after successive losses at fredericksburg and Chancellorsville . How does Lincoln shake up Union command ? How do Union forces secure the West and the Mississippi River . What happens at the Battle of Gettysburg for answers to these questions and more Civil war insights . Stay tuned . Welcome to the U . S . Army history and Heritage podcast , the official podcast of the United States Army Center of Military History . The Center of Military History , writes and publishes the army's official history , manages the US Army Museum enterprise and provides historical support throughout the U . S . Army . Hello everyone and welcome back to the United States Army history and Heritage podcast . I'm lee Reynolds , the strategic communications officer for the Center of Military History in this episode , focusing on the Civil War years of 18 62 and 18 63 . I'm speaking with Dr Peter G Night , Director of the field and international history programs at the Center of Military History . Welcome dr nine . Thanks for joining me . My pleasure . Thank you . It's great to have you back . And just for those who didn't listen to the last episode or need reminding , Dr Peter Knight joined CMH . After retiring from the U . S . Army as a lieutenant colonel . After 23 years of service in the military intelligence branch , he served in numerous tactical and strategic level intelligence assignments , including a combat tour in Iraq as an intelligence advisor to the second Iraqi Army Division in Mosul and culminating as the deputy commander of the 706 Military intelligence group at fourth Gordon Georgia . Over the course of his military career , Dr Knight also served in two academic postings . His first was as an instructor and later assistant professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point from 2004 to 2007 and the second was as the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps or ROTC Professor of military science at Princeton University . From 2011 to 2014 . Dr Knight is a 1990 for graduate of the U . S . Military Academy at West Point and he later earned his PhD in history from the Ohio State University in june of 2006 . His area of historical specialization is strategic intelligence in the korean war . He wrote his doctoral thesis on the subject and published a chapter on intelligence in the Ask It Research Companion to the korean war . In 2014 , DR Knight is also the author of the revised CMH publication , the Staff ride fundamentals experiences and techniques which was published in 2020 . And he has led numerous battlefield staff rides for the U . S . Army across the globe . All right , well that's a that's a lot about you and anything else I missed there . You want to highlight just in my time at C . M . H . For the last five years . In addition to my time at West Point in Princeton , I've had the great privilege to lead staff right experiences at many of the Civil War battlefields that we'll discuss today . Great , yeah . I mean we're we are um the center of military history is at Fort Mcnair in Washington , D . C . So we are just so perfectly located to get out and and visit and lead these staff rides . So that's great . These staff rides are fantastic learning opportunities for soldiers of all ranks . Um , and um yeah , they really prepare people for those critical thinking skills . So , alright , so this is we're gonna address here when we , when we last spoke , we kind of finished up with the Battle of Antietam and which gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the emancipation proclamation . So let's pick it up there . What's the the strategic setting at the moment ? What's what's happening in the war ? Absolutely . So even before Antietam and most certainly after it , the scope of the war changed from one of limited aims to preserve the union , keeping slavery intact to a more total war approach . That would make the southern populists feel the burden and cost of rebellion following the Battle of Antietam , Abraham Lincoln blew the dust off his emancipation proclamation . And he had that he had contemplated since the spring of 1862 and announced that following the strategic victory at Antietam with an implementation date of one January 1863 . Following antietam , the turn to total war was manifested in the aim of freeing the slaves and destroying the institution of slavery and with it , the old south to achieve such aims would require the complete military defeat and conquest and occupation of the rebellious Southern states . Meanwhile , out in the western theater , a series of Union victories in 18 62 by Henry Alex , capable subordinate ulysses Grant , with the help of Don Carlos , Buell's forces ensured the capture of key bastions along Mississippi River , the Tennessee River and reaching down as far as the rail junction at Corinth , Mississippi and Memphis Tennessee . And would you say this is all part of the anaconda plan ? Is that still really playing out certain pieces of it ? Absolutely right . And when you consider that the naval blockade , however , uh imperfect it might have been , was beginning to have a significant effect and Butler's advances up to to capture new Orleans . We begin to see that the Mississippi River is falling under union control from two directions , both north and south . Uh , and so with that uh , Don Carlos Buell's army after Shiloh would move from Nashville to counter Braxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky . While lee had been marching into Maryland in 18 62 Bragg had led the army of Mississippi into Kentucky to live off the land and and tried to do just as lee was doing in Maryland and bring that border state into the fold . Uh That was the hope of , of the confederates in that , in that operation . Uh , but the problem was Bragg was partnered with General James Kirby smith who commanded another army that was moving in a parallel column to brag , brag would move towards Nashville , a faint towards Nashville and advance into central Kentucky . While James Kirby smith would move from Knoxville , Tennessee . In the southeastern Kentucky , Bragg and smith were independent commanders that reported directly to jefferson Davis and they did not work well together . They kind of marched to their , to their own drums . Uh And so while Bragg uh was getting his army together , smith moved first and won a victory at Richmond Kentucky and then later captured Lexington and Frankfurt , the state capital of Kentucky . Two weeks later , brag captures Munford ville conduct Kentucky . And in the meantime , Don Carlos Buell on the Union side . After great prodding from the new general in chief , Henry Halleck , who had just been moved from the west uh tried to get to Louisville and managed to get there ahead of Bragg uh and then he would fight brag uh