Gettysburg (Picketts charge)

[Ol'Hickory]

I was standing in the confederate line when I visited Gettysburg and tried to spot the "group of trees" I got highly confused as I could not see one group but a few groups of trees.

Now I found that if I was a commander in the field and getting shot at by the Federal guns it'd be confusion because I found it hard to locate the rally point.

If it was me i'd order my men to double time in loose order across the field as soon as we started getting hit by artillery, this then throws up communication problems, i'd need a rider or runner to notify the other commanders so they could do the same and back me up, I would have begun the barrage when we moved out so we still had some sort of cover.

In my opinion i'm not surprised it failed..oh and the reason for the loose order, I beleive a lot less men would have died from musketry and also grape shot if they werent packed so closely together, i'd like to get in amongst them so their artillery and vollys are useless and fight tooth and nail if need be, once they rout its easy pickings.

I doubt i'd be a good commander, but, as mad as it sounds would willingly go back and be a part of it as a pvt or something.

[cblodg]

I was standing in the confederate line when I visited Gettysburg and tried to spot the "group of trees" I got highly confused as I could not see one group but a few groups of trees.

Now I found that if I was a commander in the field and getting shot at by the Federal guns it'd be confusion because I found it hard to locate the rally point.

If it was me i'd order my men to double time in loose order across the field as soon as we started getting hit by artillery, this then throws up communication problems, i'd need a rider or runner to notify the other commanders so they could do the same and back me up, I would have begun the barrage when we moved out so we still had some sort of cover.

In my opinion i'm not surprised it failed..oh and the reason for the loose order, I beleive a lot less men would have died from musketry and also grape shot if they werent packed so closely together, i'd like to get in amongst them so their artillery and vollys are useless and fight tooth and nail if need be, once they rout its easy pickings.

I doubt i'd be a good commander, but, as mad as it sounds would willingly go back and be a part of it as a pvt or something.

The problem with loose order double quick, comes at the time for firing. If and when you begin to read diferent manuals about menouvering and firing, it is all massed fire (by company, rank, file, and even independant). Even at independant fire, there is still a large amount of ammo being expended, at once, and in the same general location.

Not to mention the fact that the field Longstreet's/AP Hill's men, under the command of Pickett, were going up hill. You can't really see the copse of trees from the start because of the up-slope. But there is a point in the middle where you can see that clump of trees clearly. You start off at the DQ and you end up with some really tired guys that still have to slug it out with the Federals, behind a stonewall, with artillery coming at you from the right (POV of the Confederates) flank.

Of course then you could always do as many park visitors have suggested when I did a LH at the Penn. Monument, "Just hide behind the monuments" lol.

Chris

[Ol'Hickory]

Yes in Antietam a very nice woman asked..yes..ASKED her husband if there centre was there at the time of the battle, John just mumbled "jesus" under his breath and I drank some more mountain dew.

[TeamsterPhil]

The copse of trees is very visible from the Confederate position at the beginning of the Pickett/Pettigrew charge in the present day. It would have probably been even more visible in July of 1862 -- there are MANY more trees in the vicinity of Gettysburg today than 145 years ago. It should get better at visualizing vistas at the G'burg battlegfield, since the NPS has embarked on its program of tree removal to more accurately recreate the vegetation patterns of 1863.

Phil Campbell

[captain_kirk]

I have never been to Gettysburg, and do not know if any of the original group of trees are still alive. My grandfather took me into the woods at Chickamauga in the mid 1950's behind the extreme Confederate left and pointed out a trace chain lodged in a huge tree about 30 feet above ground level. His father had showed it to him. My great grandfather was a child living in Rising Fawn Ga. and he remembered the sounds of the guns. I relocated the tree in the mid 60's but have not searched from it since.
Kirk Fuller
Co. B. 4th Ala.
by the way, the 4th , Longsteets Corps. was there.

[Doug Cooper]

As John Brown Gordon said of the defeat at Gettysburg "I have always believed the Yankees had something to do with."

If you have not been to Gettysburg lately, go now. As Phil relates, the tree removal program is in full steam. Today you can look out from the positions on the southern end Cemetery Ridge and continue all the way to the southern end of the 2nd Days battlefield and get a much better idea of what the soldier's saw.

Oh, and hurry before the Casino is built - and let your feelings be known.