Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Old Pete during Pickets Charge

Every good battle plan needs a good executor of that plan, Lee was a brilliant strategist and great battle planner but he was not a field commander, after Stonewall Jackson died Lee lost that perfect executor of his brilliant plans. You will notice that after Gen Jackson's death in April of 1863 Confederacy starter losing more battles and eventually the war. In my humble observation Gettysburg would have been a Confederate victory and maybe even end of the war had Gen Jackson been alive and commanded the field forces. Longstreet was great in defense but not in offense and rest of the Confederate General's were too independent rather than team players.

Good point👍

The popular assumption has been that the Union forces on Cemetery Hill on Day 1 were in helpless disarray. Not so, among others Union General Henry Hunt was up there, the guy who literally wrote the book on artillery both sides were using.

In constrast, the guy running the artillery on the Confederate side was the inept Brigadier General William N. Pendleton, who not coincidentally happened to be a close friend and Christian Pastor to General Lee,

From the book “The Second Day at Gettysburg: The Attack and Defense of Cemetery Ridge”:

Lee was about to learn the hard way that Henry Hunt had refined union, artillery, command, logistics, and organization into something approaching a fine art…. The Federal gunners’ superb handling of their pieces against superior numbers on July 1 helped alleviate what could have been an even bigger victory for Lee…..

Pemberton turned his attention to his artillery. He would spend the next several hours, riding up and down…..overseeing the batteries and their supporting elements, placing them as they arrived……However, his work was sloppy and haphazard. He never coordinated the guns or attempted to centralize or fire onto any given point…..

Several batteries were brought online and unlimbered within range of enemy guns, but never fired a round. Some were parked west of Herr’s Ridge still limbered….. When the Union line collapsed later that afternoon, Pendleton placed three batteries on Seminary Ridge… where he placed them under the cover of the Lutheran Seminary instead of unlimbering in “Action Front” to continue the battle… a fourth battery was likewise placed in sanctuary…

At the very height of the Union collapse, when Lee could have used these 15 guns (of which nine were rifled) to bombard Cemetery Hill, they instead remain silent. To make matters worse, the Confederste infantry then south of the Fairfield Road would have benefited from this support as a they continued east toward Cemetery Hill under a terrible artillery fire from the new Union line assembling atop it.

This Southern infantry was called back before being slaughtered…..

I’m not near the Gettysburg scholar that some here are, but like Ewell being flanked by a Union force, ya don’t hear much about any effective Union defense of Cemetery Hill on Day 1, certainly not to the extent of Confederates being driven back.

The boy major Lattimer found out yanky artillery was hell

A most excellent read.

Not a fan of Pendleton, I hold him and Early responsible for the attacks on Old Pete after the war.
But in his defense, as “Chief of Artillery”, his job in the AONV was decidedly different from Hunts in the AOPT.
Hunt had actual authority to place guns on the Union Line. Pendleton had no such authority. His job was mainly to requisition supplies and ammunition for Confederate Batteries.
Though they share the title “Chief Of Artillery”, only Hunt had real power.
But. There was a battery of 6 Napoleons, 12 pound smooth bores, deadly with canister that were supposed to go forward in support of Picket on 3 July.
For some reason, Pendleton moved them. I believe from reading Glenn Tucker’s books that Picket sent a staff officer back for this battery as he approached Emmitsburg Road, but they weren’t there.
Now I can’t say with any certainty that a battery of 12 pounder’s would’ve made a difference.
I doubt it in my own mind. I think the Union Artillery on Cemetery Ridge was too strong.
But my point is that Early as a division commander, talked Lee out of an assault on Cemetery Hill the evening of 1 July. And Pendelton moved the guns that were supposed to go up in supposed of Picket in the assault on 3 July.
Both these guys had something to hide, and the two of them together set out to smear Longstreet,
By the time of their attack, 1870, Lee was dead and Longstreet had become a Republican.
Reon

I thought Porter Alexander was in charge of the Jonny artillery

E Porter Alexander was a, I believe the Brigade Commander of the second corps artillery. Since it was “Longstreet’s Assault” , he was in charge of the artillery barrage.
Very good officer, IMO. But he knew he had a big job on his hands. He spent most of the night of 2 July moving his batteries into position.
Alexander knew the powder smoke would blind him shortly after the guns opened fire. He would have to judge the effectiveness by return fire.
Here’s where Hunt’s orders to cease fire had their effect. As the Yankee guns stopped, Alexander thought they were being driven off. He got a glimpse of the union line as the smoke cleared, and saw a battery limbering to the rear.
He sent a message to Picket. “For Gods sake come quick, or I won’t be able to support you”.
Picket went to Longstreet, “Sir, shall I lead my division forward?” and Pete, knowing nothing else to do, nodded.
You know the rest of the story.😟