At a place called Perryville and their 22,000 troops of Buell's 55,000 man army engaged brags , 16,000 troops . The battle proves indecisive Bragg could claim a tactical victory , but at great cost and as the rest of Buell's army approached , Perryville , Bragg was forced to withdraw into East Tennessee through the Cumberland gap . After a heavy two days of fighting , but rather than pursue brag as Lincoln desired . Don Carlos Buell returned his forces to Nashville and he justified this move by asserting that Nashville would undoubtedly be Bragg's next target . Whether it was or not . It's interesting how both Buell and McClellan in the east were not eager to pursue their foes . Some 24 to 48 hours after very hard fighting . And what time frame are we talking about this battle ? Yeah . So , uh , we're talking right about the same time as as Antietam september of 67 . September of 62 . Okay , all right , so , so yeah , these are , these are happening at the same time . Um and and it's it's and and then , uh , of course out east . Now we turn to the events of the fall of 1862 with the Battle of fredericksburg and before we get to that , you mentioned Lincoln pulled Halik from the west . Yes . So has he replaced McClellan ? He has indeed . So , during the peninsula campaign , Lincoln had relieved McClellan of his general and chief responsibilities as that campaign got underway ostensibly to let Mcclelland focus on his peninsula campaign operations . But really because Lincoln was frustrated with the pace of the war effort and he took the reins himself assisted by his new Secretary of war . Edwin Stanton , they actually planned some operations out of Fort Monroe with General Wolves forces to capture Norfolk and some areas on on the opposite side of Hampton roads . But even with that Lincoln realized very quickly that the responsibilities of general in chief were very time consuming and he needed somebody to come and take that position and he chose Henry Halleck because of the successes that he had had in the west , largely because of ulysses S Grant . But still , Henry Halleck was viewed as the mastermind of that department , of course , being its commander and had a brain , you know , he was called old brains for a reason . And so they brought him back to Washington , D . C . And he assumed the general and chief responsibilities in the summer of 86 . So we've had Winfield scott , we've had Mcclelland , we've had Pope well and and Pope was never general in chief . He was just the army of Virginia . Got it . Okay , alright , good . Alright , so now we have Halik in command . And so let's talk about the Battle of Fredericksburg . You know , how did we get there ? Absolutely . So , at the Battle of fredericksburg , uh Major General Ambrose Burnside had reluctantly succeeded his friend George McClellan , who he owed a lot to and had worked with McClellan in the railroad business before the war , they were close . Uh , Ambrose Burnside was not confident in his ability to command an army and stated such . But when they told him that the command would go to joseph hooker , if he did not accept it . Ambrose Burnside , let his personal animosity against joe hooker , uh , persuade him to change his mind and he assumed command . However , uh with McClellan gone for having dragged his feet too long . Uh , Ambrose Burnside felt tremendous pressure from the Lincoln administration and from the northern populace to launch a campaign before heavy winter weather would preclude such an effort . And here we are late november , going into december of 18 62 and even in Virginia it gets cold and snowy . Absolutely . And Burnside chose a concentrated over land approach towards Richmond that kept the army of the potomac between the army of northern Virginia and Washington D . C . But in order to achieve this , he wanted to cross the Rappahannock River and he wanted to do so at fredericksburg . He had to await the arrival of pontoon bridging assets to facilitate that river crossing . He had hoped to get across the Rappahannock River quickly ahead before Robert E . Lee could arrive with forces to oppose him and then make the drive on Richmond , 35 miles distant . The pontoons were late in arriving two weeks late to be exact , affording General lee ample time to maneuver his army into position atop heights on the south end on the southern bank , uh just south of fredericksburg overlooking the Rappahannock River . Uh bridging the river was a formidable all day task for the Union troops . The battle of fredericksburg also included urban warfare House to house street to street fighting that further treated Union forces and then the final approach to those formidable confederate positions on high ground with the use of a stone wall all while traversing a very long open killing field even to get to that position . Uh would you call that sound tactics on Burnside part or you know , for Burnside is part of this . He had envisioned two flanking attacks . He had organized his army into what we , he referred to his grand divisions and he and he focused his attack against Jackson's end of the line with franklin's core , uh to the to the east of fredericksburg . And then he had uh a core under um Ball Sumner uh to go across at uh through the town of fredericksburg and to attack Maurice Heights . And then he had Hookers , grand division in reserve . Uh And and is this sound tactics ? Certainly not ? And you know , Burnside just I think became a slave to his own plan and didn't really begin to think about trying to put in a great measure of flexibility to alter that plan once he had it under way . The delays had been so long and so numerous that at the point of execution it was like full throttle , no turning back . Um and so those flank attacks obviously stalled out against those formidable positions . And these and remember , we have rifled muskets , rifled artillery that favors the defense and the confederates certainly had that advantage . And so at the end of it , the attacks failed miserably , Burnside is relieved and replaced by joseph Hooker . Okay , so another union commander , another union commander . So what gains that ? So this is december ? So what happens to the army ? Do they pull back or do they go back north ? So they do not , of course . Hooker assumes command of the army of the potomac , they remain in their positions near fredericksburg . And then Hooker has to amass a new plan uh , to , to try to get at uh , a way to get past lee's army or to hit lee's army and then be able to hit Richmond . Uh , and now Lincoln is starting to come around to , to the fact that maybe it's not the confederate capital itself that we should be worried about as much as it is destroying robert e lee's army . And his guidance to Hooker is when you make contact , throw in all your troops . This is something that , that union commanders had hesitated and failed to do repeatedly . Even Grant , I mean , Grant was kind of known for that , wasn't he ? Or Grant , I mean out west to a certain degree . Yes , he he did that . But but for uh , for the folks in the east , you had not seen that and and very hesitant to commit final reserves , right ? Their , their final insurance policy to protect Washington , among other things . So now we're getting into the winter . Um , and I , I know we've got some action out in out west again in Tennessee . Um , So is there heavy fighting in the winter on on either side ? And okay . And so out west after the debacle at fredericksburg in mid december . The Union army of the Cumberland under their new commander , Major General William S . Rosecrans was under significant pressure from the Lincoln administration and from General Halleck to earn a victory to offset the disaster at fredericksburg and to add credibility to the , to the enactment of the emancipation proclamation set for one january 18 63 Halik told Rosenkranz very bluntly , and I quote , the government demands action and if you cannot respond , someone else will be tried . So , on 26 december , the army of the Cumberland marched out of Nashville Tennessee towards Murphy's Burrow with Braxton , Bragg's confederate army of Tennessee retreating before them from tribune . The Federals marched in an incessant rain and sleet with three wings advancing on parallel roads . On 30 december , Rosecrans found Bragg's army drawn up three miles west of Murphysboro and commenced the Battle of Stones River . On 31 december , both Rosecrans and Bragg planned to attack the others right flank . Bragg's units struck first . Three days of hard fighting followed with many controversial and costly decisions by brag that had his troops beside themselves , and it cost the federals over 13,000 casualties , while the confederates lost over 10,000 each , losing a third of their operating strength on three january Union reinforcements and supplies from Nashville reached Rosenkranz Army that night , Bragg's forces evacuated Murphy's Burrow in the rich farming region of Middle Tennessee was abandoned to the Federals , who built a fortified depot in Murphy's Burrow named fortress Rosecrans to hon 25 acre complex remained in operation for the rest of the war and a grateful abraham Lincoln got the Union victory . He so desperately needed to boost the nation's morale and sustained their willingness to support the war effort . Meanwhile , Bragg's troops were calling for his relief , but his old buddy , president Jefferson Davis protected him , wow . All right . Well , um , so we've got that huge victory now that in the west Lincoln can move forward with the emancipation proclamation , which , um , yeah , definitely makes a big difference . Does does how does that help on the battlefield ? Or are there ways , I know we're gonna talk in a later episode about the black units that that created the U . S . Colored troops , I think they're called . Um , but does this create any other significant positive impact on the war in this time frame ? Uh , you know , the emancipation proclamation obviously , uh , has a lot of reverberations through the south . And , and some of the southerners believe it or not actually looked at the emancipation proclamation and said , you know , what , this is going to cause more division in the north between the democrats and the republicans , which could work to our advantage . And , you know , and of course , with a presidential election coming , that sort of thing . So many of them looked at it that way . But , you know , in terms of things like foreign recognition , for example , certainly the advantage was more to the union's designs . How did the south respond to the emancipation proclamation ? Did it almost create , you know , hey , you know , they're , they're trying to take away our , you know , they , it certainly Stokes the ire of , of a lot of the southern populists to be sure . But you know , even in the north , you have draft riots by a lot of irish and german immigrants that say , you know , we'll fight for the union . We're not here to free the N word . And so , you know , that that is an issue . Uh , and , and so , but , but , but but for the south , they realize the gloves are off that , that they , if they lose the war now , their way of life will and their livelihood , their economic institutions will cease to exist . Alright . So , so now moving forward and on the , on the battlefield , um , we're coming up to , um , what's considered lee's greatest victory and it's , it's amazing . Um , so let's talk us through that . Absolutely . So even though the new army of the potomac C . G , major general , joseph Hooker had a great battle plan . Superior intelligence . He had stood up the Bureau of Military Information , the first all source intelligence organization in the history of the US Army , he had about a 75% read on the order of battle of the army of northern Virginia going into this fight very impressive . So even though he had this great battle plan , superior intelligence and brilliantly stole a march on robert e lee penetrating into his left rear area when the moment of truth came to exploit that advantage . Hooker hesitated . He went to ground and fought on the defensive in less than ideal terrain in a location known as the wilderness , low lying areas filled with tangle , foot brush , and and just not exactly the greatest place to hold up . Uh and in so doing , he cedes the tactical initiative to robert E lee , lee capitalizes on this opportunity , defying convention . He divides his forces numerous times in the face of superior numbers , utilizes his central position to definitely shift his forces between Hooker's main body and john Sedgwick score that had been left across the Rappahannock at fredericksburg as a decoy . And so with with with daring APL um lee authorizes the legendary flank attack by Stonewall Jackson's corps that caved in the federal right flank and incited temporary panic and disorder in the Union line that Hooker would have to work to restore all at the cost of Stonewall Jackson though , due to friendly fire later that evening . However , Hooker who had been concussed by artillery during the fighting , hung his hopes on Sedgewick coming to his aid to help pincer lee in between them , but lee boldly divided his forces once again and met Sedgwick out at Salem Church and forced him on the defensive and then forced his withdrawal back across the Rappahannock river . And then Hooker see Sedgwick packing it in follow suit and completes the tactical defeat . And this is the Battle of Chancellorsville and this took place in May of 18 16 63 just incredible . Um inferior forces numbers of forces , I should say , uh splits his forces . I mean , everything li did goes counter to what um what you would normally and um but looking back on it , you know , it , it worked , so it was brilliant . You know , if it didn't work , they probably would've been relieved of command . But no , that's just amazing . And uh a lot of deception there again . So , I mean , deception is such a big part of , of warfare . Um and it's striking knowing as you mentioned that um that Hooker had such great intelligence , he didn't write , he had it and he used it to steal a march . But at that point , of course , the intelligence battle becomes tactical and still , uh you know , cavalry , He had his cavalry under Stoneman making some longer incursions toward Richmond trying to draw off some of lee's forces that way and cut their lines of supply . Stoneman didn't exactly succeed in his mission either . And so that , you know , unfortunately did not work well for Hooker , Hooker made a lot of great reforms in the army of the potomac . The Bureau of Military Information , he implemented a furlough program . He tightened the operational security . Uh He he made a lot of great improvements that would have lasting effects to the benefit of the army of the potomac . But as he himself said in the Battle of Chancellorsville , he lost confidence in joe Hooker right at a crisis of confidence is something that we see plaguing these army commanders that plagued burnside . It played mcclelland right , But it's understandable to when we think about the fact that these men are commanding massive forces on a scale that they had never experienced before this . So it really is a baptism by fire in many respects . And so at this point , this great , amazing victory . Uh , it's got to embolden lee . So what , what , what's his next , His next move ? It most certainly does . And lee's next move , of course , is now he sees an opportunity to try to take the fight back into the north in the second attempt to invade the north . Um , but also we have to keep in mind what is happening out west and Grant is now putting pressure on Vicksburg and his objective is to take Vicksburg . And so now jefferson , Davis and robert E lee are in Richmond discussing stuff Strategy . Should they go to the aid of Vicksburg or should they press the attack up into the north and they decide for the latter over the former as having the best effect . Lee didn't think he could get there in enough time with enough to be able to to make a difference . Grant in the mean , in the meantime , since the winter of 1862 Had been working to take Vicksburg and grant began perhaps the greatest military campaign of his entire career to take Vicksburg on the Mississippi River . Uh he had 17,000 men at Corinth , 7000 at Memphis and 24,000 dispersed from Mississippi to Illinois in the winter of 1862 to free his veteran units . For the campaign , he put his newest regiments on garrison duty and his troops rebuilt the rail lines to facilitate the onward movement of troops and supplies towards Vicksburg . Something that we haven't touched on exactly is we've we've we've mentioned the railroads , we've mentioned telegraph , but two critically important pieces of technology that um , the both armies . But I think the Union Army especially really used to their advantage and made a huge difference . Absolutely . And and you know , the thing about it though , of course , is even with these technological advances , there's vulnerabilities right to rely on the rail lines means you have to create your depots along those lines , then you have to secure those depots and the longer your lines become the more vulnerable they are to confederate cavalry raids . Right ? So , you know , as Grant's line of supply grows to over 200 miles . The cost comes back to him in what he loses in the confederate cavalry and gorilla raids by guys like Nathan Bedford Forrest and General Earl Van Dorn . And so uh there's a number of efforts to try to take Vicksburg . Sherman's efforts under Grant form uh trying to take it from the north take the form of a river born expedition at Chickasaw Bayou with the Yazoo River that fails against confederate dug in defenses . And uh the struggle continues into 18 63 . In the final act of a two year contest for control of the Mississippi River . Earlier , naval battles in New Orleans and Memphis destroyed . Most of the confederacy is naval our on the river . And then the confederates would have to rely on the river shore batteries to challenge union . Control of the Mississippi . Grant would make five attempts , collectively known as the Bayou expeditions to get his army out of the malarial floodplain on the west bank of the Mississippi over to the eastern side of the river to assault Vicksburg from the landward side . What finally worked was a daring land movement by Grant's entire main body down the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River . And by 16 to 17 april Grant had his army in position on the Louisiana shore line called for the navy transport of Admiral David Porter porter ships to include his gunboats as well as his transports ran the confederate blockade and escape past the shore batteries . Vicksburg picked up Grant's troops and finally delivered them to the east side of the river into Mississippi . Grant's army moved quickly after that . They are living off the land at this point . So they don't have the logistical tether to contend with . And they earn quick victories at Jackson , Champion Hill and Black River Bridge forcing pemberton's army into Vicksburg where their defenses are quite formidable . Grant on 18 may encircles the city and begins a series of assaults that that are fruitless and trying to take those , those formidable fortifications . But he also reopens the river borne supply route for his army and then settles into the siege that will culminate in the capitulation of Vicksburg on July IV and right after another significant victory . So let's get to let's move back to the east . And um so at the same time that Grant is now surrounding laying siege to Vicksburg . Um lee's forces are moving north again describe that movement and so robert E lee coming off his most excellent victory at Chancellorsville , seized the opportunity and has the green light from Jefferson Davis to move north . Once again , he starts from Culpeper Court House in Virginia and and makes some leaks to the press about doing some raids in that area , which General Hooker's army tends to take it for face value , at least for a little while , and he sends his cavalry out there . The cavalry has been reorganized into a cavalry corps under General Alfred Pleasanton and the cavalry corps . The army of the potomac has really come into its own by this