July 2, 1862

[summit]

Gettysburg, Penslyvania

The victorious Confederates have invaded the North meaning to surround Washington and secure the existence of the slave holding CSA aristocracy.

vs

(Music for the thread)

(Music for the thread)

The Second Day of the Battle

The Confederates Attempt to Flank and Route the Union line, crushing an Army corps and forcing the Union to retreat towards Washington DC. Confederate Vice President Stephens approaches Union lines to demand Lincoln agree to peace of Confederate terms in expectation of the Confederate victory. The Confederates soldiers nearly overwhelm the Union line, but run into a problem:



Chamberlin's Charge of the 20th Maine at Little Round Top









The First Day

The Confederates approach Gettysburg and are attacked by General Buford's small cavalry unit in order to keep the Confederates from taking the high ground. General Reynolds reinforces to hold the Confederates back until the Union can occupy the high ground.


General Beuford - I really think he saved the whole battle


General Reynolds Galvanizes the Union defense


"For God's Sake, Foward!" -Reynolds, seconds before being killed by a Confederate Sniper


The Death Of GEN Reynolds

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

[montanaskier]

"if the South woulda won we'da had it made"

[AKA]

Yeah, you're 365 days early there skippy.

oh, also just cause Killer Angels is a good book doesn't mean you should get your history from it.

[summit]

Yes, 1863, that was a typo, tried to fix it but too late.

And is there some historical claim you think I've made that you think is incorrect?

[adam]

Cool, what movie is this from?

[AKA]

Yes, 1863, that was a typo, tried to fix it but too late.

And is there some historical claim you think I've made that you think is incorrect?

not incorrect just very, very simplistic and slightly misleading.

[summit]

I recall this isn't the first time you've said something along those lines. Sure my post is simplistic, but it's remembrance, not a 500 page book. I have studied far more than one book on this subject, but I'm no history expert, just interested. So I welcome a good discussion if you'd like. Maybe you can learn me sumthin

[RootSkier]

join up, geek

[Altaholic]

Are you serious???? I know people on this board have a sense of humor (like me), but if not (there are a lot of dumb Americans in this country), watch the film "Gettysburg". I've been motivated to watch it right now.

Cool, what movie is this from?

[RShea]

Read up also on the efforts of at that time Colonel Strong Vincent and the 83rd Infantry of PA- which you do not mention at all. He was one of the hero's of the Battle of Little Round Top and Gettysburg. He died a few days later and was promoted to Brigadier General because of his efforts.

Many believe that without him and his men, the south could have won.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_Vincent"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_Vincent[/ame]

http://www.brotherswar.com/Gettysburg-2q.htm

[The AD]

This seems like a good time to plug Shelby Foote's three volume Civil War history. And if you have a Kindle I just noticed there's a Kindle edition for $15.81.

[Kevo]

I love the town and history of Gettysburg- my parents live a few miles to the east. There was a cavalry engagement a few days before the larger battle in which J.E.B. Stuart and Kilpatrick chased each other around what is now my parents back pasture.

I visit the battlefield about once a year when I visit my parents. I've found some cool, almost hidden monuments that are mostly forgotten while wandering off trail through the woods. These monuments are normally small (no large statues, etc), but often times the units they represent did take heavy casualties. BTW- it is strange and spooky to be alone, off trail, in the woods on that battlefield after dark.

It's 50/50 whether my great, great, great grandfather died in the civil war- he was from PA and disappeared from records around what would have been the correct time, but he was also a coal miner, so he may have died in a mine. I'd like to research it a bit further and see if I can find him in an enlistment record.

[summit]

While Chamberlin's 20th Maine charging down Little Roundtop is a better known valiant story, the most harrowing moment of the Second Day was probably the bayonet charge and intentional sacrifice of the 1st MN Volunteers.

82% casualties. Think about that.



The next day those still standing suffered 36% casualties repelling Pickett's charge (unit casualty rate for the battle rose to 88%).

I saw the 1st MN Volunteers flag at the MN Capitol Building.

[Benny Profane]

I love the town and history of Gettysburg- my parents live a few miles to the east. There was a cavalry engagement a few days before the larger battle in which J.E.B. Stuart and Kilpatrick chased each other around what is now my parents back pasture.

I visit the battlefield about once a year when I visit my parents. I've found some cool, almost hidden monuments that are mostly forgotten while wandering off trail through the woods. These monuments are normally small (no large statues, etc), but often times the units they represent did take heavy casualties. BTW- it is strange and spooky to be alone, off trail, in the woods on that battlefield after dark.

It's 50/50 whether my great, great, great grandfather died in the civil war- he was from PA and disappeared from records around what would have been the correct time, but he was also a coal miner, so he may have died in a mine. I'd like to research it a bit further and see if I can find him in an enlistment record.

