We were down there for a week, on the location, filming. You wouldn't believe, how long it took just to film, that little bit of scene? Most of the bayonets, and even some of the rifles, were rubber. It was an extraordinary experience, and one I'm glad to be a part of. Huzzah, for the Mifflin Guard! "FREDERICKSBURG"!!
@@TOCR815 I don't know about having the same professor at WP. Maybe they did, Meade entered WP several years after Lee graduated. I think it's really about Meade's competence as a battlefield commander. He was a brilliant strategist and had studied Lee's tactics. Since Lee was unsuccessful on the flanks, and had not withdrawn on the 3rd day, it was a logical assumption that Lee would attempt a direct assault. I think Meade understood Lee as a proud and cocky commander who would not leave the field defeated. So, Meade waited for him to make his move and he called it perfectly.
@@douglaslally156 I think you're giving Meade a little too much credit. If he was as competent as you say then he wouldn't have been replaced by Grant soon after.
The " American Civil War " was a very sad , and bloody time in our young nations history. Everytime I watch these documentaries about " The War Between The States " I get very emotional ; I get very choked up seeing brave , gallant troops on both sides sacrificing their precious souls in one of the bloodiest conflicts of our nation ,band of the world?
When I visited Gettysburg some years ago, I was surprised to find a monument marking the place Armistead fell. For me, it was the most moving part of my visit.
What also gets me about this scene (and the soundtrack needs mention in any and all cases of praise for this film while I'm here) is how Armistead - and Kemper, almost - are left behind as the Reb wave is stopped and made to recede. "Lo" sits dying while the Union troops swarm by to retake the wall* and push the wave back down the hill. Makes the whole "High Watermark of the Confederacy" come to life in another light. *From what I've read, having not been to the battlefield, Armistead fell at a spot a bit further into the Union position that portrayed here.
JagerLange He did fall further in. He also was a Free Mason. When he was hit he yelled out, at some point, "My mother is a widow", the FM distress call. Union Free Masons hearing this call then attended to him and brought him behind the Union line to safety but his wound proved mortal.
If you ever get a chance, visit Gettysburg. It is an amazing place. I've been to the stone wall and viewed it from both sides. Little Round Top is very difficult terrain to climb under fire.
Yeah, as a vet and a history buff, you can see why the South lost the war sitting on Little Round Top. Attacking that position with strong, well rested troops and superior numbers would have been borderline insane. Attacking it with dehydrated, exhausted men with no clear advantage was beyond insanity. More idiocy was to come.
I've had a chance to walk that field. From the Confederate position Little Round Top looks like a walk across gently sloping ground. You can't see the killing field that actually exists going up that hill. Similar going toward the Angle. There was a young couple decided to try to run from the Confederate side across to the grove of trees. Watching how long it took for this young couple, in shorts and tee shirts to make that run, with other visitors cheering them on, made you realize how difficult it must have been under fire, in heavy clothes, carrying arms and ammo. The troops who survived to make it across must have been spent by the time they reached the wall.
What goes undocumented in the film is that Kemper - who from his final scene with Lee, is made out to be mortally wounded - actually survived the battle, was captured in the retreat while still incapacitated, was exchanged in a prisoner swap and lived out the war and died in 1895. I always wonder why he didn't rate a credits endnote for this.
@@Christendom88 More than just those three got endnotes though. Harrison got one and that's probably just because it was an interesting inclusion, as Kemper's would have been.
Pickett's change (in this move), the assault on Normandy Beach (Saving Pvt Ryan), attract on Pearl Harbor, the assault by the 54th MASS. (in Glory) was n is one of heart wrenching military moves for me
civil war is the most heartbreaking of all wars . brothers killing brothers . generations of hate left over . so very very sad . RIP all those brave men who fought to protect others .
Brothers fighting brothers? Maybe in Kentucky. Maybe in Tennesee. Maybe in Missouri. So that was in the Western theatre, not at Gettysburg. I got more sympathy for the brother who didn't like slavery.
@Cubic Tosser2001 I cannot respect the Confederacy. Precisely because of the issue of slavery. This could have been avoided had slavery been abolished. One cannot own another human being and not expect conflict.
Who else felt terrible for Pickett when he realized his men were being slaughtered? "What's happening? I can't see what's happening to my boys! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MY BOYS?!"
sgauden02 Several years after the war a reporter asked Pickett why the attack had failed. His answer was perfect, "I always believed the Yankees had something to do with it."
Imagine being a regular soldier in these battles over 4 years. Marching into cannon, rifle, and bayonet. My grandfather did. Americans did in WWI, WWII, Korea, & Vietnam. Millions killed and maimed on both sides. There is no glory in war for the common soldier.
@@u.s.paratroops4633 the moving the 20th Maine to behind the Federal center never actually happened; it was something that Shaara added because Chamberlin was a POV character. They moved to occupy the summit of Big Round Top the evening of the 2nd skirmishing with an unit from Texas that night and into the morning.
@@minsapint8007wrong. Sorry, just wrong. The south was invaded. Lincoln himself owned slaves at the beginning of the war. The South had brooded under tariffs, taxes, and the government’s refusal to allow it to sell their cotton to England. Slavery was a useful narrative that still to this day is promoted as the reason for the war. Doing one’s homework with an open mind helps a great deal.
Around 12,500 Reb's started this charge and the losses in total was around 63%; with around 1,123 KIA, 4,019 WIA and 3,750 taken as prisoners. It is only due to General Meade's newest to Commander of the Army that he was slow in pursuing Lee's forces, because if he did the War probably would have ended far sooner. The Confederates had taken a beating with around 23,000 to maybe 28,000 losses. What also happened during this timeframe was the Siege of Vicksburg ended. So the beginning of July 1863 saw two major losses for the Confederates. Oh and Lincoln finally found his General to lead the Army of the Potomac, General Grant. Someone who was going to take the Army and actually use it. Sure he decided on a War of Attrition and it took nearly two more years of fighting before the War ended. But the above two battles saw the beginning of the War since the South never really recovered from these two defeats.
I visited one civil war place . Fort Donleson Dover Tennessee that's where my great grandfather fought at with the 11th Illinois volunteers infantry regiment company B . I like to visit Gettysburg and Custer's last stand . Before my time is up
Key moment in the battle. A Teenager’s Guide to the Civil War: A History Book for Teens gives an overview history of the Civil War written specifically for teens.
Picketts Charge was truly a fool's errand. No way 13,000 men could take such a formidable position against an entrenched force possessing superior firepower. I have walked the charge twice and left so impressed by the bravery on both sides. An American tragedy.
A Commander truly cares when he calls his troops his boys. Just think about it. He's got those men under his command, he's probably seen and done training with them. I've done a bit of military training with others, and though it's had some hard moments it really built a family-like relationship. To see that torn apart on such a massacre assault that provided naught but loss...think about that.