time . And uh they fight a the largest cavalry battle in North America at a place called Brandy Station where they nearly capture the vaunted cavalry commander of the confederacy , Jeb Stuart and embarrass him in in this engagement and many in the Southern Press are calling for Stuart to do something grand to redeem himself all the while this cast , you know , a little attention on that . And , and the movement of the army of northern Virginia begins , uh , the army of northern Virginia has undergone a tremendous reorganization in the wake of Chancellorsville with the loss of Stonewall . Jackson , uh , lee has reorganized his army into three cores with of course , his old warhorse , Longstreet , still commanding what is known now known as the First Corps . The Second Corps , Jackson's old core now divides into two cores . The second corps under uh , under uh General You'll , and then the final corps under General Ambrose Hill . And so these men will lead the campaign . You'll score steps off first into the Shenandoah Valley using the Blue ridge mountains to mask their movements as they , as they crossed the potomac into Maryland and then eventually into pennsylvania . You als troops contain most of the veterans of the Shenandoah Valley campaign . So they're the logical people to lead this attack . This this movement , I should say , this operational movement into northern territory . What , what was Lee's goal ? What was , what was he trying to do ? Lee's goal in , in uh , invading the north . Once again is very similar to his 1862 goals . The idea being that he can threaten Washington . He can threaten Baltimore . He can draw the army of the potomac out into open battle on ground of his choosing where hopefully he can destroy it . That is what he wants to do . Um And and threatened Dc threatened Baltimore threatened philadelphia . Even any threat to any one of those cities um might earn a certain measure of respect . It would it would undermine northern support for the war and it might still garner some measure of foreign support . And so , you know , but lee is most focused on the fact that there's an election coming and that hit that a victory on union soil might just be enough to make them want to negotiate for peace on terms favorable to the south . More along the democratic line of thinking . And then as these forces are moving north through the Shenandoah Valley , um what are the Union forces doing ? The Union forces are shadowing and they are trying to get a look at what's happening right through different passes in the Blue Ridge Mountains . But it's really a cat and mouse game between the cavalry units of pleasant in and Stewart and Stewart is of course screening the movements of the army of Northern Virginia as are parts of long streets core . Both do a good job of , of making those screening movements . However , don't forget the Bureau of Military Information is very active with agents infiltrating into the confederate lines and the confederate camps . They're capturing stragglers , they're capturing escaped slaves and they're interrogating prisoners and getting information on the movements of the army of northern Virginia . So much so in fact that they're that they're getting a good read . Especially as they move into Union Territory and and and a lot of Hooker's Army , Hooker's army actually gets across the potomac and its entirety even before the confederates . Yeah . And now that they're in Union Territory , uh least facing the same issues he had a year ago when when they were up there , as you just mentioned , it's they're not as hospitable towards them . But the intelligence is so much better for the Union side . Absolutely . And add to that , the fact that Jeb Stuart gets permission to go on a cavalry raid to which he uses to try to redeem himself for what happened at Brandy station . But also uh Stuart underestimates the rapidity with which Hooker's army is crossing the potomac . And at a point where Stewart is already into his raid , he had strict orders from lee to that . He was not to allow the army of the potomac to get between him and lee if that were the case , he was to rejoin lee's main body and continue to screen the movement north . But at a certain point , Stewart reaches a point where too much of the army of the potomac is between him and lee and the messages . And the intelligence he's trying to send a li by courier never get through . Yeah , lee basically became blind um for during these very important period of time when the seventh corps of the army of the potomac are getting close . So now they're up and they're in pennsylvania and there's this little meeting engagement that happens at at a crossroads . And let's just talk about that . You know , how how did that battle layout ? So , so for the battle of Gettysburg , it is the classic definition of a meeting engagement where the commanders don't necessarily expect or want to fight at that given location . But but the fact that they meet there and then begin to skirmish and then deploy into line of battle makes it the result . Um General Meade had a much better read on general lee than lee had on him . General Meade who had been in command all three days before the battle was joined . And he replaces joseph Hooker Hooker who was adamant that he needed more reinforcements and if he couldn't be given the those reinforcements he wanted to be relieved kinda , in my view , is a convenient out for General Hooker who I think doubted himself . Yes , but again , Hooker had made some lasting contributions that would benefit the army of the potomac . But now General Meade , he's a seasoned commander who has had experience at the division level and the core level in battle and so he is definitely a very good choice to succeed Hooker and he immediately makes some changes in the headquarter staff and begins to absorb the intel it and realize that he is very close to robert e lee and a fight is going to happen very soon me decides he will try to defend at a line called big pipe creek , astride the approaches to Baltimore and Washington . But at the same time , he has his army organized in two wings and he has his wing commander , john Reynolds commanding the first Corps , the third corps in the 11th corps on his left side closest to robert E . Lee . And he knows that wing will be the first to make contact . And he trusts General Reynolds , and Reynolds trusts his cavalry commander , john Buford . And when they when they get into the crossroads there at the town of Gettysburg , uh Buford realizes that he has encountered the army of northern Virginia , that the infantry units uh will continue to come down the approaches from from the west from Chambersburg and that there will most likely be a fight there . Yeah , he he can envision it . It's