Caitlyn Epperson Dennison History 1301 1 May 2015 Union Vs. Confederate The Killer Angels a book written by Michael Shaara, published in the 1970’s. The book gives readers a surprising view of the Civil War. After visiting Gettysburg, the author knew that he wanted to write about America’s past. Instead of creating fictional characters Shaara writes about men that played significant role in the American Civil War. People such as Robert E. Lee and Joshua L. Chamberlain were some of the characters the author chose to include in order to add a more interesting historical twist. The Battle of Gettysburg, one of the most important days in American History, a three-day battle takes place in which roughly 50,000 were killed. The story starts out …show more content…
Longstreet points out that the Confederates can easily win the battle because of their defensive strengths and the only way the Union can win is by great offence. Both decide the best option is to try to get between the Confederates and Washington D.C. in order to even have a chance at defeating the Union Army. As the Battle begins, Buford and his men wait for General Reynolds and his troops to come and help fight. Reynolds is killed. As Lee arrives and orders his men to attack, the Union keeps coming as his men are being killed off. He is forced to retreat and day one of the battle comes to an …show more content…
Longstreet on the other hand believes that attacking the Union’s left flank is the smarter and safer plan. The decision is made to attack the Unions flank, a major turning point in the battle, they are lead up to Little Round Top and Big Round Top and the plan does not go exactly how they planned. They realize that the Confederates have shifted and it forced the Union to attack ending in a blood bath for both sides. When Chamberlain finally arrives at Little Round Top and is told that he cannot retreat and they are the only hope. Because the Union still controls Little Round Top, Longstreet’s men do everything they can in order to hold their position and fight off attack after attack. In the end after running out of ammunition they are forced to use their bayonets and charge the Confederates. As the Confederates flee the Union Army realizes the significances of the number of soldiers that have lost. As the battle ends the second day, Lee and his Generals begin to think of the best strategy for what is to come the next day, charge the middle and try to separate the army to weaken them and force them to separate into two smaller
The first two days of the battle were fought mostly on the flanks of the union army and on the left flank was Chamberlin. He was the reason that the union had not been obliterated the second day so as a reward he was moved to the middle of the army where it was believed to be safe and there was supposed to be little or no fighting. Ironically that was where all the fighting was the last day. General lee thought that since he had attacked the flank the previous day that he would concentrate most of his forces on the middle which was very costly. In Pickett’s Charge the confederates are forced to retreat after enormous
Patterson, Angela History 1301 Gooding, M. October 12, 2017 Charles Reed at Gettysburg In this source analysis paper, I will be exploring the battle of Gettysburg. This clash between the Union armies and the Confederate armies would happen over three hot summer days in July 1863, would be a critical turning point in the American Civil War. This battle was fought from July first through the third and it would have staggering casualties for both sides with the Union losing some twenty-three thousand deaths and the Rebels losing some twenty-eight thousand soldiers. General Robert E. Lee would lead his second advancement into the north to a small market town named Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to search for more supplies.
General Buford, positions his soldiers on the hilltops as a war strategy against the Confederate army. A fight arises in Gettysburg, between Buford’s soldiers and the Confederates. Bufford can hold them until he gets back up from General Reynolds defeating the Confederates. Reynolds is killed during the battle. However, a backup from Lee leads to a defeat of the Union army who then retreats to the mountains and builds defensive walls (Shaara 160).
These days could very well have been the absolute turning point of the Civil War. At the start, the brilliant General Lee, one of the most adored and influential men of the south, led the confederate army into Pennsylvania in hopes to win victory over the Union Army by luring the north into battle. The next character. Chamberlain, who happens to be the main Union voice of the novel, led the twentieth Maine, and consequently as a grand reward due to heroic actions received the congressional medal of honor. Chamberlain is both depicted as a soldier and professor.