@@jebbroham1776 - objectively, we are all animals here. It's my plessure to insult a confederate-sympathizing piece of trash such as yourself. It's also my pleasure to read about and see on screen confederate generals and personnel being eviscerated as they deserved
Just imagine if Lee had taken Longstreets advice and had moved south into Maryland and had gone on the defensive and forced Meade to attack in order to protect Washington ?
Would have made no difference. Washington DC was the most fortified city on earth at the time. Longstreet's maneuver would have sandwiched the ANV between fortress DC and the AOP with no method of resupply or escape. There was no way for the ANV to win in either scenario.
Lee had the option to break contact whenever he wanted. If he had headed east Meade would have had to follow and Lee could have picked more favorable ground on which to wage battle, someplace where the Union forces would have had to be the attackers and the Confederates would be the ones with the advantages that come with defending.
I think it would have ended slavery inevitably. Cheap free labor would have won out, and the Europeans that bought cotton tended to not like slavery. Both social and more importantly...economical factors would have decided the outcome of slavery in due time.
Still better than a two nation America. Look at all the things our nation has accomplished over the years and even now. We may have a squabble of politics but the impact the USA has had on the world has been far reaching. How much of that is good and bad is left to debate.
The sooner a major defeat came,would hopefully put and end to this bloody conflict.. brother against brother..this movie was my father's favorite,we watched it many times
Having been to Gettysburg roughly 7 times (lives in Pennsylvania) last time was in February, and being to the Union wall where the rebels desperately held the line for only minutes that felt like seconds. I can still feel the presence of great suffering and struggle. It's crazy what the union put into their cannons. The union cannons they would have a chain cannon ball. They'd stuff the chainball into two separate cannons only way if it worked was if both cannons fired at the exact same time. Else the chain would rip the boys in blue apart violently, and fling back. Now if the cannons fired at the same time they would wipe out 20 men in a single hit. The artillery was also was filled with bits of shrapnel, bullets, metal power, even some rocks and twigs. Could blow through a man's body in multiple places.
I agree with Bo Zo. They loaded their cannon with canister, which turned it into a giant blunderbuss/shotgun but not with "chain cannon ball" or twigs and rocks.
You're partially correct. There was a projectile using two solid shot balls connected with a chain, the idea being that the balls would swirl upon leaving the muzzle and the chain would mow down concentrations of troops. The Union did use these at Gettysburg but only at short range since they were not very accurate. But there was never any such weapon utilizing two cannon barrels. There was also a variant connecting two solid shot balls with a steel bar.
Yes, I’m aware some of you will disagree, but, (reading some of the comments below), I have some difficulty feeling sorry for Pickett. He had been nagging Longstreet and Lee to get him into the fight, at no stage did he raise any concerns about what was being proposed and was eager to get on with it. Longstreet had major concerns with the assault and his behavior towards Lee in the hours before the attack bordered on insubordination. When it all went to custard Pickett blamed Lee and his relationship with Lee was never repaired. I’ve been to Gettysburg a couple of times.. when you look over that part of the ground you wonder how they ever believed the assault would be successful. Many of the men in that Confederate army had been at Fredericksburg and had seen first hand what the result of massed troops assaulting a defensive walled position and massed artillery would be.
Yeah, I went there last year. Toured every part of the battlefield and my consistent thought was how idiotic the Confederates must have been to think they could have carried the day at any point. It completely changed my opinion of Lee from genius to just lucky. I think after Buford's stand it should have been obvious that the jig was up and they should have maneuvered to fight on another battlefield. But regardless, in 1863 it was pretty obvious the hammer was going to fall on Lee SOMEWHERE that year. The Union had started to grt their shit together. Grant sank that point at Vicksburg even if Gettysburg was avoided.
Yeah, I've been on top of that hill and except for the paved road I think it looks like it did that day. The charge is too far over completely open ground. I know Lee didn't have that viewpoint, but I don't know what he was thinking.
@@streetsofsouthphilly Shelby Foote said in a documentary that 'once Lee's blood was up, there was no stopping him'. He believed that his army was invincible and in an act of sheer arrogance and desperation he ordered that charge. Had they withdrawn and fought closer to Harrisburg or even south toward the Potomac the story might have been much different.
@@andyorwig You are quite correct. The other thing was this. The army of the Potomac had always retreated before. Now he had been repulsed twice in two days by the army that he's always beaten so yeah he was mad and he let that override his command sense.
@@jamesbutler8821 My most consistent thought about all this is how idiotic the Confederates must have been to commit treason over the right to own people as property.
wieso eigentlich, nur weil alle in amerika lebten sind es gleich brüder??? siedler aus england, irland, frankreich, deutschland, italien und vielen weiteren europäischen staaten machten damals den großteil der bevölkerung aus - ein mischmasch, wo sind das brüder wenn dann müsste ja jeder europäische konflikt auch als bruderkrieg angesehen werden ( woher ja die siedler kamen ), oder ein krieg der von der gleichen völkergruppe geführt werden ( wie germanisches blut, keltisches blut, slavisches usw ) z.b. der deutsch-dänische krieg, der deutsch-österreichiche krieg, der polnisch-russische krieg usw dieses bruder gegen bruder zieht da nicht wirklich, wenn dann kann man in europa viel eher davon sprechen
I have an degree in History from the Sao Paulo university and have researched this war for years. The Confederates themselves stated they fought to keep slavery as It was. It is in their speeches and in their Constitution. Denial of that only began after blatant racism stopped being mainstream in the USA.
Interesting how Lee thought Napoleonic tactics would work for him when they had failed the French with massive losses. Putting his troops in column formation against an entrenched enemy with superior firepower. Should have gone home to Virginia.
At 1:10 they're literally just milling around lol. They're not even fighting. You can even see one Confederate soldier politely brushing past all the Union soldiers trying to get through. "Excuse me, excuse me, coming through. I'm terribly sorry about this, excuse me. Just gonna slip past ya here."
Bayonet wounds accounted for around 2% of fatalities during the war. It was rare enough to where surgeons would actually note them in their diaries. Usually the defending unit would break before the attacker got close enough to actually engage in close combat. And if the defender didn't break, suffice to say the attacker is probably going to be very outnumbered and, discretion being the better part of valor, would probably give up by that point.
Swirling melee combat very rarely happened during the American Civil War. The bayonet accounted for around 2% of the causalities during the war. Normally when a bayonet charge happened those on the receiving end would break before the attacker made it into close combat. If the defender didn't break the attacker would have usually been spent and outnumbered and would most likely give up at that point. One of the good things about Gettysburg is that they didn't over dramatize the close combat.