amazing Buford was , what a tactical genius he was absolutely , but he knew he was understand under um undermanned At the time . So this is around 30 June , I believe 1863 and he senses what's about to happen . Uh but he knows he can't defend . So what does he do ? He he knows what he can do is he can buy time . His his men have breech loading carbines that have a much faster rate of fire than your normal rifled musket and give them the appearance of being a much larger , more powerful unit than they actually are . Again , technology advances can really come into play here . Exactly . And so they will trade space for time . Just enough time for Reynolds to be able to come up with his infantry and and really turn this into a bonafide fight . And more and more forces will be fed in on on both sides at day one on july the first from both the west and of course the approach from the north as you'll score enters the battle space . In the meantime , Meade will send his trusted agent Winfield Scott Hancock , to go and ascertain what is happening on the battlefield and make the crucial decision on whether or not they stick with the big pipe creek plan or move the army forward to Gettysburg and of course they decide for the latter option . Yeah , So on the first , what happens ? So on the first of july , of course Buford is successful . Reynolds gets there in time to oppose the approach of a p hill's corps . There's some some fighting there in in the in the Herbst woods along Mcpherson's ridge . Reynolds is killed instantly by a confederate sharpshooter while he's trying to in place his units there , but he has some veteran units there that acquit themselves well and fight well , uh they oppose that , that confederate attack from the from the west . Meanwhile , from the north General , you'll score approaches the battlefield upon the flank of the first corps , an ideal position if you're if you're the confederate second Corps , uh and they have to get their artillery in place and and and try to to move against that that first corps flank . Uh General Doubleday who succeeds . Reynolds in command , addresses that threat . In the meantime , Jenna Oliver Otis Howard of the 11th Corps moves into Gettysburg and realizes the significance of Cemetery Hill , the piece of key terrain that dominates the entire Gettysburg battlefield , correct . And he and he realizes , and he has the good sense to leave one of his divisions there to fortify that position and send his remaining two divisions forward to the north to counter you'll zah pro and try to tie in with the first corps . But the confederates will do a better job of massing their forces faster than the Union can . And they begin to push the 11th Corps begins to fold in and then the first corps , after six hours of hard fighting , will do the same , but they will fall back to that secure position along Cemetery Hill and then the adjacent cults hill . And then we'll begin to see see the Fish hook defensive line that we all know so well begin to take shape as we get ready for the day to fighting . And and and the irony in all this to me is is that um the confederates were attacking from the north and that was the Union that was defending from the south is absolutely right . It is ironic , ironic here . Alright , so day the end of day one , Union forces are now up on Seminary Cemetery Cemetery Ridge . And as you mentioned , the fishhook . So , and and that runs north south . Is it basically right ? It's the barb of the hook is at Cults Hill , it curls around on the Cemetery Hill , and then the shank of the hook runs along Cemetery Ridge and termine at the round top , at the round tops . Right . So day two , what happens day two of the fighting lee looks at that defensive line . He actually sends a young engineer , Captain Captain Samuel johnston out on a reconnaissance mission at o dark 30 that morning , johnston comes back and reports that the the Union flank is up near the Kadoorie farm house and unit and Union troops are aligning along the Emmitsburg Road , the road between Seminary Ridge where the confederates are and Cemetery Ridge where the Union folks are . This report is absolutely wrong . He also reports that there's no troops in the vicinity of little round top , and the fact of the matter was the Union Third Corps and 12th Corps were encamped in the low ground just below the hill . You would have to have been a blind man not to have seen that . So , for whatever reason , either Captain johnston was lying through his teeth , which I find unlikely because he was a very trusted subordinate that had been used on similar missions before . I think he got lost in the fog in the , in the dark morning hours and may have gone to the wrong location . He claims that he rode to the top of little round top . He was asked point blank , but I don't , I don't know . He , I I think he got lost or Miss or e ent id needless to say lee formulates his attack plan on the basis of that flawed reconnaissance . His plan is to attack the flanks . He wants Longstreet to attack the left flank which he believed would be up there by the Kadoorie farm house and then he wants um you'll to attack cults hill on the opposite flank as a diversion . But to exploit any success he might have there . Longstreet does not buy into this plan . He feels like the Union has the advantage in a formidable defensive position and he would like to relocate to ground of their choosing . But lee will not have it . Uh And when Longstreet finally gets his , his troops into position after dragging his feet , he comes to the startling realization that the intelligence that they based their plan on was totally wrong . He sees Daniel sickles core now moved out into the peach orchard and so now he has to adjust his lines and move them further to the south and now the round tops that were not part of the plan in the beginning now have to be addressed as part of the plan and so on that basis they begin to prepare their attacks , but Long streets not in action until four o'clock that afternoon . And lee had wanted movement much , much earlier than that . Wasn't there an issue ? Some something about a counter march with Longstreet had noticed union signal station on top of little round top and realized that his units would be visible to that signal station . In fact they were . But he turned around and changed his route of march . Now he could have done that a lot more efficiently and quickly , but he wanted to keep the same order of march of his units . And so that cost him a tremendous amount of time getting taken the more circuitous route off of Hairs Ridge to move into position on seminary ridge . Um , and the heat of the day . It was , yeah , it wasn't a pretty picture . That's , that's correct . And these guys , many of these