The Gettysburg Campaign Begins at . . Chancellorsville?: Gettysburg 160

It is officially the 160th Anniversary of Gettysburg, and our coverage begins a little early this year as Kris White and Dr. Chris Mackowski discuss how the events at Chancellorsville lead directly into Robert E. Lee's Gettysburg Campaign.
This video is part of our tour series commemorating the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. View the full series here: • Gettysburg Campaign: 1...
The American Battlefield Trust preserves America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educates the public about what happened there and why it matters. We permanently protect these battlefields for future generations as a lasting and tangible memorial to the brave soldiers who fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.

[@takyram96]

Really enjoying the 160th coverage of all Civil War things 1863. (I see history still happens in the shade.) I’m looking forward to learning more about Brandy Station.

[@jacobmasters438]

Just finished part 2 of the Port Hudson videos. What a treat to jump straight into this video at 8:00am on a Saturday morning.

[@toddchaddon4249]

I love your coverage, especially when you are talking about the 'game within the game' (to use a baseball term). I always looked at battles as separate events, but with your Chancellorsville coverage, you all paint a very broad and clear picture of the events, and the implications as well. I am learning a ton from you, and I have been a Civil war buff for 40 years. Keep it up and thank you.

[@ianblake815]

This channel is the bomb! I’ve been to Gettysburg and it’s an amazing experience.

[@johnzajac9849]

ABT does a wonderful job!

[@joeritchie4554]

Thank you for explaining how the impact of the battle of Chancellorsville is going to have a direct impact on the battle of Gettysburg. I have never read or heard it explained as clearly as y'all present this information.

[@Tomatohater64]

Another superb presentation. Can't wait for Gettysburg 160.

[@robertcrouthamel9140]

Gentlemen, this was one of the finest and most informative Civil War vids I've ever seen. Well done. BTW, Kris you are 100% correct in your pronunciation of Gettysburg.

[@KevinAnderton-h3q]

This whole 160 recap is outstanding!

[@gilllawson2214]

As always good job and thanks. Looking forward to Gettysburg 160

[@jreeves1666]

I really enjoyed the video series about Chancellorsville and I hope the Gettysburg series is even better. Keep with the great work.

[@struex610]

So many new facts I never knew. Always learning new things year after year by watching these videos.

[@vickistevens423]

Looking forward to full coverage of the Gettysburg 160th. Wish I could attend in person, but the great job y'all do with covering the annual Gettysburg event is the next best thing. Thank you for bringing us along. Great job, everyone.

[@ronaldlemongello6116]

Kris White's knowledge of every battle is amazing..

[@JohnDurst-y9s]

Looking forward to another great series on the 160th of Gettysburg. I watched your Chancellorsville series....twice...before visiting for the first time last week and it made for an incredible trip. I can't thank you enough for all that you do! Maybe I will get to say hello in Gettysburg.

[@brandonpliskin2310]

Little rough on A.P. Hill , inept… also wounded at Chancellorsville, new to corp command saves the day at Antietam and serves well throughout the overland campaign (when healthy)

[@3b1d5c]

Yea, a few years back he was knocking John Reynolds also. Not impressed with that. I can’t watch videos with Kris any longer due to those condescending attitudes he has to these men who, not perfect, we’re competent commanders. Yes, they made mistakes as every day people do, but are in a place to make monumental decisions without the complete knowledge we have of the situations and the hindsight we possess. He is just a “critic”. He fits the profile Teddy Roosevelt spoke of of “the man in the arena”. He is the one who sits back and criticizes the hero in the middle of the fight.

[@NJcruiser]

@@3b1d5c Yea, the knock-on Reynolds by these critics is that Reynolds should never have been as far forward as he was when he was hit. Same with Sedgwick at Spotsylvania or Jackson at Chancellorsville for that matter. But it is easy to criticize with all of the hindsight that we have 160 years later.

[@3b1d5c]

@@NJcruiser yes you are correct. This Kris fellow would be bashing Gen.. Hancock at Gettysburg had the general been killed during the bombardment preceding Longstreet’s assault on July 3 while riding calmly among his men, even as the Gen. supposedly said “There are times when a corps commanders life does not count”. There are times you do what is necessary regardless of personal safety or consequences. Again too, with NO hindsight.