From what I've read, the artillery barrage was supposed to soften up the defense and create some chaos in the Union front. However, much of the cannon fire overshot the Union frontal defense rather than landing on it. On the third day a coordinated attack was to take place on the center and right flank of the Union position anchored by Culp's Hill. However, the attacks did not occur at the same time. The Culp's Hill attack came in the morning and Pickett charging the center came in the afternoon, enabling the Union lines to redeploy reserves. The failure to coordinate the attacks to happen at the same time doomed the third day for the Confederates. From a broader perspective, as the film touched on, Lee knew he would not have a better equipped army than the one he had at Gettysburg. It was now or never to try and finish things. The stunning Confederate victory at Chancellorsville a few weeks earlier probably also added to Lee's feeling that he could achieve success. In retrospect, Longstreet's proposal (in the film) to redeploy and try to goad Meade into attacking on ground of Lee's choosing seems like a much better plan. There are many books that discuss the reasons for the outcome on the third day and they supply a wide range of opinions.
Lee was fully committed to the battle by the third day and would not withdraw. He needed a decisive victory on northern soil and this was the best opportunity in his eyes. The loss at gettysburg marks the end of the CSA's ability to win the war on their own terms and they would be almost entirely on the defensive afterwards.
in hindsight we can easily say he should've Redeployed, that's obvious, even at the current time it was obvious but he wanted glory and by the 2nd day there was no Redeploying-Retreating in his eyes, but the thing I've always wondered since he was determined to fight, and the whole reason they charged is cause they thought their artillery have displaced/pushed theirs back/ destroyed theirs, and why didn't they just charge thru the trees? use the trees as cover, slowly advance from the flanks? they wouldn't have a good as a shot with their cannons, or is that tactic considers dishonorable?
Also keep in mind that he had just had his army entrenched for months on end around Richmond. Morale was very low and the troops who used to love him were calling him the King of Spades. Spade in this case being a shovel. Lee was afraid that retreating from the Meade would mean a mutiny.
Microzombie actually they were entrenched in Fredericksburg. After the December 1862 battle the two armies stayed put except for Burnsides Mud March on both sides of the Rappahannock River. Then Joe Hooker had and executed a brilliant plan but did not follow up with his plans at the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville which was 12 miles west of Fredericksburg. Gettysburg was only two months later. The troops that were in and around Richmond were the two divisions of Longstreet under Hood and Pickett whom went South prior to the Chancellorsville campaign. And that is where you get Micah Jenkins and Montgomery Corse being left behind when Lee goes North.
This war should of never happened to many men died for nothing look at America now black marrying white people and that's all over america.may there souls rest in peace every single soldier where so brave to fight this awful war.respect from England.
The stone wall was the winer in this war... I am from mexico but i saw the figth in fredericksburg , and the confederence won because they had a stone wall ....i understand that lee had to atack because he no had very options ... But have a stone wall help a lot 😆
True Fredericksburg had a stone wall as did Gettysburg in this battle scene but you forgot to mention that both stone walls had Irishmen to defend them🍀🙂🇮🇪
@@Minime163 hello .... as I know there were Irish on both sides. You can see that in the Gods and Generals movie. Although the United States Army always abused the Irish, there is even a regiment, Saint Patrick, that was formed in Mexico during the invasion, some heroes !!!!
Note for those who like Civil War trivia: Then Chief Justice Roger Taney confided in letters since published in a book, that he believed there was nothing in the Constitution that prevented succession. had South Carolina merely taken their case to the Supreme Court, the war might never have been fought.
Had South Carolina not fired on Sumpter, northern public opinion may well have caused Lincoln to have to negotiate a peaceful separation. Many in the north, including Lincoln's own Secretary of State William Seward, had a "To hell with them" view on the south seceding. There was going to be a commission of Pennsylvanians and Virginians looking for a peaceful resolution to the secession crisis of 1860/1861. The truth is South Carolina hotheads were afraid that if the forces of moderation started talking, latent unionist sentiment would build in the South (It almost stopped Texas from leaving the Union) and a 13th amendment preserving slavery would likely have been passed. But the deep south fire breathers didn't want peace,they wanted war and the spilling of blood so talking would be off the table. This was because while Lincoln would have supported preserving slavery by a Constitutional Amendment, he was ironclad in being against its expansion into the western territories. The south knew that in time the western territories would be admitted into the Union as free states who were economically and politically aligned with the Northeast and Midwest. That means that the North, aligned with free western states, could have returned to the issue of slavery in 20 or 30 years to repeal that amendment. South Carolina was basically pulling a Hernando Cortez move by "Burning the ships" meaning creating a win or die situation when they fired on Sumpter. There was no going back and the South wanted to force a war they thought they could win quickly before superior northern man power and industry could be brought to bear against them.
Lincoln essentially forced the Confederates into firing on Fort Sumter by sending an armed fleet with reinforcements and supplies into Charleston to relieve the fort. He wasn't going to give the fort up and he wasn't going to be the one to fire first; so he did something that caused the Confederates to fire first. Thank about it from the Confederate's point of view: you have a fort and an armed fleet of a foreign nation effectively shutting down one of your major ports. What else can you do other than remove the threat with force? Yeah, its fighting dirty, but at the same time its a rather brilliant move on Lincoln's part.
In that scene you watched the decimating of an army. Wether or not you agree with the reasons for THAT war, remember THAT ARMY was decimated right there! I have wondered if it wasn't intentionally done.
May that war never happen again.. Too many died in it for us to repeat those mistakes; let the US show unity, lest we see slaughter in the streets on a scale unspeakable, Americans, my countrymen and women...Laid low over petty squabbles and self interest. This is why I reenact it, to show what happens when we settle differences with bullets and destroy families of our neighbors and our own as a result. As for issues from this war, after 150+ years? Bury it with the men who died in the war, and who lived through it.
Before the war the newspapers, the politicians, the scholars all said, when talking about the United States, the United States "are". Since the war it's been the United States "is".
Unfortunately with how things are now with the radical left and movements like ANTIFA and BLM spreading hate and the nation now divided and the liberals and SJW snowflakes pushing to ban guns and destroying Confederate monuments and statues, another US Civil War is likely around the corner, except instead of north vs south it's gonna be left vs right.
Longstreet: "Now they have the stonewall like we did at Fredericksburg." Someone let me know; according to G&G the stonewall looks waist high (good cover) while here at Gettysburg it looks about knee high; paling in comparison.
Cant understand why Meade didnt order a counter-attack??? Should have been the end of the war, especially with Vicksburg falling to Grant, the very next day.
***** Im not talking about a next day counter-attack, give Lee & Longstreet time to think things over. Im talking about right after Picketts Charge. If only Gen. Hancock listened to Ken Burns and got down from his horse. Im sure that affected Meade's decision.
