From Smithsonian Magazine:
New technology has given us the chance to re-examine how the Civil War battle was won and lost
The technological limits of surveillance during the American Civil War dictated that commanders often decided where to deploy their troops based largely on what they could see. We know that Confederate general Robert E. Lee was virtually blind at Gettysburg, as his formerly brilliant cavalry leader J.E.B. Stuart failed to inform him of Federal positions, and Confederate scouts’ reconnaissance was poor. The Confederates’ field positions, generally on lower ground than Yankee positions, further put Lee at a disadvantage. A striking contrast in visual perception came when Union Gen. Gouvernour K. Warren spotted Confederate troops from Little Round Top and called in reinforcements just in time to save the Federal line.HT: naked capitalism
What more might we learn about this famous battle if we put ourselves in commanders’ shoes, using today’s digital technology to visualize the battlefield and see what they could see? Our team, which includes myself, researcher Dan Miller and cartographer Alex Tait, have done just that. Alex recreated the 1863 terrain based on a superb map of the battlefield from 1874 and present-day digital data. Dan and I captured troop positions from historical maps. Our interactive map shows Union and Confederate troop movements over the course of the battle, July 1 – 3, 1863. Panoramic views from strategic viewpoints show what commanders could – and could not – see at decisive moments, and what Union soldiers faced at the beginning of Pickett’s Charge. You will also find “viewshed” maps created with GIS (Geographic Information Systems). These maps show more fully what was hidden from view at those key moments....MORE, including the maps.
150 years ago today the Union was saved. It's hard to decide if it was the 20th Maine at one end of the line or the New Yorkers at the other or the boys in the middle but 150 years ago today the entire course of world history was changed.
Here's a post from a few years ago on those "boys in the middle" who, by suffering the worst casualty rate of any U.S. forces stopped the Confederate advance which led, on July 3rd to Pickett's charge and the doom of the secessionists.
A Bit of History: July 2, 1863
The 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment fought, relatively unbloodied, at
Bull RunOne month after Chancellorsville they were destroyed as a cohesive unit and they may have saved the Union.
Antietam
Fredericksburg
and Chancellorsville
Bruce Catton stated in Glory Road:
“The whole war had suddenly come to a focus in this smoky hollow, with a few score westerners trading their lives for the time the army needed…They had not captured the flag that Hancock had asked them to capture, but they still had their own flag and a great name…”Lt. Col. Joseph B. Mitchell in his Decisive Battles of the Civil War said:
“There is no other unit in the history of warfare that ever made such a charge and then stood its ground sustaining such losses.”From First Minnesota History.org :
The Charge of the First Minnesota at Gettysburg
July 2-3, 1863
During the second day (July 2,’62), the Confederates had broken through Sickles’ position. With a failed attempt at rallying Sickles’ men, General Winfield S. Hancock had ordered the First that was held in reserve nearby to counterattack and fill the gap in the Union line until reinforcements could arrive. During the attack, three companies ‘C’, ‘F’, and 2nd Minnesota Sharpshooters Co. ‘L’, totaling some 73 men, had been detached.7 Out of the 262 men remaining that attacked to delay the rebs and restore the Union position, 215 were killed, wounded, or missing. Earlier in the day, Col. Wm. Colville had been relieved of arrest and resumed command of the regiment. Gen. W.S. Hancock whose order “Colonel, do you see those colors?” (pointing at the advancing Confederate forces) “Then take them!”, later stated:From Suite 101: US Civil War :