[@dsmonington]

I like the description of the change in style facing Hill and Ewell - Lee giving discretionary orders trusting the situational judgement of his subordinates versus their prior of experience under Stonewall "I'll court martial you if you don't read my mind" Jackson.

[@mattmuller3756]

haha

[@missmissy2490]

Yeahhhh! Great to see y’all and am looking forward to your upcoming episodes. Can’t wait to see Carol Reardon this year! Thank you for all you do!!!

[@liamodhomnallain4326]

Wow! As always, your content is spectacular and your story-telling skills are second to none. Thank you so much for continuing to bring history, 160 years worth, to younger ears. Great job.

[@mattmuller3756]

Great video as you do, every time. Are you gonna do a Monterey Pass video during the 160th coverage this year? I stay a short way from there on B. Ridge Summit PA an am very interested in seeing that, maybe even attending if you do so. Thanks for your work teaching and preserving history. Interested to see an in depth coverage of the campaign by your super educated and nice presented group. Thanks again for your work.

[@emonokari82]

Would be nice to see Little Wars TV and American Battlefield Trust do a Gettysburg 160 Battle.

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

Won't be for 160 but we have done Gettysburg with Little Wars TV: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHrPmoh8jNuWhtU

[@kevindecoteau3186]

It's a bit eerie to me to be seeing the land where so any fought and fell, their spirits are thick in the air.

[@K3VIN21]

Thanks for the info !

[@ericbush1544]

You folks put the in depth coverage of these battles and campaigns that is simply not seen anywhere else. Thank you!

[@gettysburgbrian]

Very exciting

[@dhm7815]

A couple months ago I watched 2 videos about Gettysburg. They both emphasized different details and they disagreed on some things but telling the battle comes thru the fog of war and they were broadly similar. One emphasized that beyond the hills east of Gettysburg was a road called the Baltimore Pike. The US Army had a wagon train of supplies which Lee needed. The Baltimore Pike led north to Harrisburg, OR, south to Washington. A threat on Washington, DC might make the US Senate reconsider its opposition to the Secession. Lee almost won the battle. Lee might have won the war. BTW, the fog of war had another meaning at Gettysburg. One account said Lee had no direct knowledge of the progress of Pickett's charge because there was so much gunsmoke from the cannons hiding the battlefield.

[@SpartansAndHeroes]

Always a great video!

[@CharlesTeague-i1u]

Right on with the pronunciation of Gettysburg. But Chancellorsville came as a result of the strategy of Hooker, with the adept response of Lee and Stuart. Lee had to get permission from Richmond for the initiative to thereafter begin a new campaign.

[@stevenforest]

Your opening theme music is awesome!

[@RunTheBallDC4L]

Can't wait to see col.dan

[@tommule9088]

These are great videos. Are you doing anything for Brandy Station on Friday?

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

Yes Brandy Station 160 will release this week.

[@michaelhoffman5348]

Not sure you can blame RE Lee on the loss in WVU. Recall the Jefferson Davis sent Lee out there to be an advisor between two feuding generals in Floyd and Wise. They had botched things up so much by their lack of concerted effort that the best Lee could do was establish a defensive position for them to rally on and to try to consoled their bruised egos. He sent to Davis his suggestion to consolidate both armies under Floyd, and only by Lee's tact did General Wise accept his relief from command. Lee was assigned to the Dept. of the south afterwards.

[@richsnyder8015]

Interesting that Slocum was so vocal about Hooker. I was not aware of that. I know Reynolds and Meade both expressed doubts about Hooker to PA Governor Curtan- who supposedly told Lincoln.

[@virtus12ful]

“the inept Ambrose Powell Hill” - those are fighting words, lol! Is that inept since Kris White doesn’t have a high opinion of him or inept because he was wounded at Chancellorsville?

[@tumbleweed2240]

Wasn’t Lee like a supreme commander such as Ike and could order troops to transfer from Hill’s NC theater to his own?

[@perrid13]

He was named overall commander very late in the war, February 1865. We're talking about late 1862-mid 1863 here. And even as overall commander he'd have to deal with politicians listening to other officer's opinions before giving him orders.

[@jillsanders1924]

You don't say it wrong. They do. Native pronunciation counts! West Shore raised.

[@NJcruiser]

Was just out there a week and a half ago after a several year hiatus. It was great to see the battlefields again but God, Route 3 just keeps getting more and more sprawl added to it. Makes it uncomfortable to try and tour Chancellorsville proper. Salem church has been a disgrace for a long time now. I guess I should be happy for what has been saved but I can remember when the church sat out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it .