Keep in mind that Lee still had plenty of troops in reserve. They were just all from different units that had been shot to hell. His artillery batteries were also fully intact where as Meade's artillery had been pounded for three days. The only reason Pickett's brigade made the attack is that they were the only fully intact unit. In truth Lee probably could have soundly repulsed any counter-attack.
+Mark Merzweiler Lee was planning to retreat. It would have been easy to organize a fighting withdrawal with the numbers that Lee had. I don't think that Grant would have been able to successfully attack. The Union units were pretty battered as well.
This is incorrect. Pickett did not command a brigade, he commanded a division and his was not the only one that charged that day. Pickett's division only comprised of a 3rd of the men that actually attacked. There were two other divisions under Pettigrew and Trimble that made the charge as well. Longstreet's Core was largely intact. There really is no good reason for the charge except Lee wanted a decisive move to end the battle. If they had started the charge earlier in the day and also lined it up with the other attacks on the flanks, which was the original plan, they may have been successful. Longstreet knew the charge would fail and is quoted as saying so. Really though, they should have disengaged as soon as the Union got control of the Hill. If they had taken it earlier in the battle - the outcome would have been different.
Have you read Lost Triumph? Lee did not just have a bad day that fateful third day. His plan was to roll all the dice and have Jeb Stewart's 6,000 cavalry flank the union center from behind. They were stopped/delayed by a young cocky Union cavalry commander named George Armstrong Custard and his 2,000 Michigan cavalry. They caused Steward's cavalry to back up like railroad cars unable to advance and this battle at east cavalry battlefield changed not only the course of the war but probably the history of the world as well
fredericksburg fredericksburg fredericksburg fredericksburg the union sang to the defeated rebel s in reference to the defeat there just a few months before payback is a bitch
Some Swedish travel to Poltava in the Ukraine. There has been questions raised to "why?" One reason is we got whipped so very bad there, that is actually the reason of getting there. When surrendering 3 days later, the entire invasion army of 49 regiments vanished from the face of the earth as the soldiers went straight into captivity.
The fact that this great movie is not even trying to bring some kind of lovestory is a major plus. I do not remeber if there if is just one Woman saying a word in this movie. Today they would put a transgender black Confederate in the middle of the movie having an affair with guy from the other side.
The Union should of taken every one of those flags that fell there and tied them to a horse and dragged them back to Washington. Then the south would know where they stood.
You mean like all the yankee flags that were captured at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor after this?? People seem to forget there were 2 years of war after Gettysburg, and the only reason the south lost was because they ran out of men and supplies.
A walk on this battlefield demonstrates just how insane this attack really was
I'm a runner and I ran across that field. Such a stupid move marching across it with that much hot lead in the air
We were down there for a week, on the location, filming. You wouldn't believe, how long it took just to film, that little bit of scene? Most of the bayonets, and even some of the rifles, were rubber. It was an extraordinary experience, and one I'm glad to be a part of. Huzzah, for the Mifflin Guard! "FREDERICKSBURG"!!
Thank you Sir, you contributed to an unforgettable, epic movie experience...you made grown men cry...!
how were many of you guys
I have been to Gettysburg a couple of times. It is a most humbling place.
Meade correctly expected Lee would try to attack the center. That's why he reinforced it. Meade made the right call.
First decent commander the Army of the Potomac had.
And Custer stopped Stuart's flanking maneuver .
I heard they had the same teacher at West Point or something. He knew what Lee was going to try and do after failing to take the flanks.
@@TOCR815 I don't know about having the same professor at WP. Maybe they did, Meade entered WP several years after Lee graduated. I think it's really about Meade's competence as a battlefield commander. He was a brilliant strategist and had studied Lee's tactics. Since Lee was unsuccessful on the flanks, and had not withdrawn on the 3rd day, it was a logical assumption that Lee would attempt a direct assault. I think Meade understood Lee as a proud and cocky commander who would not leave the field defeated. So, Meade waited for him to make his move and he called it perfectly.
@@douglaslally156 I think you're giving Meade a little too much credit. If he was as competent as you say then he wouldn't have been replaced by Grant soon after.
The " American Civil War " was a very sad , and bloody time in our young nations history. Everytime I watch these documentaries about " The War Between The States " I get very emotional ; I get very choked up seeing brave , gallant troops on both sides sacrificing their precious souls in one of the bloodiest conflicts of our nation ,band of the world?
As brutal as warfare can get. I can't even imagine being in the middle of that.
“Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.” Arthur Wellesley, the duke of Wellington.
Roman legions and Carthiginians hacking each other to bits was no picnic either.
I can imagine marching to cut off Washington from supplies as soon as next week.
It would not have been for long. To take a single step towards the enemy before being brought down was to win eternal glory.
So are ya a COWARD! Fix, bayonet!
When I visited Gettysburg some years ago, I was surprised to find a monument marking the place Armistead fell. For me, it was the most moving part of my visit.
What also gets me about this scene (and the soundtrack needs mention in any and all cases of praise for this film while I'm here) is how Armistead - and Kemper, almost - are left behind as the Reb wave is stopped and made to recede. "Lo" sits dying while the Union troops swarm by to retake the wall* and push the wave back down the hill. Makes the whole "High Watermark of the Confederacy" come to life in another light.
*From what I've read, having not been to the battlefield, Armistead fell at a spot a bit further into the Union position that portrayed here.
JagerLange He did fall further in. He also was a Free Mason. When he was hit he yelled out, at some point, "My mother is a widow", the FM distress call. Union Free Masons hearing this call then attended to him and brought him behind the Union line to safety but his wound proved mortal.
@@douglaslally156 Really? Wow.
If you ever get a chance, visit Gettysburg. It is an amazing place. I've been to the stone wall and viewed it from both sides. Little Round Top is very difficult terrain to climb under fire.
You climbed it under fire?
@@markpaddock8799 No, I'm just familiar with the battle.
Yeah, as a vet and a history buff, you can see why the South lost the war sitting on Little Round Top. Attacking that position with strong, well rested troops and superior numbers would have been borderline insane. Attacking it with dehydrated, exhausted men with no clear advantage was beyond insanity. More idiocy was to come.
Difficult to climb when you 10 tears old to l o l....
I've had a chance to walk that field. From the Confederate position Little Round Top looks like a walk across gently sloping ground. You can't see the killing field that actually exists going up that hill. Similar going toward the Angle. There was a young couple decided to try to run from the Confederate side across to the grove of trees. Watching how long it took for this young couple, in shorts and tee shirts to make that run, with other visitors cheering them on, made you realize how difficult it must have been under fire, in heavy clothes, carrying arms and ammo. The troops who survived to make it across must have been spent by the time they reached the wall.
What goes undocumented in the film is that Kemper - who from his final scene with Lee, is made out to be mortally wounded - actually survived the battle, was captured in the retreat while still incapacitated, was exchanged in a prisoner swap and lived out the war and died in 1895. I always wonder why he didn't rate a credits endnote for this.
