THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 1

Is Jeb Stuart to be blamed for Gettysburg

I went to Gettysburg in the summer and the real question I found out is " who is to be blamed for the Confederate lose?"

And here is what I found out at Gettysburg: Attempting to calculate a share of blame for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg on any one individual who was present at the battle (or in Stuart's case not present enough) is of course a fool's errand and impossible to quantify. Having said this I think few would argue the absence of Jeb Stuart's cavalry robbed Lee of the ability to make appropriate tactical decisions with respect to the approach of the Army of the Potomac which, prior to June 29th had been completely in the dark as to its progress moving north. Lee had been rendered blind by Stuart's misstep in his failed attempt to quickly circumnavigate around the Union army, a feat he had successfully accomplished during two previous, well publicised and celebrated ride-arounds of the AOP just prior to.

It's stating the obvious that had Stuart kept his cavalry between the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac, Confederate chances of victory would have been greatly enhanced at Gettysburg. Assuming Stuart's presence with the ANV during the Pennsylvania campaign would have precluded the Battle of Gettysburg, I can think of many decisions made by Lee, especially on the first day of battle (July 1st), that was directly affected by the absense of Stuart's cavalry and the important intelligence his riders normally would have provided Lee to maximize his situational awareness of what lay ahead.

As many probably already know the battle started when a large reconnaissance-in-force composed of Heth's division probed the western approaches to Gettysburg following up reports of regular US cavalry spotted there the previous day. It bears pointing out this was an excersize that would have been wholly unnecessary had Stuart and cavalry been present, but I digress. Long story short Lee and his sickly III Corps commander A.P. Hill got all the confirmation they needed that YES, the AOP had arrived in town. Within a short span of time Heth became fully engaged in the thick of fighting and for better or worse the battle was on.

On the whole, the first day of battle at Gettysburg was a Confederate success. Heth and Pender's Divisions to the west of Gettysburg in concert with Rodes and Early's Divisions of Ewell's II Corps coming from the north and northeast were more than the Union I and XI Corps could withstand. By 3:00 PM the Federal line began to collapse but was able to effect a semi-orderly withdraw to the prearranged rally point of Cemetery Hill. Rivers of ink have been spilled over that Confederate's failure to take Cemetery Hill with General Ewell receiving the lion's share of criticism for not attempting its capture. Having extensively studied the events of Day 1 I find these criticisms a bit wrong headed. By the time the Union army was literally chased through the streets of Gettysburg all four of the Confederate divisions engaged in the fighting were nearing the point of exhaustion. Prior to arriving on scene to the north and northwest Rodes and Early's Divisions of the II Corps had just come off a long march from the Harrisburg area to the north and after hours of fighting weren't capable of pushing the large concentration of Union soldiers that had assembled there.

The Real Missed Opportunity

Did the Confederates miss an opportunity to capture Cemetery Hill on the first day of battle at Gettysburg? I can answer that with a resounding YES. Anyone familiar with this battle probably aware of the arguments made that Ewell dropped the ball in the endeavor to capture this strategic high ground to the immediate south of town. Indeed Ewell did not find it "practicable" to take Cemetery Hill and I am inclined to agree with him. So if not Ewell's two divisions (Rodes and Early) who else could have attempted its capture? The answer layed barely a mile behind Heth and Pender's two divisions fighting to the west of town: Anderson's Division.

It's not one of the better known facts about the first day's battle at Gettysburg, but Anderson's large 5 brigade division belonging to Hill's newly commissioned III Corps arrived on the scene shortly after Pender's Division in the late morning after things had calmed down following the initial flare up between Heth's Division and Union forces. Upon arrival the division, which was very much within earshot of the fighting that raged between the Chambersburg Pike and Fairfield Road, sat and did absolutely nothing for the remainder of the day.