[@karlheinzvonkroemann2217]

D.H. Hill should have been given the 2nd Corps after Jackson died. His record on the field was better than anybody else.

[@DA-bp8lf]

Could someone please explain to me why Lee did not send Longstreet down to Vicksburg to stop Grant from taking it? If it was so important to the confederate cause, why wasn’t more done to keep it from falling? General Johnson for whatever reasons wouldn’t go in and help. While General Pemberton was doing everything in his power not to surrender it.

[@mjciavola]

He believed that he needed Longstreet's corps in order to have the best chance to win his northern campaign.

[@clarkbuckner4900]

Also, could be wrong, but I don't think Sickles wrote or mentioned Hazel Grove on relation to his actions ay Gettysburg.

[@BrandonSmith84]

My 1st Cousins 5x Removed Belteshazzar Dragoo and his little brother John Dragoo fought in Ltc Ira G. Grover's 7th Indiana Volunteer Regiment part of the BG James S. Wadsworth's First Division in BG Lysander Cutler's 2nd Brigade

[@danielkitchens4512]

The union army at Gettysburg out numbered the army of northern Virginia and better supplied yet it stayed on those hills and Lee still came close to winning.

[@jwhite146]

Lee did not think of Chancellorsville as a great victory but only a Pyrrhic victory

[@rebeccabrown251]

This in Virginia?

[@DA-bp8lf]

Omg, your funny Kris! “I’d love to have dinner with him (Gen. Hooker) but I wouldn’t believe a word he said. 😂🤣😂

[@bigsarge2085]

✌

[@mjciavola]

Great. Where is this field in the backdrop? (..and don't say Chancellorsville!😉)

[@NJcruiser]

I think this was at the wayside pullout where the 11th corps had their right flank refused and where they were first hit. They kind of make reference to that fact in their commentary. I always wish that they would pan around more with the camera during these videos.

[@mjciavola]

@@NJcruiser They usually are pretty good with panning around, but unfortunately not this time. I guess that because they were giving only a general description of the battle, the location wasn't important.

[@mjciavola]

@@NJcruiser I checked my photos when I was there last and bingo, you hit in on the head. I was able to match up the landmarks and the video was indeed shot in the field where Jackson came out of the woods. Good call.

[@Salukicyclist]

After listening to Chris Mackowski’s pronunciation of Get-EEs-berg, I wondered if he even listened to Kris White’s explanation of the pronunciation of Get-is-burg, This disagreement leaves us viewers in confusion. 🧐. Given how many times the name will come up this summer, I think you guys need to come to a consistent pronunciation and nip it in the bud. 🤣

[@njdevilku1340]

Sickles moved up at Gettysburg due to beind ordered to retreat from the high ground at Chancellorsville.

[@jorgemartinpaez4376]

The Army of the Potomac is not defeated but routed! under Hooker, meanwhile, Longstreet is in Suffolk Va, so CSA POTCS Davis wants to send elements of the Army of Northern VA to the West? yes, we will see Lee's leadership vacuum in the aftermath of Chancellorsville's 60,000 troops but will need to have 70,000 then they try to cut him down to 40,000, Southern Confederacy is in trouble w Grant in Mississippi, so Lee is restructuring the Army into three Corps, w Longstreet and AP Hill, will bungle his way... wow

[@michaelhoffman5348]

"GETTIS"burg is most certainly correct Kris - no need for apologizing.

[@jorgemartinpaez4376]

Lee's army has a high rate of casualties, if a soldier served in Lee's army there is a 50-60 percent chance of getting killed, in Grants the chance of getting killed is about 15-25 Percent.

[@mattmuller3756]

attacking a bigger army accounts for much of that. South didn't have the resources to win a 10-12 year war.

[@satarello]

first!

[@dadsongs]

Kris: "Give me one second, Chris." You stand for that kind of abuse and disrespect, Dr. M? 5:16 😀

[@clarkbuckner4900]

It's pronounced Getteesburg.

[@emonokari82]

Gettis-burg.

[@crippledcrow2384]

The guy doesn't care for Chris.

[@rebelscumspeedshop]

The more that I learn the more that I realize how anything was accomplished on any side considering the strife in the high command..