Kemper served as a brigade commander in the Richmond defenses until the end of the war.
No endnote for him because he was a minor character in the film. This movie is Lee / Longstreet / Chamberlain oriented.
@@Christendom88 More than just those three got endnotes though. Harrison got one and that's probably just because it was an interesting inclusion, as Kemper's would have been.
I was unaware he was taken prisoner. I believed he was rescued after being wounded. Survived the war and became governor of Virginia.
Pickett's change (in this move), the assault on Normandy Beach (Saving Pvt Ryan), attract on Pearl Harbor, the assault by the 54th MASS. (in Glory) was n is one of heart wrenching military moves for me
The diving attacks of SBDs at Midway, very brief moments that literally changed the course of war in Pacific.
civil war is the most heartbreaking of all wars . brothers killing brothers . generations of hate left over . so very very sad . RIP all those brave men who fought to protect others .
Brothers fighting brothers? Maybe in Kentucky. Maybe in Tennesee. Maybe in Missouri. So that was in the Western theatre, not at Gettysburg. I got more sympathy for the brother who didn't like slavery.
No sympathy for the traitors in southern states. Evil bastards all.
I’m not sure the divisions caused have been healed even now.
@Cubic Tosser2001 I cannot respect the Confederacy. Precisely because of the issue of slavery. This could have been avoided had slavery been abolished. One cannot own another human being and not expect conflict.
@Cubic Tosser2001 amen to that
Lee was probably lucky the Union didn't counter attack following the Pickett disaster.
Who else felt terrible for Pickett when he realized his men were being slaughtered?
"What's happening? I can't see what's happening to my boys! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MY BOYS?!"
sgauden02 Several years after the war a reporter asked Pickett why the attack had failed. His answer was perfect, "I always believed the Yankees had something to do with it."
Nope
Well he one who sent them in
@@justinfenningsdorf3741 Lee sent them in
@@justinfenningsdorf3741 No it was Lee's decision. Pickett couldn't overrule Lee, neither could Longstreet.
Imagine being a regular soldier in these battles over 4 years. Marching into cannon, rifle, and bayonet. My grandfather did. Americans did in WWI, WWII, Korea, & Vietnam. Millions killed and maimed on both sides. There is no glory in war for the common soldier.
Can't imagine what they were thinking as they marched into hell. It was a different time and a different mentality.
I get goosebumps every time I hear Lew Armistead (Richard Jordan RIP) shout "the day is ours men!! Turn the cannons on them!"
You know at one point the Confederate army broke through the lines but the reinforcements came in and blocked them.
That's what's happening in this scene.
They didn't "Break through", they got a few men past the wall, but there were many thousands more waiting just behind it. It was never close.
Yeah...the 20th Maine !!
@@u.s.paratroops4633 the moving the 20th Maine to behind the Federal center never actually happened; it was something that Shaara added because Chamberlin was a POV character. They moved to occupy the summit of Big Round Top the evening of the 2nd skirmishing with an unit from Texas that night and into the morning.
@@erwin669 well in the movie it was good....kinda ironic
That looked more like shoppers trying to get into Wal Mart on Black Friday.
It's a shame we haven't had a movie about the battle of sedgemoor. I come from bridgwater Somerset.
Glory to the good guys wearing blue!
They were all Americans
@@jstrick85 Nah, they renounced their American citizenship for their war to preserve and expand slavery.
@@jstrick85 The good Americans were wearing blue. The Americans in gray were fighting for slavery.
@@minsapint8007wrong. Sorry, just wrong. The south was invaded. Lincoln himself owned slaves at the beginning of the war. The South had brooded under tariffs, taxes, and the government’s refusal to allow it to sell their cotton to England. Slavery was a useful narrative that still to this day is promoted as the reason for the war. Doing one’s homework with an open mind helps a great deal.
@@minsapint8007 if was truly the case why are there slaves states wearing blue. You really should learn more
Around 12,500 Reb's started this charge and the losses in total was around 63%; with around 1,123 KIA, 4,019 WIA and 3,750 taken as prisoners. It is only due to General Meade's newest to Commander of the Army that he was slow in pursuing Lee's forces, because if he did the War probably would have ended far sooner. The Confederates had taken a beating with around 23,000 to maybe 28,000 losses.
What also happened during this timeframe was the Siege of Vicksburg ended. So the beginning of July 1863 saw two major losses for the Confederates. Oh and Lincoln finally found his General to lead the Army of the Potomac, General Grant. Someone who was going to take the Army and actually use it. Sure he decided on a War of Attrition and it took nearly two more years of fighting before the War ended.
But the above two battles saw the beginning of the War since the South never really recovered from these two defeats.
Yep Lee screwed up
I visited one civil war place . Fort Donleson Dover Tennessee that's where my great grandfather fought at with the 11th Illinois volunteers infantry regiment company B . I like to visit Gettysburg and Custer's last stand . Before my time is up
Key moment in the battle. A Teenager’s Guide to the Civil War: A History Book for Teens gives an overview history of the Civil War written specifically for teens.
Way to go, Irish Brigade! Holding the line!
The good old 69th PENNSYLVANNIA
Not surprising we're the reason the union army won the civil war mick Corcoran the leader of the 69th was a towns man of my own
My favorite war movie!
Good job union
Look at all the deep pro and con emotions here. You can see why it’s not over yet.
Picketts Charge was truly a fool's errand. No way 13,000 men could take such a formidable position against an entrenched force possessing superior firepower. I have walked the charge twice and left so impressed by the bravery on both sides. An American tragedy.
I'd say it was a triumph for slaves and the Union.
may our flag of jutice,law and freedom never fall
The deep state took the flags long time ago and most of the people didn’t recognize it.
The loud manly roar of the northern solider
A Commander truly cares when he calls his troops his boys.
Just think about it. He's got those men under his command, he's probably seen and done training with them. I've done a bit of military training with others, and though it's had some hard moments it really built a family-like relationship.
To see that torn apart on such a massacre assault that provided naught but loss...think about that.
Good riddance
@@analtubegut66 You're an insulting animal.
@@jebbroham1776 - objectively, we are all animals here.
It's my plessure to insult a confederate-sympathizing piece of trash such as yourself.
It's also my pleasure to read about and see on screen confederate generals and personnel being eviscerated as they deserved
Skill issue tbh
Grant & Sherman never had this problem
Then why isn't he there with them
Irish Brigade holds the line 🇮🇪☘️
Confederate troops: "Can we have great generalship?"
Lee: "No, we have great generalship at home."
Great generalship at home:
The musical score for this whole film is top notch! Who gets the credit?
Sarah Cagle Randy edelman
Great movie !
Just imagine if Lee had taken Longstreets advice and had moved south into Maryland and had gone on the defensive and forced Meade to attack in order to protect Washington ?
