We are further convinced here that Chamberlain is a bona fide leader with natural instincts. He's modest, doesn't know why Vincent picked him as Regiment commander. But he knows that a good leader must see to the welfare of his troops and to their courage. He learns that he is successful in motivating his men to fight -- not with force, but with persuasion. He has had successes in life. HIs father was proud of him. Now he is gaining confidence in himself as an officer.

He knows that the Army of the Potomac is under new and unproven leadership -- no longer under the beloved McClellan. The new General is both unknown and as yet unloved by the men. Who will fight for him with passion and devotion? They need enough motivation to extend the march of the exhausted 5th Corps into the night to reach Gettysburg, so they tell the marching troops that McClellan is back to lead them.

Chamberlain gets his men to Gettysburg -- on time. Lee's army has had the superior officers so far in the war, and have won many of the battles. But Lees generals have until now let him down in Pennsylvania. He can't depend on them. Here is Chamberlain, the epitome of a capable officer, delivering as demanded by the critical needs of the Union command. Today he is seeing to the welfare of his men -- tomorrow he will provide the courage.

The Union Army is arriving en masse, setting the stage for the great confrontations of the second and third days of the battle. Chamberlain's regiment is there, too.

 

Jim, with all of this, with one exception. I'd like to explore Lee and Ewell, and the direction/orders to pursue the fight for Cemetery Hill.

If you are the Commanding General, Lee, and you want someone to fight and take a hill, what orders do you give him? We are led to believe in the reading that the attack decision was left to Ewell (factual). Did he have orders to take the hill at all costs?

 

Lee did not give Ewell direct orders to take Cemetery Hill. I do not remember the exact quote, but it was along the lines to "take the hill if practicable". This seems to leave a goodly amount of discretion to Ewell and Lee may well have been expecting Ewell to act in a similar fashion as Jackson would.

I'm also reading Shelby Foote's nine volume collection on the Civil War and just finished the section on Gettysburg, so I apologize if some of my info comes from Foote's books and not KA.

 

Great point, Vito. Shaara's language is a bit ambiguous as to whether Lee's orders were unequivocal.

let's look at the text:

He (Lee) sent couriers to Early and Rodes to advise them... He had no idea of the whereabouts of Ewell, who was s u p p o s e d t o b e in command over there, and who probably knew less of what was happening than Lee did. Longstreet was right: command was too loose...

Find Hill's chief of artillery, tell him I want fire placed on that hill. I don't want it occupied. What word do you have from Ewell?...
...
...Good, Lee said. "Deliver this message in person. Tell General Ewell that he Federal troops are retreating in confusion. It is only necessary to push those people to get possession of those heights. Of course I do not know his situation, and I do not want him to engage a superior force, but I do want him to take that hill, if he thinks practicable, as soon as possible. Remind him that Longstreet is not yet up".
...
Ewell's message was cautious: "General Ewell says he will direct Early and Rodes to move forward, but he requests support of General Hill on his right. He says that there is a strong Union position south of town which should be taken at once.
...
...He (Lee) handed Smith the glasses, Smith said the position was beyond the one in froont, at the top of which there was a cemetery.
...
Lee shook his head..."I have no force to attack the hill. General Hill's Corps has had hard fighting. Tell General Ewell to take that hill if at all possible...."
...
He remembered he and ordered artillery to fire on the hill but none was firing. He sent to find out why...
...
...Where was the artillery? Where was Hill? Why had Early and Rodes stopped their attacks?
...
Lee shook his head again. He was growing weary of this. Why didn't Ewell's assault begin? A cautious commander, new to his command. And A.P. Hill is sick. Yet we won. The soldiers won. Lee pointed toward the hill.
'They will probably retreat. Or Ewell will push them off. But if Meade..."
...
and finally
... He picked up the glasses, waiting for Ewell's attack. No attack began.

The language is not very clear. Every statement of the requirement for Ewell's taking the hill was softened by a caveat: if practicable, if possible.. But still I think Shaara infers that Lee really intended for Ewell to attack and take the high ground. It seems to me that Ewell in the novel lacked the strength and confidence required of an officer in his position. He failed to take the hill and let Lee down, endangering his expectation and hope for victory on this ground.

