[QUOTE=ralper,Sep 17 2006, 06:20 AM] I wonder what would have happened if Lee had avoided the Union Army at Gettysburg altogether.

 

Yes. He was not sure what the Union was going to do, march south and attack Richmond, or pursue his Army northwards. He never counted on the Union forces covering so much ground, in so little time, which is why he underestimated their strength at Gettysburg.

 

Soooooo.....having gone through most of the salient locations and confrontations on July 1, 2 and 3- 1863:

What do you want to especially see among the hallowed grounds at Gettysburg

 

Is that true? I thought that he had a pretty good guess of the size, but having won so many of the battles in the past, was sure that the Union forces were no match for his.

 

^^
I'd like to see the critical areas of the battlefield for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3, to try to reenact the confrontations in sequence in my mind -- hearing the guns and noise of battle.

Is it still possible to visualize the target locations of the battles. -- from Willoughby Run, to Culps Hill, Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge, Copse of trees, Devil's Den, Little Round Top, etc. ?

To what extent are the areas of the battlefield marked with tokens that mention the units that fought in them?

Can you get a feel for the actual distances mentioned in Shaara?

What interesting surprises appear on the grounds?

BTW, Thanks for the great pictures on your Gettysburg preview thread, Jerry.

 

The Seminary where Buford listened to the battle begin.

The positions of Buford's Cavalry and the advancing Confederate force.

Devils Den, Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, the position where Hood/McLaw begin Longstreet's charge.

Picket's Position before he begins his charge (Armistead's position too) and the point of their attack on the Union lines.

The houses Lee and Hancock/Meade used for headquarters.

 

[QUOTE=Vitito,Sep 20 2006, 07:01 PM] Yes.

 

It's true. He never intended for a head-on, all out battle with the Union. He was hoping on a series of engagements, encounters, with the intention of taking out a few of their corps on northern ground. He deviated from his own campaign strategy.

 

[QUOTE=S1997,Sep 21 2006, 11:15 AM] So Vito,
you think Lee had in mind the spy's information about the presence and proximity of the Northern forces rather than their strength?

You are right, the spy may not have been as credible with respect to the size of the force as to its existence a few miles away. But I was thinking that Lee might have meant both the spy's warning that the Union Army was closeby -- and that it was a large force.

The spy tells Longstreet, "They're coming in seven corps. I figure at least eighty thousand men, possibly as much as a hundred thousand. When they are all together they'll outnumber you..."

Lee seems to be saying that with the absence of Jeb Stuart and his cavalry, he might have lost his whole army, if it had not been for the spy's information. Without the spy's information, there probably would not have been a battle at Gettysburg, and the Army of Northern Virginia might have been destroyed in detail somewhere close by? They were "spread from York up to Harrisburg and then back to Chambersburg".

Oh how we can sspeculate, but Lee himself was speculating, too!

Case 1: If the two forces never encountered one another, Lee takes his army home in the fall. Back to a defensive campaign he knows he will lose over time.

Case 2: Had the spy not provided his information, then southern troops could have been attacked "piecemeal", in essence, the Union could have employed the same tactics Lee himself was intending to use against the Union. The spy provided an "opportunity."

 

This may be a dumb question, but:
Are we sure that there WAS a spy....or could this be part of the 'storyline'