Would have made no difference. Washington DC was the most fortified city on earth at the time. Longstreet's maneuver would have sandwiched the ANV between fortress DC and the AOP with no method of resupply or escape. There was no way for the ANV to win in either scenario.
Lee had the option to break contact whenever he wanted. If he had headed east Meade would have had to follow and Lee could have picked more favorable ground on which to wage battle, someplace where the Union forces would have had to be the attackers and the Confederates would be the ones with the advantages that come with defending.
Great stage of the US history for both sides
Our nation was saved at that wall.
+KilroyTheGreat i would have rather had the South win tbh
In retrospect, perhaps. But God's will be done.
The South would have abolished it themselves.
I think it would have ended slavery inevitably. Cheap free labor would have won out, and the Europeans that bought cotton tended to not like slavery. Both social and more importantly...economical factors would have decided the outcome of slavery in due time.
Still better than a two nation America. Look at all the things our nation has accomplished over the years and even now. We may have a squabble of politics but the impact the USA has had on the world has been far reaching. How much of that is good and bad is left to debate.
Love looking at the Union troops opening up knowing the fighting 14th Ct was there!
The sooner a major defeat came,would hopefully put and end to this bloody conflict.. brother against brother..this movie was my father's favorite,we watched it many times
Having been to Gettysburg roughly 7 times (lives in Pennsylvania) last time was in February, and being to the Union wall where the rebels desperately held the line for only minutes that felt like seconds. I can still feel the presence of great suffering and struggle. It's crazy what the union put into their cannons. The union cannons they would have a chain cannon ball. They'd stuff the chainball into two separate cannons only way if it worked was if both cannons fired at the exact same time. Else the chain would rip the boys in blue apart violently, and fling back. Now if the cannons fired at the same time they would wipe out 20 men in a single hit. The artillery was also was filled with bits of shrapnel, bullets, metal power, even some rocks and twigs. Could blow through a man's body in multiple places.
I agree with Bo Zo. They loaded their cannon with canister, which turned it into a giant blunderbuss/shotgun but not with "chain cannon ball" or twigs and rocks.
You're partially correct. There was a projectile using two solid shot balls connected with a chain, the idea being that the balls would swirl upon leaving the muzzle and the chain would mow down concentrations of troops. The Union did use these at Gettysburg but only at short range since they were not very accurate. But there was never any such weapon utilizing two cannon barrels. There was also a variant connecting two solid shot balls with a steel bar.
Apparently, Cushing ordered his men to fill their cannons with bayonets and any 'sharps' they could find.
Chain shot is naval round.
Doesn't look like the Union center line is going to break General Lee.
I believe, when the north State solider see what is going on today in the states, no man go to fight and die for the black peoples rights.
Yes, I’m aware some of you will disagree, but, (reading some of the comments below), I have some difficulty feeling sorry for Pickett. He had been nagging Longstreet and Lee to get him into the fight, at no stage did he raise any concerns about what was being proposed and was eager to get on with it. Longstreet had major concerns with the assault and his behavior towards Lee in the hours before the attack bordered on insubordination. When it all went to custard Pickett blamed Lee and his relationship with Lee was never repaired. I’ve been to Gettysburg a couple of times.. when you look over that part of the ground you wonder how they ever believed the assault would be successful. Many of the men in that Confederate army had been at Fredericksburg and had seen first hand what the result of massed troops assaulting a defensive walled position and massed artillery would be.
Yeah, I went there last year. Toured every part of the battlefield and my consistent thought was how idiotic the Confederates must have been to think they could have carried the day at any point. It completely changed my opinion of Lee from genius to just lucky. I think after Buford's stand it should have been obvious that the jig was up and they should have maneuvered to fight on another battlefield. But regardless, in 1863 it was pretty obvious the hammer was going to fall on Lee SOMEWHERE that year. The Union had started to grt their shit together. Grant sank that point at Vicksburg even if Gettysburg was avoided.
Yeah, I've been on top of that hill and except for the paved road I think it looks like it did that day. The charge is too far over completely open ground. I know Lee didn't have that viewpoint, but I don't know what he was thinking.
@@streetsofsouthphilly Shelby Foote said in a documentary that 'once Lee's blood was up, there was no stopping him'. He believed that his army was invincible and in an act of sheer arrogance and desperation he ordered that charge. Had they withdrawn and fought closer to Harrisburg or even south toward the Potomac the story might have been much different.
@@andyorwig You are quite correct. The other thing was this. The army of the Potomac had always retreated before. Now he had been repulsed twice in two days by the army that he's always beaten so yeah he was mad and he let that override his command sense.
@@jamesbutler8821 My most consistent thought about all this is how idiotic the Confederates must have been to commit treason over the right to own people as property.
Union por siempre
whats happenin to mah boys , whats happenin to mah boys , gimme yo glasses......
A charge that was lost before it began.
Picketts Charge.....DEFEAT!!!!!!!!
Brother against brother
Brother against brother, father against son
The war that nobody won.
wieso eigentlich, nur weil alle in amerika lebten sind es gleich brüder??? siedler aus england, irland, frankreich, deutschland, italien und vielen weiteren europäischen staaten machten damals den großteil der bevölkerung aus - ein mischmasch, wo sind das brüder
wenn dann müsste ja jeder europäische konflikt auch als bruderkrieg angesehen werden ( woher ja die siedler kamen ), oder ein krieg der von der gleichen völkergruppe geführt werden ( wie germanisches blut, keltisches blut, slavisches usw ) z.b. der deutsch-dänische krieg, der deutsch-österreichiche krieg, der polnisch-russische krieg usw
dieses bruder gegen bruder zieht da nicht wirklich, wenn dann kann man in europa viel eher davon sprechen
People that defend slavery and racism shall never be my brethren.
@@cmdaes Ignorance at its finest, just like many others, the war was not about slavery.
I have an degree in History from the Sao Paulo university and have researched this war for years. The Confederates themselves stated they fought to keep slavery as It was. It is in their speeches and in their Constitution. Denial of that only began after blatant racism stopped being mainstream in the USA.
Same tactics as Napoleon at Waterloo with the same results.
Interesting how Lee thought Napoleonic tactics would work for him when they had failed the French with massive losses. Putting his troops in column formation against an entrenched enemy with superior firepower. Should have gone home to Virginia.
At 1:10 they're literally just milling around lol. They're not even fighting. You can even see one Confederate soldier politely brushing past all the Union soldiers trying to get through.
"Excuse me, excuse me, coming through. I'm terribly sorry about this, excuse me. Just gonna slip past ya here."
Bayonet wounds accounted for around 2% of fatalities during the war. It was rare enough to where surgeons would actually note them in their diaries. Usually the defending unit would break before the attacker got close enough to actually engage in close combat. And if the defender didn't break, suffice to say the attacker is probably going to be very outnumbered and, discretion being the better part of valor, would probably give up by that point.