Secondly and in my opinion what lead to the demise of the Confederate Army, was the fact that General Lee wanted to smash through the opposing Union force in one quick movement, in other words due to the fact he knew he had the superior numbers of the battlefield he wanted to use a more attrition style warfare against the Union and unfortunately for him and his army, the Union was dug in pretty well and had started an ambush on his far left flack. Another key point is that the fact the confederate army had aimed their artillery far too high thus over shooting where they needed to and when the infantry regiments moved in the smaller but more effective Union artillery was able to do massive damage to the troops on the front lines and greatly decreased their numbers, by the time the confederate army reached they Union army and was within rifle range their numbers were just for too small and even though plenty of blood shed was left on the battlefield from both armies, the Confederate army was forced to retreat from the battle thus ending it and giving the victory to the Union Army but at a
The Union had open fire on Confederate soldiers behind a stone wall while Ohio, New York, and Vermont attacked the two enemy sides. Now that the Confederates were under attack from all sides only half of the confederates survived, and Pickett lost two third of his men. As the few survivors came back Lee and Longstreet went to their defensive line along the shore after the failed attack,
Reynolds is killed shortly after arrival. On the Confederate side, Lee and Longstreet want General Ewell, another commander, to try to capture high ground near Gettysburg from the arriving Union infantry. He totally messes this up, which annoys Lee. Nevertheless, the Confederates have put up a decent fight and killed a lot of Union soldiers. The British observer, Arthur Fremantle, is an enthusiastic cheerleader for their Cause
However, Chamberlain’s regiment still stood strong as Confederates shot too high - therefore wasting some of their artillery that would later become much needed. The Confederate soldiers began to march, but were faced with firing cannons and Union soldiers opening fire. Pickett, having lost 60% of his regiment, calls for retreat - therefore marking the end of the Battle of
While commanding the 1st Division of the Cavalry Corps, Buford ran into the Army of Virginia which caused him to advise one of his brigades to defend against A.P Hill’s Confederate III Corps. “Buford’s skillful defensive troops alignments along with the bravery, dedication, and the skill of his men, gave the Union First Corps, under Major General John F. Reynolds, the time it needed to deploy to meet the Confederates outside of Gettysburg…” (Civil 1). Buford knew exactly what to do in a time of crisis. This was the foundation of Buford’s master plan.
The Union guns then opened fire and gouged huge holes in the line demoralizing the Confederates. In just 50 minutes 10,000 soldiers were
In conclusion, after assuming control charge of the Confederate Army in 1862, Robert E. Lee's arrangement was to assault the Union Army and endeavor to deliver such annihilations on the Union Army that Lincoln would become sick of attempting to bring the South once more into the Union and surrender. Lee's arrangements won unsaid backing from Davis, as Lee's goals rotated around the Union Army and didn't require an extended crusade in the North. In any case, these fights, while "effective" were expensive for the South, and large portions of the triumphs were not definitive. For instance, the Army of the Potomac crushed the Army of Northern Virginia in the Battle of Malvern Hill toward the end of George B. McClellan's Peninsular Campaign, and delivered substantial setbacks on Lee's armed force.
That is what the soldiers did, on both Union and Confederates sides. On page 126, the book states “If that happened the day would flicker out in a humiliating defeat. But not without one last bitter fight. " This sentence described the Confederate’s fighting words as they give their all for one last duel, even if it costs them their lives.
With the advantage of hindsight, it’s easy to say that Longstreet should have disobeyed Lee and asked for forgiveness later. By the same token, it’s easy to say that we would have followed Longstreet over lee today. However, what would have happened if Longstreet did that. We can assume he would have been relieved of his command at best; and chastised, prosecuted or hanged at worst. The same could be said for soldiers in the unit.
The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania On July 21, 1861 the first battle of the civil war is fought near Manassas, Virginia. It’s known as The Battle of Bull Run. The union army is under the command of General Irwin McDowell. The confederate army is under the command of General Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard.
The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day fight in which an estimate of 51,000 soldiers were killed in total, but besides all of the casualties, what else makes this battle special? The Battle of Gettysburg was a huge factor in the abolishment of slavery. It is one of the most important battles because it created new war strategies and was the turning point in the Civil War, which led to the Gettysburg Address. The Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, was very confident because of his army utmost victory.