The Confederate Approach on Harrisburg by Mr. Cooper H. Wingert

[@mindbomb9341]

Amazing talk about Harrisburg and the 1863 campaign! Thanks!

[@dfgiuy22]

Glad to see the little fella there, and the fact that the speaker have him a proper answer. Only way young people can learn is by asking questions. Would have taken a lot of courage for the kid

[@decimated550]

even at lectures i attend in my adult years , i'm always a bit nervous and need to rehearse my question in my mind beforehand

[@davidtirschman6288]

Thank you for your video. I cannot agree that Harrisburg was Lee's main objective. According to the general information Lee had a number of objectives yet did not consult pre Davis before beginning his action. The biggest objective was probably to resupply his army and possibly defeat the army of the Potomac on northern soil. A number of oast books have presented that Lee's whole army that he brought was a army wide foraging campaign. During the whole time outside of Virginia his army was very well provisioned. Some by thr quartermasters paying with Confederate money or impressing many items they wanted. The quartermasters came with well established lists of what they wanted of every kind of supplies. To a large number of Maryland and Pennsylvanians this was like a group of pirates coming in to grab whatever they wanted. Keep in mind during the Confederate incursions north a number of cities were ransomed by the rebels. One example thr Maryland city of Middletown was ransomed and you it took til thr 1950's for the Town to pay back the money that was demanded by the rebels. I never heard of union armies demanding such heavy handed events in any southern cities. Also recently information on the condition of the army of the Potomac before during and slightly after with a breakdown of supplying the feed for horses and mules and a suspension of food for feeding the AOP did not get corrected till after the campaign was over. That the army of the Potomac won and defeated Lee who was overwhelmingly provisioned speaks of the leadership of Meade and the coordination of the army to defeat its enemy. During the battle 15,000 horses and mules died for lack of any feed. I appreciate your talk but feel a reassessment of your material would make a much more accurate talk. Understand the information on thr dire supply situation was not presented until a year or two ago. Thanks again and I wish you well.

[@lennissytsma5503]

This is great!

[@pigmanobvious]

The black railroad workers got paid almost double what a Union private did!

[@howardclegg6497]

The wheels are coming off the Harrisburg story. Even Allen Guelzo has recently changed his position on it. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

[@LanceisLawson]

Lee was overconfident and the Union fought harder than the South could at Gettysburg. The end was inevitable.

[@decimated550]

good job by a young speaker, probably doing his PhD or already has it.

[@hvymettle]

Seems ridiculous to assume that Harrisburg was an actual military objective of Lee's campaign. Moving on Harrisburg was a feint. Lee's real objective was probably to get his army positioned on the line of the Monocacy River so he could threaten Washington. He had to take an indirect approach to get there since Hooker had already concentrated the Army of the Potomac at Frederick. By moving the II Corps to York and Carlisle Lee caused Meade to advance on a broad front spreading out his army to cover Washington and Baltimore. Reynolds advance to Gettysburg gave Lee the opportunity he wanted to concentrate against the left wing of the Army of the Potomac and drive it back so he could make an advance down the Middleton Valley and turn Meade's left on the Pipe Creek position and get to the Monocacy. These professional historians tell some silly stories when if you just look at a map for yourselves the truth is staring you in the face.

[@StephenPaulTroup]

Lee was making a political statement but his best means (in his mind) was always to destroy the AoP. Harrisburg would have been great political capital for the South but also it was a place of huge army supplies, so it was tactical & strategic simultaneously. Your contention Lee's real objective was Washington is not correct. If that had been the case, Lee had the perfect opportunity to do so on Day 2 of the Gettysberg battle and this is exactly what Longstreet urged Lee to do, swing around the AoP's left flank and head toward Washington (Not to take it, that would have been impossible), which would have forced the AoP off their high ground and forced them to chase Lee. (It would have been the right thing to do but Lee wouldn't hear of it). In that chase, Lee would have had the advantage of choosing the battle on ground of his choosing at a time of his choosing.

[@lidksmy]

hvymettle: Sounds like you need to start giving presentations to correct all the misinformation. Please post when you start.

[@manilajohn0182]

Harrisburg wasn't an actual military objective of the campaign, because possession of it was valueless to the Confederacy. The strategic objective of the campaign was to remove pressure from the Confederate defenders at Vicksburg. The operational objective of the campaign was to forage off of Union territory and take the war away from Virginia. Lee originally never had any intention of attacking the AotP in the Gettysburg- Harrisburg area.