What Ifs at Gettysburg

        

  The What If question is one that keeps historians and sports fans busy.

          What if Oswald’s second shot missed President Kennedy, like the first shot did? Might the Secret Service agents have reacted in time to save the President? We’ll never know.

          What if Earl Morral saw the wide open Jimmy Orr at the end of the first half of Super Bowl III? Might the Colts have beaten the Jets? We’ll never know.

          What if yours truly won the lottery? We’ll never know, darn it.

          It’s hard enough to learn what did happen and your loyal blogger tends to avoid the What Ifs.

        

Looking from the Culp's Hill area toward Cemetery Ridge.

  But if we play the What If game, let’s start at Gettysburg. The classic What Ifer from that battle is: What if Stonewall Jackson had been there? Jackson was dead by then, but what this question really means is what if the Confederates managed to capture the Culp’s Hill area on the first day of the battle. Another very obvious What If concerns JEB Stuart and his cavalry, which was absent when the fighting started at Gettysburg. What if Stuart was riding in concert with the main army? How much difference would Stuart’s force have made had it been a part of all three days of the fighting?

          The What Ifs above are probably the most popular among Gettysburg. They are debated frequently. In an effort to try something new, keep reading.

         

          Below are four What Ifs at Gettysburg that we should debate now.

         

First Shot marker.

          What If #1: What if R.E. Lee, the commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, had seen to it that his army’s marching line was compact prior to the opening of fighting on July 1, 1863?

          What If #2: What If Barksdale’s Mississippi brigade was properly supported during its attack on July 2, 1863?

          What If #3: What If Union general Dan Sickles had followed his orders pertaining to his alignment on July 2, 1863?

          What If #4: What if Lee or George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac could have selected the location of the battle?

 

          We’ll never know. But the reasons for the questions illustrate the points:

 

          #1: The march of the AoNV was strung out so far that some of Lee’s units were just getting to the field on July 3 and were exhausted when they got there, only to be thrown into a major attack. What if Lee had his command’s full strength in more reasonable proximity on the 1^st?

       

Barksdale's attack met its first serious trouble about here. Look at the
Pennsylvania Memorial in the center of the image.

   #2: Barksdale’s men came closer to turning the Union line than the more popular attack on Little Round Top. Barksdale actually penetrated the Union line and threatened to route George G. Meade’s defenders. What if the units assigned to follow and support Barksdale’s attack actually did so, rather than stop about halfway?

          #3: Sickles moved his defensive front roughly 1,000 yards forward of its assigned position along Cemetery Ridge before the fighting started on July 2. What if he did as ordered and stayed in place?

          #4: Old pal and fellow Civil War enthusiast Buck Weber throws down his gauntlets to ask this one. Lee came to the battlefield late in the first day and Meade arrived later still. Neither general did much choosing when it came to the location of the invasion showdown. Meade was ready to fight elsewhere, but he was not sure exactly where the AoNV was before fighting started on the 1st. Given better knowledge about where Lee approached from, might Meade have selected Gettysburg? With Stuart elsewhere, Lee didn’t know where the AoP was, exactly. Might he have pointed his strength at Gettysburg had he possessed that information?

 

          Obviously, we’ll never know the answers to any of these questions. But a What If blog is no good with, “We’ll never know,” for an answer. Your Loyal Blogger has Best Guess answers below.

          Got an answer? Try these for size:

         

          #1: The initial results might have been about the same, since the Confeds were generally successful at the start. But the first day might have ended differently, as Lee would have had fresh troops, or at least fresher troops, to send at Culp’s Hill and the Cemetery Hill/Ridge confluence. Our best guess is Meade would have fallen back to his prepared defensive line and invited Lee’s approach. We might then read occasionally about the Skirmish of Gettysburg.

 

Memorial to the Minnesota regiment that rushed to attack Barksdale's
Confederates on Cemetery Ridge.

          #2: Barksdale’s Mississippians were the most successful Confederates on July 2 at Gettysburg. Their charge was stopped by a small regiment of Minnesotans. Our best guess is had Barksdale’s support been active rather than quiet, the Union line would have been turned. Union reinforcements, such as those that ended up turning the tide on Little Round Top or fighting for the Wheatfield, would have been directed toward the Trostle Farm where Barksdale’s men were. That would made things different all over the battlefield. 

 

Hard to read. Dan Sickles was wounded here, near
the Trostle farm, not far from the Peach Orchard.

          #3: Sickles claimed for the remainder of his life that his decision to push his line forward turned the tide of the battle in favor of the AoP. Had he stayed in position, the Union defenders of Cemetery Ridge would have had a more cohesive defense but the attacking Confederates’ line would not have been disturbed by the bulge at the Peace Orchard. Union victory on the second day of the fighting might have been easier without Sickles’ movement.

 

          #4: Neither leader wanted to fight at Gettysburg, but that’s where the armies finally found each other. For Lee, the timing was poor because he was in the midst of trying to concentrate his army and did not have his full strength within favorable distance. We know Lee did not want a major engagement on July 1^st because he told the officers leading his advance to avoid just such an occurrence.

Ooops.

          Meade’s army was sitting along the Pipe Creek Line and probably would have been satisfied if Lee’s men attacked that location. As it worked out Lee attacked anyway and Meade won his defensive battle.

 

          Do you have different thoughts? The best part about the What If game is that no thought is ever wrong. Know why that is? I don’t. In fact, I don’t think we’ll ever know.

          Thanks for reading.

On the rugged Culp's Hill, a small flag left as a tribute to the Ohio
regiment that fought so well with others in defense of the Union line.