It seems that Lee was disappointed in his generals on day 1. He said that his troops had won a victory that day. But it was the soldiers -- not the generals-- who had won the day.

 

Chamberlain is not a West Point man, but he seemed to have a native aptitude for big ideas. He learned his military tactics in late night sessions with his original commander, Adelbert Ames.

Although young, Ames was a great military planner. Why did his troops hate him? What happened to him?

 

To my mind, the order was clear. Take the hill if you can do it. That means try, not think about it. Unless your corps has been decimated in the fighting, you are supposed to give it a go. Where is the word back to Lee about what actions he IS taking? Ewell doesn't want to see Lee. He doesn't want to attack. We will see more on this in upcoming chapters.

 

Don't want to muddy the waters or go backward, but in catching up I've read several pages of posts. I think it was Rob who spoke to the "God's will" matters earlier and the prayerfulness/Bible study of both Union and Confederate ranks. I'm also reluctant to post, but apparently will go forward with it . . . I've been a southerner all my life and I frankly believe that by accident of birth we are what we are. However, we also are the sum of our experiences. It has been and continues to be my experience that more people than we think take a very fundamental approach to "God's will". Here in the south (and I have little knowledge of how you do it up north ), most believers in the Christian realm believe the Bible in its totality, just as it was believed by Lee and most of the confederacy. As a matter of fact, General Lee's gr. grandson is a minister in a fundamental Baptist Church down in Appomattox today. They believe the Bible as it is written although the Old Testament is considered a model and the New Testament is what we are to live by today. I honestly do not wish to really consider what differences would have occurred should the South have been victorious and this little Catholic (not a popular religion in the South) believes that God's will DID indeed prevail, our nation was REunited and what was supposed to happen did happen (at least in this reality). The majority of our nation is not as willing to engage in free and critical thinking as most of the august members of this club. I appreciate the comments that are being made, both from those who were brought up in the North and those in the South. I will say that having worked in some wonderful places that gave me a glimpse of life on both sides of the nation, many northerners have the view that the southerners are dull and dimwitted folk because we are for the most part agrarian. It takes a very intelligent and thoughtful person to turn that soil and produce the food to feed a family and many others on a few acres of ground. I once worked on an audit team for General Electric Co with a group from Syracuse, NY. One of them commented to me (after he'd been here a few months), I thought southerners were slow until I came down here to live. The only thing you people do slow is talk. Perhaps we can ALL learn a little something from that. I've noticed in my own community that many come here from the North and never leave. Its a wonderful place to be. My husband noted when he came to the University of South Carolina to get his Masters' that everybody moved soooo sloooow until he realized that when the humidity is 98% and the temperature is 100 degrees, we had a very good reason to move soooo sloowly. There is still animosity in the South that was born of the Civil War. I think there are differences between life in the north and life in the south and as long as there are differences, there will be some strife.

 

Yes, Valentine, it still amazes me that there is still this North/South thingy going on.

On the other hand we have this North Dallas/South Dallas thingy that's been going on since the early 1900's so I guess I shouldn't be amazed.

Although I wouldn't really call the South Agrarian anymore. It is amazing how much tech stuff and other industries have located in our right to work states. It is also amazing how many ex-Northerners now call the South home.

At the time of the Civil War the North had more industry and more (large) cities and the South really was very agrarian, but the South was catching up, which was a large part of the problem. The North could see control slipping away.

I'm going to have to go dig out my copy of the book (presuming it's not already packed for the move) and catch up with everyone.

"It's so much more fun to second guess the war from the comfort of our air conditioned home after a nice hot meal and before we spend some quality TV or movie time. See, nothing's changed in the last 100 or so years." He says, tongue firmly in cheek.

I sure wish I were free to go up there for the trip.

 

As one who has spent the vast majority of his life in what would have been considered the Deep South back then and had ample access to several people one generation removed from the conflict, I have my own take on these same issues.

I'll reserve further comment until after the discussion of this book concludes.

 

[QUOTE=valentine,Sep 5 2006, 02:16 PM] ...Here in the south (and I have little knowledge of how you do it up north