Go a head and have a nice day
Remember that time New York had a better arsenal than Texas?
Leftists have completely destroyed that state. It's East Coast California.
Pepperidge Farm does.
@@firingallcylinders2949 you're Looney Tunes my guy
Looney tunes for stating facts? Ok.
@@I-wont-read-your-replies its facts
I'll never understand how they got men to do this. Not reenactment, the real thing .
Bravado, stregnth and conviction.
U know why I used to live near
As good as the camera work and acting is in this film, I wish it was more brutal, just to make it more realistic.
oh yeah like what more blood and gore? boring and overdone.
@@54032Zepol take a good look at the cinematography in the shots with a large amount of actors, looks like a bunch of kids play fighting
It's realistic enough....
I mean it was originally made for TV, so I guess they didn't have the budget for any blood, gore and some effects.
Swirling melee combat very rarely happened during the American Civil War. The bayonet accounted for around 2% of the causalities during the war. Normally when a bayonet charge happened those on the receiving end would break before the attacker made it into close combat. If the defender didn't break the attacker would have usually been spent and outnumbered and would most likely give up at that point. One of the good things about Gettysburg is that they didn't over dramatize the close combat.
So many years now but i still don't understand why they did that horrible charge. They sacrifized all their manpower in that useless attack.
From what I've read, the artillery barrage was supposed to soften up the defense and create some chaos in the Union front.
However, much of the cannon fire overshot the Union frontal defense rather than landing on it.
On the third day a coordinated attack was to take place on the center and right flank of the Union position anchored by Culp's Hill.
However, the attacks did not occur at the same time.
The Culp's Hill attack came in the morning and Pickett charging the center came in the afternoon, enabling the Union lines to redeploy reserves.
The failure to coordinate the attacks to happen at the same time doomed the third day for the Confederates.
From a broader perspective, as the film touched on, Lee knew he would not have a better equipped army than the one he had at Gettysburg.
It was now or never to try and finish things.
The stunning Confederate victory at Chancellorsville a few weeks earlier probably also added to Lee's feeling that he could achieve success.
In retrospect, Longstreet's proposal (in the film) to redeploy and try to goad Meade into attacking on ground of Lee's choosing seems like a much better plan.
There are many books that discuss the reasons for the outcome on the third day and they supply a wide range of opinions.
Lee was fully committed to the battle by the third day and would not withdraw. He needed a decisive victory on northern soil and this was the best opportunity in his eyes. The loss at gettysburg marks the end of the CSA's ability to win the war on their own terms and they would be almost entirely on the defensive afterwards.
in hindsight we can easily say he should've Redeployed, that's obvious, even at the current time it was obvious but he wanted glory and by the 2nd day there was no Redeploying-Retreating in his eyes, but the thing I've always wondered since he was determined to fight, and the whole reason they charged is cause they thought their artillery have displaced/pushed theirs back/ destroyed theirs, and why didn't they just charge thru the trees? use the trees as cover, slowly advance from the flanks? they wouldn't have a good as a shot with their cannons, or is that tactic considers dishonorable?
Also keep in mind that he had just had his army entrenched for months on end around Richmond. Morale was very low and the troops who used to love him were calling him the King of Spades. Spade in this case being a shovel. Lee was afraid that retreating from the Meade would mean a mutiny.
Microzombie actually they were entrenched in Fredericksburg. After the December 1862 battle the two armies stayed put except for Burnsides Mud March on both sides of the Rappahannock River. Then Joe Hooker had and executed a brilliant plan but did not follow up with his plans at the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville which was 12 miles west of Fredericksburg. Gettysburg was only two months later. The troops that were in and around Richmond were the two divisions of Longstreet under Hood and Pickett whom went South prior to the Chancellorsville campaign. And that is where you get Micah Jenkins and Montgomery Corse being left behind when Lee goes North.
Rebel vs Rebel (Love the UK)
The Almighty watches and does nothing. It's the same story everywhere.
Garundi P. McGrundy That explains how the Yankees dropped a 3-0 lead in the 2004 ALCS to the Sox.
2:04 - 2:11 When none of yours Bois wanna hang out Saturday
I'm argentina, please the complet filme
Brothers vs brothers kin vs kin ...in war theres no clear victors just all waste of time money & most of all very precious life 😥
Is it a good movie and a sad and cruel war.
Hard to believe that they got that far ! Courage - Both Sides ! No Pajama Boys Invited ? 🤔
If only the USA had this courage in 1914 and 1939...................
go blue go
brutal
Everybody has his rifle up high, less dangerous ahah
This war should of never happened to many men died for nothing look at America now black marrying white people and that's all over america.may there souls rest in peace every single soldier where so brave to fight this awful war.respect from England.
Damn!
1:03 - they're charging without bayonets xD
💀🔥
To give you a idea of how bad it was at Gettysburg. In the Vietnam war 58,000 were killed. At Gettysburg 51,000 were killed in 3 days .
the collection?
the houdt houdt
The stone wall was the winer in this war... I am from mexico but i saw the figth in fredericksburg , and the confederence won because they had a stone wall ....i understand that lee had to atack because he no had very options ... But have a stone wall help a lot 😆
True Fredericksburg had a stone wall as did Gettysburg in this battle scene but you forgot to mention that both stone walls had Irishmen to defend them🍀🙂🇮🇪
@@Minime163 hello .... as I know there were Irish on both sides. You can see that in the Gods and Generals movie. Although the United States Army always abused the Irish, there is even a regiment, Saint Patrick, that was formed in Mexico during the invasion, some heroes !!!!
@@leonavatar very true norman and if Mexico were fighting we'd have been on your side all the way🇮🇪🤝🇲🇽
Note for those who like Civil War trivia: Then Chief Justice Roger Taney confided in letters since published in a book, that he believed there was nothing in the Constitution that prevented succession. had South Carolina merely taken their case to the Supreme Court, the war might never have been fought.
Had South Carolina not fired on Sumpter, northern public opinion may well have caused Lincoln to have to negotiate a peaceful separation.
Many in the north, including Lincoln's own Secretary of State William Seward, had a "To hell with them" view on the south seceding.
There was going to be a commission of Pennsylvanians and Virginians looking for a peaceful resolution to the secession crisis
of 1860/1861. The truth is South Carolina hotheads were afraid that if the forces of moderation started talking, latent unionist
sentiment would build in the South (It almost stopped Texas from leaving the Union) and a 13th amendment preserving slavery
would likely have been passed. But the deep south fire breathers didn't want peace,they wanted war and the spilling of blood
so talking would be off the table. This was because while Lincoln would have supported preserving slavery by a Constitutional
Amendment, he was ironclad in being against its expansion into the western territories. The south knew that in time the western
territories would be admitted into the Union as free states who were economically and politically aligned with the Northeast
and Midwest. That means that the North, aligned with free western states, could have returned to the issue of slavery in 20 or 30 years
to repeal that amendment.
