overruled him. Would sue
q stroke have succeeded? D
Freeman's researches found this
two Union brigades-certainl
enough to hold the attackel
until reinforcements could al
rive-were posted ION the yer
ground" across which Long-tret
expected to operate. There
q further question, whetht
roads were available to accom-
modate such a movement q
Longstreet contemplated.
v
Everything seemed Ito brea
to pieces" as President Eiser
hover put II. ION the Souther
side" DR.. Freeman found "lac
Of coordination in attack" o
both the second and third da
Of battle. and he spoke Of Con
federate errors Of overconfidenc
bad organization and liner
leadership" Practically ever
historian who has studio
Gettysburg has pointed up tn
unco-ordinated nature Of tn
Confederate assaults. with unit