If you consider Gettysburg from a Southern point of view, Shakespeare himself couldn’t have wrote a better tragedy!
They were almost unbeatable on the field of battle. In the north, the peace party and copperheads were gaining strength. A win in the back yard of the north might’ve swung the contest. It looks

Very tru

3 years ago Penny and I spent 3 days down there. on Cemetery Ridge there was a two hour ranger presentation on the artillery barrage preceding Pickets Charge.
Those ranger talks are always great, and this one was no exception.
I was hoping it would be posted on YouTube. No such luck.
But I did find an essay y E P Alexander himself.
The second part will follow.

Piss poor fuses

Shelby Foote said Gettysburg was the price the South paid for Robert E Lee.

Shoulda stayed our asses in Virginia

There had been a fire in one of the arsenal’s that produced artty fuses in the beginning of 1863. So the fuses were now having a longer burn time than what they had had up until now.
Working a cannon is much like anything else in that the more you do it, the more you developed a “feel” for it, and soon you can do it without too much of a thought.
But a change in the burn rate of fuses is something sure to throw off that “feel” that you developed.
The confederates weren’t alone, most Yankee gunners had trouble with fuses. I read that most of the ordinance they fired was unfused shot , fired as solid shot!

The majority of my knowledge comes from my reading of history and related things like artillery.
One that I have had for years is this book by Philip Cole. I go back and reread this interesting book every few years. As a gun nut and reloader myself, I find the artty and the nuts and bolts knowledge of these guns kinda fascinating.
Civil War Artillery At Gettysburg

Big ass explosion in Richmond prior to

Another book I have read and reread. This doesn’t have the technical stuff that Cole covers, but it is a very good read about the different batteries that served in the AOTP throughout the war.
Grape and Canister
Trying to recall off the top of my head. Hooker did some great things as commander of AOTP when he took over from Burnside. He got the soldiers better food, fresh veggies, even if they were canned. (People were actually suffering from scurvy) He granted leaves and gave amnesty to many who had walked off after the Mud March nightmare. But he also reworked some of the command structure as well. The Kearny Patches on their caps identified their units building esprit, he created the board of military intelligence after years of the Pinkertons doing intel work, with less than spectacular results.
And he appointed Henry J Hunt as Chief of Artillery. Hunt was a Godsend to the Army. Up until then the guns were commanded by infantry corps commanders. They were leaders of infantry, but very few had much training with artty, often placing batteries where they were ineffective or worse, wrecked by counter battery fire. As I said in a previous post, Hunt had authority to post guns effectively, often overruling corps commanders, as illustrated in the argument with Hancock on 3 July. Hunt also created what was called the Artillery Reserve. Basically an extra brigade of artty, unattached to any corps or units.
WhenSickles put his nuts in the ringers on 2 July, it was often batteries from the reserve that were used to plug a gap long enough for other infantry to arrive. Deadly fighting, gunners were supposed to be supporting infantry, not plugging a gap until the infantry could arrive.! But for a battery to lose a gun was a black mark, and these gunners sacrificed themselves to Confederate Infantry, holding the line until support arrived.
Hunt, among others, most definitely earned their pay at Gettysburg. Chancelersville as well.
There are three battles where the Long Arm stands out. Malvern Hill, Yankee guns parked almost hub to hub, mowed down attacking Rebel infantry. Hill said there were so many lying wounded that the field actually looked like it was crawling with something!😟
Chancelersville, where Yankee batteries saved skedaddled infantry units. Often at terrible cost to themselves.
And Gettysburg, where the Yankee guns pretty much wrecked the advancing infantry by the time they crossed Emmitsburg Road.
Alexander said, they could have probably driven his guns away before the assault ever advanced.
Guns were used to fire counter battery on offense, knocking opposing batteries out and forcing them to withdraw. But defensively is where their power stood out.
Canister, especially out of a battery of 12 pounders, could wreck a regiment of infantry in short order. Those one ounce iron slugs could kill or maim 4 or 5 guys apiece, when they were in ranks bunched up.

Thanks for those videos, Porter Alexander wrote very well.

I have read a major hazard, especially with Confederate shells, was a defective shell exploding while still in or just beyond the barrel.