Started By
Message

re: Did the South ever really have a chance (Civil War)?

Posted on 7/18/22 at 3:39 pm to
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
65147 posts
Posted on 7/18/22 at 3:39 pm to
quote:

How you proceed from taking LRT depends on if you're going artillery or infantry and if it is Lee or Longstreet giving orders.



Command and control had already broken down on the right end of the Confederate assault. Hood was down, Law was in command, but never effectively took charge of the division since he was also trying to command his brigade in their assault on the Union left. So essentially there was no one in charge on that part of the battlefield who could have let Longstreet or Lee know that they had taken the hill. Even if there was, Little Round Top wasn't an objective in Lee's overall battle plan so he probably wouldn't have cared less if his men held the hill. He would have ordered them to continue moving forward because Cemetery Hill was the key to the battlefield - not Little Round Top.

You also have to factor into the equation that the only units assaulting Little Round Top were the 4th, 15th, 47th, and 48th Alabama as well as the 4th and 5th Texas. That's six Confederate regiments assaulting eight Union regiments once Weed's brigade arrives on the hill. It's not that big of a battle and there aren't enough Confederates to exploit any kind of breakthrough if they somehow manage to take the hill.

This post was edited on 7/18/22 at 3:46 pm
Posted by doubleb
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2006
36417 posts
Posted on 7/18/22 at 3:50 pm to
People forget that Lee had a significant force on the Union’s right flank at Chancellorsville with an even bigger opportunity to envelop the North and couldn’t pull it off.

There’s no way a regiment could do it even if Lee knew it was happening.

It was too hard for armies at that time to communicate, to see things in real time and then make things happen. They were severely limited.
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 1Next pagelast page
refresh

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookTwitterInstagram