JULY 4, INDEPENDENCE DAY 1863: RETREAT AND BLAME AT GETTYSBURG
july 4, Independence Day 1863
Retreat and blame at gettysburg
"This has been all
my fault," Lee admitted about his failed July 3 assault at Gettysburg,
adding that "it is a sad, sad day for us." General James Longstreet
and General George Pickett were in silent agreement. A torrential rain fell
over Gettysburg on the 4th of July, as it seems often happens after
a great battle, washing away much of the blood at Devil’s Den, The Peach
Orchard, Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, and the vast field of battle
stretching from Cemetery Ridge westward to Seminary Ridge, leaching into the
soil to forever hallow that ground, while the bloating bodies of the thousands
of dead waited to be moved from where they lay to some slightly better resting
place. The stench was horrendous, compounded by the bodies of some 1,800 horses
and mules that had been killed.
Not much happened that
day. It was time for both sides to take stock of the situation, to lick wounds,
and make decisions For Robert E. Lee it quickly became apparent that General
Meade was not going to counterattack. It was also obvious to him that with so
many dead and wounded, with so many of his best officers lost, with ammunition
dangerously short, and his supply lines stretched to the limit, and with
superior, well-supplied Union forces still watching him from Cemetery Ridge, it
was time to go home to Virginia.
There on the ridge,
General Meade felt that for his Army of the Potomac, battered and exhausted from
the previous three days, July 4th was not the time to strike back;
rather it was a day to savor victory as much as one could beneath the drenching
rain. The next day, July 5th, would see the Army of Northern
Virginia begin its anguished retreat through, heat, rain, and mud, harassed by
Union cavalry, back to Virginia ― back home. There would be criticisms back in
Washington, mostly from politicians and rear echelon generals of Meade’s
failure in not chasing down the Rebels and destroying Lee’s army as it fled. Others,
the line officers who had fought at Gettysburg and elsewhere felt differently:
that Meade’s conduct was exceptional.
In the South, there was
plenty of blame to go around for Lee’s failure, interestingly not necessarily
focused on Lee himself. Of course there was his self-inflicted overconfidence,
but then that was widely overlooked, as the general gradually became
“marbleized,” the legend overshadowing the man. There was however “Jeb”
Stuart’s overconfidence to consider, Ewell’s failure at Culp’s hill,
Longstreet’s disagreement with his commander and subsequent foot-dragging, and
the almost totally absent General A. P. Hill, who spent most of his time away
from the field, sick and in bed due to the chronic effects of gonorrhea .There
were other “culprits” as well to blame back at the seat of Confederate
government at Richmond. In reality mistakes were made on both sides which beg
the question, did the Union win the battle or was it that the South simply
lost? In a real sense, no side won.
A thousand miles away,
on July 4th, Ulysses S. Grant handed President Lincoln another much
needed victory, the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, giving the Union
virtual control of the Mississippi River and the Confederacy lifeline of
supplies. But the costs had been incredible! 10,000 casualties at Vicksburg.
Evergreen Cemetery, Cemetery Ridge
Even 155 years later the
debate of Union victory vs. Southern defeat goes on. While the Battle of
Gettysburg did not provide the war-ending victory that both sides so desperately
wanted, it was pivotal. The war would rage on for another two years but General
Lee and his forces would never be the same. Although most history books credit
the Union army with a victory, one has to wonder. On the Union side there were
3,155 men killed, 14,529 wounded, 5, 365 men captured or missing. On the
Confederate side, there were 23,000 to 28,000 casualties. A terrible price. As
General John Buford said on the first day of battle, “The Devil to pay!”
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