As inferred from the title, I believe that they couldβve achieved a potential victory day 1 had they done things slightly differently. But once night fell and battle ceased and the armies solidified their positions, it became at best a stalemate for the south.
The bottom line is that the union position was too strong imo. They controlled the high ground and their fishhook formation allowed them to easily reinforce threatened sections with interior lines. Even with poor decisions such as Gen. Sickles disobeying orders and moving his troops into a more vulnerable position, the union army was still able to hold.
So yeah I donβt really see a scenario which the south can decisively win this battle, but Iβm open to ideas about what Robert E. Lee couldβve done differently the 2nd and 3rd day that wouldβve changed the course of the battle in a significant way.
I haven't been able to find articles on this. I mainly want to know was there any critical changes from Meade, or did Meade being the general make a big difference in Gettysburg?
> Captain James H. Kidd, Sixth Michigan Cavalry, described Custer wearing a black velvet suit with gold braids running along the sleeves. Underneath, a blue navy sailor suit with wide collars and red necktie bedecked the general. A black hat topped off Custerβs long golden curls. He looked like a βcircus rider gone mad,β wrote another officer. But in the days and months ahead, Kidd, other officers and the majority of the enlisted personnel grew to respect and admire their young leader. Youthfulness aside, they discovered that Custer was a fighter, and that he would lead them into battle.
> For the first two July days of 1863, the opposing armies grappled with each other near the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. On July 3, Lee simultaneously launched a massive frontal assault under Major General George Pickett on the Union center while sending Jeb Stuart with 6,000 cavalrymen east to strike and confuse the federal rear. Custerβs brigade of more than 2,000 men formed part of the 5,000 bluecoats under Brigadier General David M. Gregg. As Stuartβs brigades charged the Union lines, Custer trotted out in front with the First Michigan Cavalry, the only regiment of his brigade immediately available for action. Brandishing his saber aloft, Custer turned and shouted to his Michiganders, βCome on, you Wolverines!β Spurring his horse Custer led a mad dash toward the surging Butternuts. Grey and blue riders collided, horses and combatants turned upside down by the violence of the collision; equipment, mounts, and cavalrymen all crashed together in a great crescendo. Stunned by the deliberations of Custer and 500 men of the First Michigan Cavalry, the Rebel horsemen of Brigadier Generals Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee withdrew, their ranks and organization shattered.
> Stuartβs rebuff coincided with Pickettβs retreat from the copse of trees at Gettysburg now symbolically recognized as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy. The Boy General, as Custer was to be called in the press, had played a critical role in halting the Confederate cavalry, earning respect and well-deserved accolades from his troopers and superiors. One veteran campaigner remarked about Custer, βHe is a glorious fellow, full of energy, quick to plan and bold to execute, and with us he has never failed in any attempt he has yet made.β
> Custerβs brigade pursued Leeβs retreating infantry and cavalry and on the Potomac River near Falling Waters, caught up with the Confederate rearguard. In
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Originally I read reports that cited a belief that the Confederate artillery bombardment had a greater effect on the union lines than it actually incurred, but considering the accuracy, weight, and consistency of return fire from the union lines, including Alonzo Cushing's Battery A (reduced to two guns before the final 100 yards of pickett's charge), how is it possible to make such a glaring mistake? Some random sources I have seen take the stance that Longstreet opposed the charge, is the responsibility for the event squarely on Robert E Lee, who had previously only made the rare tactical error and never one of such devastating failure?
