If he doesn't know the ground, then why attack?

 

That is the question of the hour.

 

Chancellorsville was won via maneuver, taking advantage of a weakness in an enemy's force disposition on the field, in this case, a very vulnerable Union flank. Take an audacious, fearless commander like Stonewall J, and loyal troops that will follow you anywhere, and you win with a flank attack.

How does Lee plan to win at Gettysburg day 2?

If Lee's mind was made up, why is he still confering with his field commanders, asking them what their thoughts were?

 

Because I think there is always the dimension of doubt, the need to make sure that every knowable problem or trap is uncovered, every potential pitfall explored.

 

Warren did recon at that Rocky Hill and saw a big hole in the defense. He called for someone to fill that hole. Vincent's brigade did the job....anchored on the south end by the 20th Maine. It's truly a remarkable story.....we'll soon get to Day 2

 

Still cavalry blind for the most part and he'd never been there before. Lee was in the same state of mind as Yamamoto (sp?) nearly a century later.

He needed to strike a decisive blow now or face the inevitable weight of superior arms and numbers.

 

He attacks, because he is convinced it will succeed. He knows of a vulnerability in the Union line, and plans to exploit it with maneuver.

 

I don't know. I think that Lee, much like Yamamoto, thought his army could do anything. And I think he thought that the northern army couldn't do anything.

 

They were both in an almost unique position (Lee as major general before the war, Yamamoto having trained with the US Navy) to see the obstacle in front of them.

Perhaps this is a discussion better left to the conclusion of this book as well.

It's going to be a doozy.

 

Interesting, and ironic analogy with Yamamoto.

Yamamoto: at Pearl Harbor, we all know the end results.
Yamamoto: at Midway, Incredible Victory for the U.S. NAVY (I'm a little biased here)

At Midway, though significantly outnumbered, a smaller U.S. Fleet sunk 4 Japanese carriers, and changed the tide of the war. Why? We were audacious, desperate, and also hungry to strike back hard at the Japanese for Pearl Harbor and such. Combine that with much luck, in that our planes found the Japanese fleet first, throw in some indecision on the part of the Japanese leadership, arm planes with torpedoes/bombs/torppedoes, and back again (keep them on the flight deck vice in the air) and we win.

At the end of day 1, which force, Union or Confederate, has the audacious reputation? Which force has the reputation for poor/indecisive leadership? Which force runs away from the battlefield? Which force has the leaders that "out general" the other?