What if Jackson had been there instead of Ewell on day 1
Or what if Lee had listened to Longstreet and made the Feds attack an entrenched position
Easier said than done when you have 70,000 men and their supply train still strung out over 25 miles, your largest body of men in close proximity to the enemy in a situation where disengaging to go around would invite a flank attack. Add to that, due to the absence or recent arrival of your cavalry, you still have no clear idea of the numbers and disposition of the considerable Union forces rushing to the battlefield at near-record pace.
Hence Lee’s
”the enemy is there and that is where I will fight him.”0n Day 2 Lee, with outside lines, puts together a complex battle plan based on faulty reconnaissance where his troops are supposed to roll up the Union left flank beginning with what he believes would be an unoccupied Little Round Top, then through a likewise believed to be unoccupied Wheatfield/Peach Orchard.
This wasn’t supposed be a simultaneous attack, but was supposed to start at the Confederate right flank, each Confederate unit waiting until the unit to their own right had gone in before continuing the attack.
Thanks to the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia right before the campaign, officers are working in close proximity for the first time, a few of whom despised each other. No one appears to be riding the whole Confederate line plugging gaps, coordinating attacks and clearing up confusion.
Despite all this they almost pull it off anyway, but on the Union side you have three highly competent Union Generals, Warren, Hancock and Hunt, constantly patrolling the Union line, coordinating movements and plugging gaps.
In particular Henry Hunt literally wrote the book on artillery tactics both sides were using, while on the Confederate side, Porter Alexander notwithstanding, the Confederate Artillery Commander was an elderly hack who owed his position to his friendship with Lee (I forget that’s guy’s name). Anyways thanks to that guy most of the Confederate artillery is held uselessly in reserve on Day 2.
IIRC
