of 1863. This is generally considered the turning point of the war.
The Army of Northen Virginia led by Robert E. Lee was defeated, and placed mostly on the defensice after this battle. I recently finished reading the novel Gettysburg by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. This book gives a "what if?" account of the battle. The battle of Gettysburg starts out as it did historically, with John Buford inserting his dismounted cavalry in an attempt to deny the Confederates the good ground of battle. The battle looks as if it is going to be portrayed as it occured historically, but the book offers a different outcome.
The authors have researched the battle very well. If different decisions had been made as laid out in this book, the battle could have been a disaster for the Union Army. Rather than commit to a straight ahead charge, Lee choses to maneuver around the Union Army commanded by General Meade, and places himself between the Union Army
and Washington. After capturing much of the Union's supplies, he then lures Meade into making an assault upon dug in Confederate positions.
The book is well written and makes a good case for the decisions made. I wonder sometimes what would have caused a change in the decisions made by Lee at Gettysburg. I can recall watching the movie Gettysburg (the 1993 movie). Martin Sheen played Lee and Tom Berrenger played Pete Longstreet. I recall Longstreet suggesting that a flanking move be made so that the Union line could be turned, rather than make a
direct frontal assault. Longstreet was overuled, and much of the Confederate strategy was based on attacking directly at the Union front lines. In this book, Lee considers Longstreet's idea of a flanking manuever, but adds to it. Rather than simply flank and attack, Lee decides to get his entire army between the Union Army at Gettysburg and Washington and place his own army in a dug in position.
I also recently read the book Lost Victories: The Military Genius of Stonewall Jackson written by Bevin Alexander. This book claims that the real military genius of the Confederacy was within Jackson and not Lee. Jacskon had made several early attempts to convince Jefferson Davis (the President of the Confederacy) and Lee to accept a plan to take the war into the North to destroy the North's will to fight.
Every time, Jackson was refused.
The Battle of Second Manassas was shown to be an incomplete victory in Bevin Alexander's book. Jackson had anticipated that the Union General Pope would retreat, and with quick action, the entire Union Army could have been cut off and destroyed. Lee delayed the action proposed by Jackson, and much of the Union Army was allowed to escape. Only at Chancellorsville did Lee accept Jackson's plan for defeating the Union Army.
It is difficult to imagine Lee moving to a defensive campaign to lure the Union Army into attacking in Pennsylvania. Lee had a history of resorting to frontal assaults when he became desperate for victory. Even if Jackson had survived after Chancellorsville, I wonder if he would have had any more luck convincing Lee that the way to fight the Union Army was to lure them into attacking. Jackson would have likely advised Lee to maneuver around the Union positions at Gettysburg and place the
Confederate Army in a defensive position between the Federals and the capital of Washington.
In looking at General Longstreet's memos made after the war, it appears that Longstreet suggested that the Confederate Army should go around the left of the Union lines and position themselves between the enemy and Washington. Lee reponded by saying:"If he is there tomorrow, I will attack him."
From Lee's records, it appears he was concerened that if he tried to flee back into the mountains after coming upon the entire Union Army, he would have difficulty getting his supplies and long columns safely back. He felt his best option was to attack the Union Army. I wonder if even Stonewall Jackson could have convinced Lee otherwise.
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