Lee Invades Pennsylvania - Part One

[@haroldk3913]

Excellent run down on how Lee maneuvered his 3 primary corps. He did it really well as far as accomplishing convincing Hooker to finally start heading north as well. The only mention in this I would say differently is about Milroy. The narrator says he barely got away. Generals who are worth anything don't abandon their command, so they can escape personally. A commander's job is to stay and direct the fighting of their command so long as humanly possible; so long as his men still have the means to resist. If he is surrounded and its hopeless, and he makes a judgment call that it is no longer war but senseless murder of his men to keep on, then he can surrender. But he surrenders with his men. That is what a real fighting and honorable general does. In the 20th Century and today Milroy would be in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for running away and abandoning his command. That is what is called officer misconduct. Same thing that Rosecrans did at Chickamauga.

[@mindbomb9341]

You are incredible sir! I would love to ask you a few questions for a board game on the campaign I am designing -- using some unique fog of war mechanics (which I feel is missing from most games on the matter, but is essential to do any justice to the campaign).

[@decimated550]

at a park ranger walk n talk in gettysburg this summer, we were told that another reason for Lee's invasion was to destroy the pennsylvania coal mines on which the union naval blockade depended. I was fascinated by that! Imagine if history went another way, and we'd be talking about "the battle of the coal mines". Rebels firing cannons with red hot shot into openings, etc. I forget who said, it was on a scholarly video on youtube, that if a coal mine is set on fire, it will burn forever. In fact, the town of Centralia PA apparently has a coal mine that has been smouldering for 60 years.

[@hvymettle]

The map tells the story. Based on his 1862 advance into Maryland, Lee in 1863 was seeking to position his army on the line of the Monocacy River at Frederick in order to threaten DC. In 1862 Lee had advanced directly on Frederick but given McClellan's unusually speedy advance was forced to abandon the position since he lacked the manpower to adequately man the crossings. In 1863 Lee chose an indirect approach since Hooker had deftly placed his army between Frederick and DC blocking the direct approach. Lee chose to advance Ewell towards the Susquehanna River in order to create the "horns of a dilemma" for the Union commander, as to whether he would concentrate at Hanover for a move on Baltimore or DC, or concentrate at Gettysburg more a move towards Frederick to threaten DC. Lee's maneuvering led Meade to advance from Hooker's concentration on a broad front in order to cover both possibilities. Lee got what he wanted when Meade advanced his left wing to Gettysburg in a movement to contact to locate Lee's main body. Lee had Hill fix the AoP in position west of town but Rodes botched the flank attack that would have dislodged it from its Oak Ridge/McPherson's Ridge position. Hill then had to conduct costly frontal assaults to maintain the initiative and drive the I Corps from the field. Early's flank attack was successful but Ewell didn't have the reserves available to exploit the success and drive the regrouping Union forces from Cemetery Hill.

[@williamcanfield2889]

The “u” in Staunton is silent. It is pronounced as Stanton.

[@gettysburgminutebyminute8607]

Yes, thank you! I'm a WA state resident, apologies. I struggle with the unfamiliar geography and place names.

[@SweeturKraut]

I have lived in south eastern VA since 1987. In early 2001/2 timeframe I was corrected on the pronunciation of “Staunton” to omit the U sound. No shame. It wasn’t until 2010/11 I was informed that the town in north east NC was pronounced “MO- Yok” not “Moi-ock”

[@manilajohn0182]

While Lee had his own reasons for invading Union territory, it cannot be emphasized enough that the strategic objective of the campaign was for Lee to gain a great enough success to remove pressure from the Confederate defenders at Vicksburg. Various suggestions had been made over the preceding months to withdraw units from the AoNV and send them west to either directly or indirectly bring relief to Vicksburg. Lee proposal to invade the north was approved by Confederate President Davis and forces originally under consideration to have been detached west were retained by Lee on this basis. The other reasons for invading Union territory were operational objectives only. Members of the Confederate cabinet echoed Lee's April statement to Secretary of War Seddon that the surest way to remove pressure from Vicksburg was to threaten Washington D.C. and Baltimore. This was the primary reason why Lee attacked both on and after 1 July, even though his original plan of campaign was to not attack at all, but to maneuver the AotP into attacking the AoNV. He had so far done nothing in the campaign to achieve this objective, his army was late getting into Pennsylvania, and Vicksburg had been under siege for almost six weeks. By 1 July, Lee was all but out of time and had no other viable alternative. He had to either attack or abandon the campaign in failure.

[@gettysburgminutebyminute8607]

I love it, thanks.

[@malafunkshun8086]

There was indeed a ball after Jeb Stuart’s “grand review.” Scott Mingus and Eric Wittenberg mention this in their two volume work “If We’re Striking for Pennsylvania.” Aloha 😊🤙🏼

[@matthewkeaneone]

Everytime I try to open your website link it says it's "not secure"

[@gettysburgminutebyminute8607]

It isn't 'secure'. It uses the HTTP protocol, not HTTPS. My opinion, no big deal. I could convert it to the new protocol, but why? Costs money to do that, no real benefit. My opinion. Your call. Sorry.

[@peterclague3539]

Brilliant thanks so much…. Starting to get the main events of the 3 days seen them films and the links with Chancellorsville so many names, places , regiments. So i decided this is going to take some time? so start at the beginning. These to programs are fantastic introduction and gives you a sense of place if you don’t come from America. 🫡🇮🇲

[@gettysburgminutebyminute8607]

Thank you! I'm a visual learner, and all the text in the books doesn't connect with me. Never enough maps. Maps they provide are not good enough. So, I lead with maps and visuals. I'm trying. Thanks again. Best wishes.