units , you know , they've been marching all the way to the battlefield and especially some of the Alabama regiments had not had a chance to replenish their water and now they're gonna go right into battle . Not a recipe for success . Let's talk about the attack on that day . What happened . So obviously Long Streets attack is , is the main effort and they step off first . General Hood's Division . Uh , it's going to be an attack in echelon , which means it's gonna start and work its way from right to left against the flank of the federal position . Hood's division is on the far right of the confederate attack . And so they move in first . Hood is wounded almost immediately . He's out of the picture . And so now it devolves upon his brigade commanders and and these guys are getting all discombobulated because the firing has started , artilleries is now firing . Smoke is obscuring the battlefield and they're going through the broken terrain uh that they face moving off of uh of uh the ridge line moving towards the round tops and they get lost in the woods there . And some of the units that are supposed to go to the round tops end up getting sucked into the battle at the Devil's Den , the rocky outcroppings there and others vice versa gets sucked into the the little round top fight . Uh Suffice to say the attack against little round top is a very near run thing . Uh The Union General Governor K Warren , the chief engineer of the army of the potomac , was sent there by General Meade to ascertain the situation because meat had gone out to have a very one way discussion with General dan sickles for him moving into the peach orchard against his orders . Um And Sickles had done that because he was fearful that artillery would be placed on that elevated position that could inundate his line much like it had at Chancellorsville at a place called hazel Grove , but Meade did not agree with that , nor did he authorize it and Sickles did it anyway , as he's out there dressing down sickles , he realizes , mead realizes that little round top is uncovered and so he sends warren to go see to it and see what needs to be done . When warren gets there , he fires an artillery volley in the direction of the confederate line and and he sees the flinching and the gleaming of the bayonets of the confederate units that have begun their movement and realizes that there are massive confederate units on their way towards little round top and there's nothing up there . So now warren immediately takes the nearest units of the fifth corps that are coming to arrive to backfill sickles . He takes them and takes strong Vincent's brigade and places them on the southern southern end of little round top . And that of course has the 20th maine regiment , the 83rd pennsylvania , the 44th new york and the 16th michigan regiments all from left to right from the southern spur around the south end of the hill there in place no more than 15 minutes before the attack hits them . The Texans hit first against the side of the 16th michigan in the 44th New york , um and units from Stephen weed's brigade follow Vincent's brigade up to the top , a little round top and come to the relief of those regiments , uh with guys like patio Rourke that let it charge and these guys go right into the fight . They haven't loaded their weapons , some of them , some of them don't even have their bayonets fixed and they're going in with club weapons , but they managed to quell that attack . And then finally , of course , the , the part of the defense that's known to so many people is the 20th Maine's ardent defense against the 47th and 15th Alabama regiments , Joshua , Lawrence Chamberlain uh has his line . Uh the 47th hits him first on the right of his line and then finally , uh the 15th Alabama attempts to get around his flank . Uh they make a number of assaults against his position . When he's out of ammunition , he he orders a bayonet assault and the and the left flank of his line swings like a door on a hinge and sweeps the 15th alabamians down . And a company B of the 20th Maine , which was Chamberlain's insurance policy , was placed on flank security and they knew just the right time at which to attack the retreating confederates and break their back and force that attack to falter . And so let's talk about the third day , the pivotal day of the battle . Absolutely . So one other thing I'll mention on on day two is there was another flank attack against the one 37th new york under Colonel David Ireland at culp cell that is equally critical to the success of of saving the Union line on day two on day three lee's plan is to attack the flanks again . He thought he was that close , even though maybe not so much , but his idea was he would hit the flanks again . However , as Union forces that had had gone to bailout Sickles , the 12th corps had left Cults Hill gone to Sickles Aid and now they are returning to their positions at Cults Hill . They are now at a point where they're gonna initiate the attack on day three . And then this discourages Robert E . Lee thinking that meat has now reinforced on his flanks so he must be weak in the center . This gives him the impetus to design what we know as Pickett's Charge or Long Streets assault trying to break the center of the Federal line with 15,000 troops from George Pickett's division which was the only division that had not yet been engaged and with some elements of a P Hill's corps under J johnston Pettigrew and Isaac trimble basically making a two pronged assault from Seminary Ridge , converging on a landmark known as the cops of trees at the center of the line on Cemetery ridge . What what's interesting here is on the night of july , the second George Meade has a council of his corps commanders at the Lydia Leister house on the backside of Cemetery ridge . And they have a piece two pieces of intelligence from Colonel George Sharp in the Bureau of Military Information . These two pieces of information are that they have taken prisoners from every element of the army of northern Virginia except George Pickett's division . They have also intercepted a confederate courier from Richmond with a note from jefferson Davis for robert E lee telling robert E lee that Richmond has nothing left to send him in the way of reinforcements . They know this before lee does so , knowing those two things that Pickett's troops are the only fresh troops that are left and that nothing else is coming . Meade knows he has to entire cores that he hasn't used yet that are fresh and ready to go . And he tells john gibbon , knowing that Pickett's boys are across the way he said , john , if we are attacked tomorrow , it's going to be in your sector . Exactly . But Longstreet did not necessarily agree with this plan . Longstreet and Longstreet , of course , voices that council to robert E lee saying no , 15,000 men ever made can take that position . I believe this attack will fail . And yet lee insists , and there's nothing left for Longstreet to do but to order the attack , which he does with a head nod , because he can't even bring himself to articulate the order to pick it . And so they make the attack . And I think a lot of people could predict what was going to happen . We get into Pickett's charge and and basically what happens . So in a matter as as Pickets units move from their position on Seminary ridge near the spangler Farm . They come out of the Swales down there and they go through a series of undulating terrain features that at times masked them and cover them from confederate fire . And at other times they're viz , but by the time they reach the Emmitsburg road , they have endured long range ordinance and artillery fire . They're now coming into short range artillery fire . And as they crossed the Emmitsburg road , they come under the range of aimed musket fire in addition to even closer artillery batteries along the ridge . And so in a matter of 20 minutes from crossing the Emmitsburg road , that engagement is decided and Pickett's division absorbs 60% casualties and and and and the and the folks , the north Carolinians under Pettigrew and Isaac trimble endures similar , similar casualties . And then as there are all retreating . What does lee say to the troops ? Lee basically says , it is all my fault . I thought my men were invincible and I think that's a very honest and candid statement on the part of robert , e lee , all things considered . So this is , this becomes a huge union victory . Um , and what does the lee's army do ? So on july the fourth ? Um , it's a , it's a terrible torrential rain . Uh , everybody's policing up their casualties , policing up the battlefield as best they can . Some of the poor wounded that are stuck in some of these areas prone to flash flooding are drowning because they can't be saved in time . Lee vacates the town of Gettysburg . And then , and then the next day there on the roads back , uh the Fairfield Road and the road back through Cash Town trying to get back through the south mountain passes and and hit the approaches to the potomac river . Me does pursue . A lot of people say , oh me doesn't pursue him , He does pursue , but it's at a there , there's hesitancy there . He sends Sedgwick's core . But as they enter the south mountain passes , Sedgwick realizes his forces are vulnerable because that's a formidable defensive position and he doesn't want to absorb a whole bunch of casualties . After three days of bloodletting at Gettysburg . So meat makes the decision to move his forces on the east side of South Mountain down to the old south mountain battlefield near Antietam and they cross , they're through the same gaps , Turner's Gap , Fox's Gap and lease units are moving towards the potomac river crossing at Williamsport . The federal cavalry gets there before Lien destroys the pontoon bridges over the , over the potomac . However , lee has enough time because the infantry has not caught up to the cavalry , he digs in and he repairs those pontoon bridges and as Meade's units arrive , me decides once they're there that lee's defensive positions are formidable enough that he's gonna wait one more day for better weather before he assaults and everybody's afraid of a pickett's charge in reverse and tentative about the plan . Nonetheless , me decides he's gonna wait 24 hours an attack , but that 24 hours was all Robert E . Lee needed , needed to escape across the river again . Much to Lincoln's sugar in . Yes , yeah , I know there's a lot of talk about me could have followed him up and destroyed the army . But um , um , great victory for the Union , often referred to as a turning point of the war at that point . Um , but now at the same time out west , we got another huge victory . Absolutely . So on july the 4th 18 63 Vicksburg finally falls after weeks of siege where the people are living off a horse meat and living in caves , they've dug out of the side of the hills to to get out of the artillery bombardment . The stranglehold has had its effect . Pemberton's army is surrendering . So the Lincoln administration is ecstatic . Mead has won the field at Gettysburg the next day . They get the report that Grant has taken Vicksburg . So now Lincoln is even more anxious and adamant that if Meade could just hit lee and destroy him , that they'll end the war that day . Right . And and it just doesn't happen that way . And and the war of course goes on for two more bloody years , two more years and we'll start covering those in the next episode . But before we close out of this one , who trivia trivia time here . What what piece of trivia do you have for us ? So allow me to talk talk a little bit about dan sickles . The third corps Commander on february 27th , 18 59 2 years before the Civil war congressman Daniel Sickles of new york actually shot his wife's lover , Philip Barton Key , the second U . S . Attorney for the District of Columbia and son of star spangled banner author , Francis scott Key shot him several times until dead in Lafayette Square . Now , not far from the White House Sickles was later found innocent of the first degree murder charge by being not guilty due to temporary insanity . The first person in the history of american jurisprudence to be exonerated of murder on that basis . And the lawyer that got him off was none other than Edwin Stanton . Abraham , Lincoln's Secretary of war . Oh wow , you're gonna say jefferson . Davis , wow , that's that's pretty fascinating . Alright , well , doctor Knight , thank you so much . This has been great insights on our overview of 18 , late 18 62 through the pivotal battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg . Um So thank you so much for your insights today and if anyone wants to learn more about the army in the Civil war and learn more about army history in general , then please explore our website at history dot army dot mil . And if you want to experience army history every day , then visit our social media sites on facebook twitter and instagram and you can join us any time on these podcasts for more in depth discussions as we cover topics from all eras of U . S . Army history examining battles , soldier experiences , equipment , weapons and tactics . Thanks for joining us today on the United States Army history and Heritage podcast for the Center of Military History , I'm the Reynolds and until next time we're history . The views expressed in this podcast reflect those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views , policies or opinions of the US Army or Department of Defense . 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