Retreat From Gettysburg - Part One

Comments · 67

• LA

  @landonedwards7504 · 1 year ago

  Some Emmitsburg anecdotes: 1. With all the Union forces entering Emmitsburg after the Battle, the streets, lamp posts, and trees held dozens of US flags. My Great-grandmother lived in town, and for several weeks (or longer) refused to travel on Main St and Seton Ave because of those flags, preferring instead to use the alleys. She and other kids her age became known as "Alley Rebs." 2. For some years after the Battle, even into the 1930s and 40s, the 2nd wife of General James Longstreet would visit the Gettysburg area and was a frequent visitor to Emmitsburg. My mother and father had clear memories of Ellen Dortch Longstreet standing on a wooden box in the town square, regaling her audience with "facts" of her husband's movements and decisions at Gettysburg, recounting his role in the campaign. She was a strong voice in his defense with any audience she could find, up until her hospitalization in the 1950s.

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• JU

  @jumpmaster82nd. · 3 years ago

  "One Continuous Fight" is an excellent read to get even deeper on the topic.

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• WI

  @williamcanfield2889 · 3 years ago

  Excellent review of the controversial ending to Gettysburg.

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• ES

  @esotericnight · 3 years ago (edited)

  Really good.  You explained things very well.

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• KN

  @knightwatchman · 1 year ago

  Imagine being wounded and having to travel that mountainous and hilly terrain all the way back to Virginia?  It must have been agonizing.

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• DO

  @donaldhambright969 · 1 year ago

  I grew  up in middle town md..the old folks could rember  when both army's  came through..and the south looked runbthrough. And the union was blue and clean

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• TH

  @thomasjamison2050 · 1 year ago

  When Meade finally got back to Washington after Lee's retreat, he went to see Lincoln.   Regarding Meade's pursuit of Lee, Lincoln told Meade to his face that he though Meade's pursuit of Lee reminded him of an old woman shooing ducks across a river.

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• LA

  @landonedwards7504 · 1 year ago

  Awesome account of all the movements! Thanks!

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• DA

  @davidpitchford6510 · 1 year ago (edited)

  Wonderful illustration, presentation, organization and delivery.   Nice voice also. Five Stars.

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• GE

  @GeraldM_inNC · 3 years ago

  Great video!!!  For the first time I understand what happened after the battle of Gettysburg.  It seems to me that the pursuit of the retreating Confederate convoys was where Meade went wrong.  His overly optimistic and overly ambitious assignment of his cavalry to chase the convoys was a huge mistake.  It left him without his eyes and ears, and thus unable to know where Lee's main force current was and where it was headed.   Thus the Union main force had to follow the Confederate main force at a safe distance, never sure of Lee's plans.  This enabled Lee's main force to escape, and meanwhile the Confederate convoys were never taken.

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• MI

  @michaelsnyder3871 · 1 year ago

  Meade's orders were not to stay between DC and Lee. His orders were actually that he was free to move his army as needed to seek an advantageous engagement with Lee, as long as he could move his army such as to arrive with or immediately after Lee should Lee take a stab at DC. As long as Meade was shadowing Lee and was in striking distance, he was meeting the intent of these orders. Note that Meade's LoC was back to Westminster through Baltimore to DC. Lee could have slipped south towards DC, thinking he was crossing Meade's LoC or force Meade to attack him to protect DC and Meade could simply move to keep his army within striking distance of Lee. Meade was under no orders to attack Lee unless he was committed to trying to breach DC's fortified perimeter. Meade like many of the Eastern generals of the US Army lacked the "killer" instinct of Grant, Sherman and other Western generals of the US Army. Protecting his own army and simply remaining in a position to strike Lee and dissuading Lee from seeking battle was sufficient for Meade.

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• DO

  @donaldhambright969 · 1 year ago

  I grew up on south mountain..just down the road from the Reno marker

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