South Carolina was basically pulling a Hernando Cortez move by "Burning the ships" meaning creating a win or die situation
when they fired on Sumpter. There was no going back and the South wanted to force a war they thought they could win quickly
before superior northern man power and industry could be brought to bear against them.
Lincoln essentially forced the Confederates into firing on Fort Sumter by sending an armed fleet with reinforcements and supplies into Charleston to relieve the fort. He wasn't going to give the fort up and he wasn't going to be the one to fire first; so he did something that caused the Confederates to fire first. Thank about it from the Confederate's point of view: you have a fort and an armed fleet of a foreign nation effectively shutting down one of your major ports. What else can you do other than remove the threat with force? Yeah, its fighting dirty, but at the same time its a rather brilliant move on Lincoln's part.
In that scene you watched the decimating of an army. Wether or not you agree with the reasons for THAT war, remember THAT ARMY was decimated right there! I have wondered if it wasn't intentionally done.
The actors were a bit more interested in the camera crews filming
May that war never happen again.. Too many died in it for us to repeat those mistakes; let the US show unity, lest we see slaughter in the streets on a scale unspeakable, Americans, my countrymen and women...Laid low over petty squabbles and self interest.
This is why I reenact it, to show what happens when we settle differences with bullets and destroy families of our neighbors and our own as a result.
As for issues from this war, after 150+ years? Bury it with the men who died in the war, and who lived through it.
Before the war the newspapers, the politicians, the scholars all said, when talking about the United States, the United States "are". Since the war it's been the United States "is".
Thank you for a wise comment! Wishing more were like you!
Unfortunately with how things are now with the radical left and movements like ANTIFA and BLM spreading hate and the nation now divided and the liberals and SJW snowflakes pushing to ban guns and destroying Confederate monuments and statues, another US Civil War is likely around the corner, except instead of north vs south it's gonna be left vs right.
Why didn't he lead the charge himself?
Oh my god! Were those gentlemen allowed to shoot so noisily?
Charge !!!
cool.
lol,
I've lived a sheltered life.
why did the union soldiers charge without bayonets attached?
Some of them do have bayonets on their rifles.
"Fredericksburg!"
As seen at the Capitol on 1/6/2021
You're being sarcastic...I hope.
Longstreet: "Now they have the stonewall like we did at Fredericksburg."
Someone let me know; according to G&G the stonewall looks waist high (good cover) while here at Gettysburg it looks about knee high; paling in comparison.
RICHARD! 1:17,1:18,1:19,1:20,1:21,1:22,1:23
Cant understand why Meade didnt order a counter-attack??? Should have been the end of the war, especially with Vicksburg falling to Grant, the very next day.
***** Im not talking about a next day counter-attack, give Lee & Longstreet time to think things over. Im talking about right after Picketts Charge. If only Gen. Hancock listened to Ken Burns and got down from his horse. Im sure that affected Meade's decision.
Keep in mind that Lee still had plenty of troops in reserve. They were just all from different units that had been shot to hell. His artillery batteries were also fully intact where as Meade's artillery had been pounded for three days. The only reason Pickett's brigade made the attack is that they were the only fully intact unit. In truth Lee probably could have soundly repulsed any counter-attack.
+Mark Merzweiler Lee was planning to retreat. It would have been easy to organize a fighting withdrawal with the numbers that Lee had. I don't think that Grant would have been able to successfully attack. The Union units were pretty battered as well.
This is incorrect. Pickett did not command a brigade, he commanded a division and his was not the only one that charged that day. Pickett's division only comprised of a 3rd of the men that actually attacked. There were two other divisions under Pettigrew and Trimble that made the charge as well. Longstreet's Core was largely intact. There really is no good reason for the charge except Lee wanted a decisive move to end the battle. If they had started the charge earlier in the day and also lined it up with the other attacks on the flanks, which was the original plan, they may have been successful. Longstreet knew the charge would fail and is quoted as saying so.
Really though, they should have disengaged as soon as the Union got control of the Hill. If they had taken it earlier in the battle - the outcome would have been different.
Have you read Lost Triumph? Lee did not just have a bad day that fateful third day. His plan was to roll all the dice and have Jeb Stewart's 6,000 cavalry flank the union center from behind. They were stopped/delayed by a young cocky Union cavalry commander named George Armstrong Custard and his 2,000 Michigan cavalry. They caused Steward's cavalry to back up like railroad cars unable to advance and this battle at east cavalry battlefield changed not only the course of the war but probably the history of the world as well
fredericksburg fredericksburg fredericksburg fredericksburg the union sang to the defeated rebel s in reference to the defeat there just a few months before payback is a bitch
0:27
I went to gettyburg
Some Swedish travel to Poltava in the Ukraine. There has been questions raised to "why?" One reason is we got whipped so very bad there, that is actually the reason of getting there. When surrendering 3 days later, the entire invasion army of 49 regiments vanished from the face of the earth as the soldiers went straight into captivity.
I go there about once or twice every year, I live about 3 hours away from that battlefield
The fact that this great movie is not even trying to bring some kind of lovestory is a major plus. I do not remeber if there if is just one Woman saying a word in this movie. Today they would put a transgender black Confederate in the middle of the movie having an affair with guy from the other side.
Female Gettysburg Citizen: "I thought the war was in Virginia."
@elhumilde1444 That is true but I think you might have misread my comment to this thread. 👍
@elhumilde1444 I'm at fault. I should have put "Female Maryland Citizen".
Thanks! 👍
They massacre.Picketts boy's
Didn't someone refer to this moment as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy?
William Faulkner said something like that in his book Intruder In The Dust.
@David Irvin Lol no. It was the height of their offensive campaign in the north. They had their backs to the wall the rest of the war.
Man, this is meat-griding war.
Real wars are a meat grinder
You know they are unknown history of Americans civil war
When civilians played soldiers; same as those reenactments.
The Union should of taken every one of those flags that fell there and tied them to a horse and dragged them back to Washington. Then the south would know where they stood.
When you get a brain....we'll talk.
And I would of fed and watered the horses extra. So there would be lots of piss and shit on them.
Paul Hoffman Yes of course. Deo Vindice. But wow God didn't save the South anyway.
i just have to ask billy yank. were you dropped on your head when you was a kid?
You mean like all the yankee flags that were captured at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor after this?? People seem to forget there were 2 years of war after Gettysburg, and the only reason the south lost was because they ran out of men and supplies.
?
object lesson: don't fight the US army.
Union should ended the war before Gettysburg they sorry Generals only Grant willing using the Army to end the war and he did