Fun to visit either now (basically July 4 weekend) or in November on the anniversary of Lincoln"s address. Thousands of civil war geeks show up in uniform and march from the town to the battlefield. I was there in November, I'm guessing much more tolerable than now, due to the heat. It's a real hoot. They say this whole hobby/subculture is dying, because it is a whole boomer thing, and kids could care less. I'm guessing it's not too festive this year.

Considering how funky the weather gets on July 4 in that area, the stank from all those dead bodies must have been awful for whoever was left to cleanup.

[summit]

Fun to visit either now (basically July 4 weekend) or in November on the anniversary of Lincoln"s address. Thousands of civil war geeks show up in uniform and march from the town to the battlefield. I was there in November, I'm guessing much more tolerable than now, due to the heat. It's a real hoot. They say this whole hobby/subculture is dying, because it is a whole boomer thing, and kids could care less. I'm guessing it's not too festive this year.

Considering how funky the weather gets on July 4 in that area, the stank from all those dead bodies must have been awful for whoever was left to cleanup.

Kids these days want to play Call of Duty and Battlefront in their pajamas instead of dressing up in expensive reproduction uniforms and running around in the heat.

[Benny Profane]

Kids these days want to play Call of Duty and Battlefront in their pajamas instead of dressing up in expensive reproduction uniforms and running around in the heat.

The few kids I saw were in a fake Black regiment or platoon or whatever you call it. About thirty or forty black guys all spit and polish in Union uniforms. But, yeah, It's not really an accurate reproduction, because everybody is maybe 45 or older, and most of those soldiers were kids to 25 year olds.

[Cono Este]

Great history. Just read that General Grant book and being in Stl found some of the river battles interesting.

Too bad dumb asses are not taught more of this in school.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Benny Profane]

One of the last great wars before machines.

[schuss]

If any of you ever have a chance to visit Gettysburg, you'll realize truly how insane it all was. It is not a large place, so the troop numbers and what happened was just a crush of men fighting to the death in close quarters.

[TBS]

My great-great grandfather Abraham was a sniper with the Bethel Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers in the War of Northern Aggression. He was assigned to protect Lee’s retreat on July 4. He was captured during that effort and became a guest of the Union Army at Point Lookout MD. The size of the POW camp shrank by 1/3 at high tide.

Nine months later he was traded for Union POWs and returned to his Unit. He was KIA at the Battle of Jones Farm, two weeks before the surrender at Appomattox

[TBS]

If any of you ever have a chance to visit Gettysburg, you'll realize truly how insane it all was. It is not a large place, so the troop numbers and what happened was just a crush of men fighting to the death in close quarters.

Yup - the tactics hadn’t changed in 80 years but the weaponry became way more deadly.

[summit]

The Civil War started with tactics from the Napoleonic Wars and ended with preludes to WWI trenches.

[Benny Profane]

My great-great grandfather Abraham was a sniper with the Bethel Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers in the War of Northern Aggression. He was assigned to protect Lee’s retreat on July 4. He was captured during that effort and became a guest of the Union Army at Point Lookout MD. The size of the POW camp shrank by 1/3 at high tide.

Nine months later he was traded for Union POWs and returned to his Unit. He was KIA at the Battle of Jones Farm, two weeks before the surrender at Appomattox

Civil War POW camps were hell frozen over.

[TBS]

Union camps were more survivable than confederate, but yea...
I went to Point Lookout once and have read a bunch about conditions during the war. Prisoners were not allowed to congregate in groups of 3 or more - Kinda tough at high tide. Guards - mostly freed or runaway slaves - were allowed to shoot at “large groups” of POWs to disperse them.

I try to put myself in Abraham’s shoes, asking why he volunteered to fight. He had a wife and three kids. The family had no slaves, just a farm in far west NC. In fact slavery depressed wages for working class whites. Maybe another example of poor rural people voting against their own best interests...

[Mr. Mike]

Union camps were more survivable than confederate, but yea...
I went to Point Lookout once and have read a bunch about conditions during the war. Prisoners were not allowed to congregate in groups of 3 or more - Kinda tough at high tide. Guards - mostly freed or runaway slaves - were allowed to shoot at “large groups” of POWs to disperse them.

I try to put myself in Abraham’s shoes, asking why he volunteered to fight. He had a wife and three kids. The family had no slaves, just a farm in far west NC. In fact slavery depressed wages for working class whites. Maybe another example of poor rural people voting against their own best interests...

Interesting. The mountain folk in Wnc and Etn mostly managed to stay out of that fray. Mostly too poor to have slaves so not invested in the fight.