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Post by Windischer on Jan 25, 2021 11:50:03 GMT -5
Here's perhaps an interesting perspective on the Battle of Gettysburg: foreign observers, who watched the battle.
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Post by andrew on Jan 25, 2021 12:16:01 GMT -5
(Nice photos, by the way. Are they yours?)
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Post by Aurelia on Jan 26, 2021 11:42:09 GMT -5
Here's perhaps an interesting perspective on the Battle of Gettysburg: foreign observers, who watched the battle. One of the American observers of the Crimean War was George McClellan... "child prodigy". I sometimes wonder if I gross underestimate his worth, but Mac seemed like such an egotistical guy with little to show for his experiences and education. |
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Post by Windischer on Jan 26, 2021 12:44:15 GMT -5
Here's perhaps an interesting perspective on the Battle of Gettysburg: foreign observers, who watched the battle. One of the American observers of the Crimean War was George McClellan... "child prodigy". I sometimes wonder if I gross underestimate his worth, but Mac seemed like such an egotistical guy with little to show for his experiences and education. Hmmm, honsetly can't say. I haven't watched the video yet and I know rather little about the American Civil War. From what I know, the three American observers of the Crimean War had the misfortune of bad timing. They missed all the events where the groundbreaking effects of the new weapons were visible and got the impression that they were doing just fine, since all they saw was already being implemented back in the US, except for all the siege logistics. Apparently that left an impression. Since the Revolution and until then they really just copied what the French were doing and that's what the message they got across from the Crimean War: copy the French, drill and determinate charges will solve everything. That of course proved to not be true ... |
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Post by andrew on Jan 26, 2021 20:20:33 GMT -5
One of the more interesting memoirs I've read was that of Héros von Borcke, an Austrian who rode with Stuart. It would be a stretch to label him an observer though, as he was a most zealous participant.  |
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Post by Aurelia on Jan 27, 2021 11:45:17 GMT -5
There's also the real difficulty of shooting uphill at a target on the crest. If you shoot short, your shot either buries itself or bounces right over, depending on the angle of impact. Only a direct hit does any damage to the intended target. When shooting downhill, you can deliberately bounce your shot through the enemy ranks and too bad for them. As I recall, the great majority of Union soldiery assumed the prone position during the bombardment and would have been nearly impossible to hit with anything but air burst howitzers or unusual luck. That's a good insight... I hadn't thought about that. I tend to have a great respect for artillery from that era - even though it seems they didn't have the same ability to really "soften up" a target with indirect fire before bringing in infantry the way they could later (WWI? WWII?). It would have been interesting to be in an artillery unit back then... (plus they had all those lovely red details on their uniforms... everything always goes back to the uniform thread! 😅). Sadly, as much as I love the Chamberlain brothers from Maine, the area they held on Little Round Top didn't seem to help the Union that much during the following day. Of the 6 guns Hazlett hauled (part of the way by hand) up the hill, during Pickett's Charge, only 4 were in range... as the Confederates advanced, soon it was only two guns... then none at all. It seems that the position was good for observing the enemy, but maybe was not a crucial as people like to think. I still go up there just to have a moment of communion with St. Joshua whenever I am in Gettysburg, however... LOL! There's an really great quote about Hazlett and his guns in one of the articles Joshua Chamberlain wrote... many I should add it to the anecdote thread. |
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Post by Aurelia on Jan 27, 2021 11:46:40 GMT -5
(Nice photos, by the way. Are they yours?) Yes! I love going to Gettysburg anymore. It's about 2 hours away, but it's a great place to walk all day. I especially love it in the autumn / winter. |
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Post by andrew on Jan 27, 2021 13:50:49 GMT -5
I think the value of the round tops was the advantage conferred by denying them to the Confederates rather than anything they could do for the Union side. (Plus, of course, they made an excellent, easily defensible anchor for the Union left).
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