“I had no alternative but to order the regiment in. We had no force on hand to meet the sudden emergency. Troops had been ordered up and were coming on the run, but I saw that in some way five minutes must be gained or we were lost. It was fortunate that I found there so grand a body of men as the First Minnesota. I knew they must lose heavily and it caused me pain to give the order for them to advance, but I would have done it (even) if I had known every man would be killed. It was a sacrifice that must be made. The superb gallantry of those men saved our line from being broken. No soldiers on any field, in this or any other country, ever displayed grander heroism.”The attacking Confederate forces consisted of Wilcox’s Brigade , Anderson’s Division, A.P. Hill’s Corps. Wilcox had begun the days fighting with some 1,800 men in his unit although it is not known exactly how many were left at the time of the action with the First Minnesota. There are also indications that the 39th and 11th New York Regiments began the attack on the left of the First, while the 19th Mass. and 42nd New York were on the regiments right. In all these instances these supporting units fell back before completing the charge so that the First went in on its own. The First Minnesota has the distinction of sustaining the highest regimental losses in any battle, in proportion to the number engaged, in the Civil War. [83% -ed]
On July 3rd the First found itself on the receiving end of Pickett’s charge. Co’s ‘C’ and ‘F’ had rejoined by this time and another 45 men became casualties. Thus by the end of the battle 64 men had been killed and 160 men wounded for a total of 224 casualties. By the end of July, Regimental strength stood at 175 men, but this included some of the slightly wounded who had returned to duty by this time. On top of such losses for the battle the First did manage to share in the glory of the Union Victory. Pvt. Marshall Sherman of Co. ‘C’ had captured the 28th Virginia’s colors and Cpl. Henry O’Brien spurred on the men with the colors and it’s shattered staff. Both would later receive the Medal of Honor for their feats.
The First Minnesota's Immortal Charge
Three of Wilcox's five regiments -- perhaps 1100 men -- were in front of the First Minnesota's path. So the Northern unit was outnumbered four or five to one.
But Hancock needed time to rush in reinforcements -- "five minutes time," he'd write later. So he ordered Colvill and his men to charge the larger Rebel force.
“Every man realized in an instant what that order meant; death or wounds to us all, the sacrifice of the regiment, to gain a few minutes’ time and save the position and probably the battlefield," wrote Lt. William Lochren of the First Minnesota.
The regiment went sweeping forward with fixed bayonets in a charge that could in all fairness be called suicidal.
"I would have ordered that regiment in if I had known every man would have been killed," Hancock wrote. "It had to be done."
The Alabamans were disorganized and winded after charging nearly a mile, and the sudden attack by the small group of Minnesotans caught them off guard. The Confederates were momentarily thrown back; but they regained cohesion, and then delivered staggering fire into the Yankees.
The First Minnesota was virtually destroyed within minutes. Only 47 soldiers made their way back to the ridge. Colvill was seriously wounded, one of 215 casualties.
"They had not taken the Alabama flag, but they had held on to their own,' Historian Shelby Foote wrote. "And they had given Hancock his five minutes plus five more for good measure."
Hancock succeeded in bolstering the Union line with reinforcements in that 10 minutes, and the Alabamans were forced to retreat.
"There is no more gallant deed recorded in history,' Hancock wrote of the First Minnesota's charge.By suffering casualties at the rate of one every two seconds they stopped the Confederate advance and forced Lee into the desperate gamble:
Gettysburg was the price the South paid for having Lee. The first day's fighting was so encouraging, and on the second day's fighting he came within an inch of doing it. And by that time Longstreet said Lee's blood was up, and Longstreet said when Lee's blood was up there was no stopping him... And that was that mistake he made, the mistake of all mistakes. Pickett's charge was an incredible mistake, and there was scarcely a trained soldier who didn't know it was a mistake at the time, except possibly Pickett himself, who was very happy he had a chance for glory....William Faulkner, in "Intruder in the Dust", said that for every southern boy, it's always within his reach to imagine it being one o'clock on an early July day in 1863, the guns are laid, the troops are lined up, the flags are out of their cases and ready to be unfurled, but it hasn't happened yet. And he can go back in his mind to the time before the war was going to be lost and he can always have that moment for himself.
-Shelby Foote in Ken Burns' "The Civil War"
Kinda makes this stock market stuff seem a bit sordid in comparison.
