Gettysburg July, 1-3, 1863

[Gore1FL]

[bobbieinok]

1. Dad's gfather, family to IA from Shenandoah Valley. Letter that some YA family at battle

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Interesting thanks for the post

Focus moves from place to place. Once they move from the west to the town, the west is ignored. But really good they can come up with a well researched timeline of what actually happened.

I was at the 100 year reenactment, 2 ancestors in the Union Army. If you can ID a CW soldier, there are records in the National Archives, but records were none too extensive.

[jaxexpat]

3. Wife and I unwittingly stumbled .....

into the July 3, 2005 re-enactment of Pickett's charge. I had the only Toyota to assemble along Confederate Avenue. The 'road closed' signs went up behind us. We were surrounded and I feared the worst. Then they saw my Florida plates and we were saved. But seriously, it was very odd to be among so many armed rebel soldiers. Especially un-nerving that most had assumed their "battle faces". There were probably no more than a thousand but it was still quite overwhelming. They sternly, but politely, broke ranks to let us by unharmed. Then down the road past The Wheat Field, Devil's Den and round Little Round Top and off to brunch.

(Next day saw Canadians celebrate 4th of July with fireworks over horseshoe falls. Across the river, Niagara, NY couldn't compare. The Canadians had won without a shot.)

[SergeStorms]

4. If Lee had listened to Longstreet...

the major battle wouldn't have been fought in Gettysburg. Longstreet wanted to retreat during the night and position the confederate army between Gettysburg and Washington on ground of their choosing. Lee wanted the battle to take place where they were, even though the Union troops held the high ground. That was Lee's fatal mistake. Of course it didn't help that his cavalry was cavorting all over the eastern seaboard either. Lee, without Stuart, was making decisions blindly, without intelligence of battle conditions and topography. And the rest, as they say, is history.