Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire JEB Stuart and the Gettysburg Campaign

Some great insights.

Warring egos among its Officer Corps did much to cripple the Confederacy, in the East and in the West.

Didn't have time to watch it all, but there is no doubt that there was indeed some infighting within the ranks of the Confederate army.....just as there is within the ranks of every other army. A good example of that in the Confederates is how Nathan Bedford Forrest was treated. He was their best fighting leader in the West, and maybe even in the entire army, yet he was treated as the redheaded stepchild.

Lee had just whooped hooker at chanclersville and Stewart had just whooped the entire federal Calvary had they stayed in Virginia they were unstoppable at that point

Haven't watched it yet, but I'll make a quick comment based on my reading.
I won't go so far as others in saying Stuart disobeyed orders from Marse Robert, as the orders he had allowed a lot of discretion.
But... He knew where Lee's army was headed, and he knew Lee's planned route, and he knew where his own corps should be in relation. He wasn't.
Stuart had been stung pretty badly at Brandy Station in early June. Embarrassment, chagrin, call it what you will, he allowed it to color his decision on how to cover Lee's advance. He allowed the Union army to interfere with his route, ended up cutting himself out of the campaign for nearly a month, and left Lee all but blind due to the majority of his cavalry being God knows where.
After I get a chance to see it, we'll see if my assessment is correct.
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Not just the Confederacy. The Union had a bunch of West Point officers who all thought they should be in charge instead of Grant. They did all they could to hold him down and discredit him.

Stuart was a pompous ass who go his ass handed to him by an inferior force (Custer's Michigan brigade) and left Lee holding the bag. Then again, had he proceeded at tried to attack the Union rear, he would have run into the Union's entire reserves . Horribly planned and executed battle by the South, poor timing, opportunities lost, etc....

A half dozen hand held walkie talkies would have won the war for the south at least a dozen times throughout the war. Such were the difficulties in tactical communication in those days.

Wow!!! Just like the modern day reenacting community!!!!!


🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I recall that a lot of the same happened during our Revolution as well.
Congress allowed it then, Davis actually encouraged it to a point with his support of Bragg and his dislike of Joe Johnson.
Pretty good video. Thanks for putting it up.
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That's right, you just came back from the big National shindig.

Pure and simple, Stuart ran into George Custer and the Michigan Wolverines in far inferior numbers, who summarily kicked his ass and sent him running. Fast forward to May of the coming year and Stuart gets killed by Custer's command at Yellow Tavern.

Kinda not what you expect to hear with so much hate for Custer...

Don't recall which elements of Lee's army were involved, but several skirmishes occurred withing a few miles of where I live, prior to the Battle of Gettysburg. Closest one was the "battle" of Sporting Hill, considered to be the northern most point of Lee's PA advance. Up until a few years ago, there was a large limestone barn at the intersection of Sporting Hill Rd. and Rt. 11, that had evidence of cannon fire on the stone work. They tore the barn down before any preservation groups could save it..

Most historians agree they were likely probing for a possible invasion of the PA Capital, Harrisburg. Carlisle is a fifteen minute drive for me. Mechanicsburg is even closer. Both towns were briefly occupied by Lee's boys prior to the clash at Gettysburg. The old court house in Carlisle, has chunks of stone missing from the entry columns, due to CSA cannon balls being fired there, to convince the locals to surrender the town..

Lee invaded PA. Both armies bumped into each other near Gettysburg. Lee was sent packing back down the Shenandoah.

When you decide to invade enemy territory you run the risk of getting trapped. You had better secure your supply lines before hand and make sure you have a secure exit where you can withdraw with your forces and supplies mostly intact.

They might have successfully fought a defensive war had they stayed put in CSA territory.

Part of the reason they came to PA, is because they had nothing much left to maintain supply lines with, especially food. Every town and village they passed thru while here, was cleaned bare of food, according to local news reports of that time..Then there were reports they'd intended to raid as far east as Hanover, after foot wear, as Hanover was known for it's shoe and boot industries.

There's a local cable operation here called PCN, that primarily covers PA politics, HS sports, local industries and lots of other things. They have thousands of hours of broadcasting on Gettysburg and I've seen most of it over the past decade or so. Great stuff for history buffs.

Did you know Jubal Early could have taken DC in 1864 but he was a day late

On the darker side, the Confederates in Pennsylvania were the military arm of a nation where slavery was legal, and it weren't just horses and mules that were requisitioned....

http://www.thiscruelwar.com/regular-slave-hunt-pennsylvania/

PCN could run those Gettysburg talks 24/7 and it wouldn't bother me a bit! Always interesting, and those NPS Rangers really know their stuff!
Wifey and I were down to Gettysburg for a day trip in early April. I wanted to look the ground over before the leaves obscure the hills and hollows. Probably go down for a couple days later in the summer.
Being a gun buff, I got a book called "Silent Sentinels" by George Newton, who is (I think) one of the Rangers. If you're interested in artillery it's a must have. Newton tells the history behind some of the more lesser known guns and their current position on the field.
Another great book for visiting is" Gettysburg Stories of Men and Monuments" which cover the history of the Battlefield Markers and the units they represent.
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Hey 7mm,
You notice any similarity to a certain Northern General who did they same. If those cannonballs killed any civilians, would the man in charge be guilty of war crimes? You think those who fired them gave it much more than a moments thought?

What a hoot!!!!


If Sherman had been at Gettysburg, Lee may not have gotten out of Pa alive, let alone make it to Virginia still breathing.

I don’t really get into the slavery debate, I don’t believe in it.

So the the South had slaves? And the North had immigrants that were in a way slaves to the rich Yankees? Company stores, no way out, appalling living conditions.....it seems everyone was owned.

yeah, but they didn't deliberately set fire to any barns or loot any farms!
Matter of fact, Marse Robert sent out orders to all of his units to avoid destruction of civilian property! Anything taken was paid for, albeit with Confederate scrip.
Horses were needed for logistics, but for the most part the Rebels avoided commandeering civilian property, and there was no destruction just for destruction's sake.
Surely you see the difference.
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